Route planning and machine visits remain the key processes in any vending or coffee business. It’s not always easy to get it right but the cost aspect of inefficient routes is too important to leave route planning to chance. Vendon is committed to helping our customers create the most efficient routes possible so that you can focus on other aspects of your business – we are bringing out new updates to our route planning tool on a regular basis to facilitate every stage of the process. Recently, we’ve added multiple valuable features for pre-kitting, machine servicing, and refill optimization.
For the previous roundup of features, read Part I on our blog.
Preparación previa de logística - Pre-kitting
Route execution begins at the warehouse when products are packed in crates and boxes to be loaded in the delivery van. To navigate the warehouse efficiently, Vendon has introduced
pack lists that also include the location of each stock item in the warehouse, defined by the operator in the Vendon Cloud interface. This speeds up the picking process and eliminates situations where employees do not know the way around the warehouse and spend a lot of time locating items that are on the pack list.
Find the pack list easily for each route, and download it with a single click.
Rutas de servicio técnico
Our task list functionality has just experienced an upgrade –
task lists can now make up standalone routes, which means that you can plan maintenance visits with Vendon easily. Be it a quarterly checkup, cleanup before the holiday season closures, or an emergency visit, tasks can be mapped to machines independently of machine refills or cash collections. Until the machine visit is finished, new tasks can be added via the Cloud interface, or removed from the list.
For the person doing the visits, the tasks are presented as a checklist in the mobile app, and they must be marked as completed for the visit to count as finished. This ensures no tasks are forgotten, and all information is stored electronically.
Cambio de secuencia de ubicaciones
By default, the Vendon route planning tool orders the route locations to be visited alphabetically. However, we know that this is not always the optimal route, which depends on many factors, like distance, urgency, or convenience. Changing the sequence of location visits is now easy as pie – simply use the drag and drop functionality in the location Visit report to create an ordered list of locations that match the situation. Or, if there’s a sudden need to move a location up the list because of a change of events, that’s possible too.
All changes are synced with the mobile app in real-time, which means the employees doing the rounds always have access to the latest information.
Inventory change – COMING SOON
A refill visit usually includes multiple additional checks – do the product quantities in the machine match the Cloud values, are there any expired products, is any packaging damaged by any chance? The Inventory List is the place where product adjustments are usually made. With the new update, reasons for inventory change can be provided; whenever a product quantity is updated outside of a regular refill (by automatic or picklist values), Cloud and app users can select the reason for the change. This information is then stored in the Refill log and be used to analyze the most frequent culprits, and improve business processes.
Soporte para apps móviles
Refillers and technicians are always on the go, and the
Vendon Mobile app is the perfect solution to stay accountable and to have all the tasks at hand wherever they are. Vendon Mobile offers full route management support – from picklists and coin changer refill values, to additional tasks and navigation. All actions can be confirmed on the app, which is instantly synchronized with the Cloud solution. That way, the need for paper printouts and manual system updates is kept at a minimum, and route accuracy is improved.
Start optimizing your vending or coffee business today and boost your revenue – get in touch with us at
grow@vendon.net or your local distributor.
