Vendon team has spent the last years on one question: how to take route planning out of one person’s head and make it automatic. Route Planning PRO is the answer. It reads what every machine reports to Vendon Cloud, decides which machines need a visit, automatically builds a route for each refiller and puts it on their phone before the shift starts.
Manual, static or automatic: three ways to plan routes
Operators plan routes in one of three ways, and two of them cost money every day.
Manual
ame week, every week. Routes come from memory, paper logs and a spreadsheet: who went where last week, which site shuts at four, which customer rings first. Nobody knows what is inside a machine until someone opens it, so machines get visited by habit, and most of them are still full. The van is packed full for the same reason, and the warehouse holds too much stock.
Static
Fixed in advance, run on repeat. The routes live in a spreadsheet or a basic route tool, and the same plan goes out every week. Cheap, and it works offline, which is fine for a small fleet with predictable stops. It just never adapts. A machine gets visited because it is in the route, not because it needs it. A sell-out, absence or a last-minute job means re-planning by hand. Every new location adds stops, so growth means another refiller.
Automatic
The machines report what they need, and the routes build themselves. A tool such as Route Planning PRO by Vendon takes live stock and status from every machine and has the day planned before the team arrives: only machines that need a visit, in the shortest order, with a pick list for each. Refillers get it on their phones. The planner checks it in minutes and rearrange in seconds when something changes. Nobody drives to a full machine, nobody loads a van by guesswork, and the routes do not depend on who is in the office.
Manual
Memory, paper logs and a spreadsheet
Nobody knows what is inside a machine until someone opens it. Machines are visited by habit, and most are still full. The van is packed full, and the warehouse holds too much.
Static
Fixed in advance, run on repeat
The same plan goes out every week. Cheap, and it works offline, but it never adapts: a machine is visited because it is on the route, not because it needs it. Growth means another refiller.
Automatic
The machines report, the routes build themselves
Route Planning PRO takes live stock and status from every machine and has the day planned before the team arrives: only machines that need a visit, in the shortest order, with a pick list for each. Nobody drives to a full machine.
What Route Planning PRO is
Route Planning PRO is the automatic route planning tool in Vendon Cloud. It takes the data from your connected vending and coffee machines, applies the rules you set once, and builds the day’s routes for every refiller before the shift starts. Each refiller gets the stops in order and a pick list in the Vendon Mobile app. The planner reviews the plan and changes what needs changing, instead of building it.
It is not a separate routing tool. It runs on the same stock and sales data as your stock control and pick lists, so nothing is exported and nothing has to be kept in sync. Any vending or coffee machine connected to Vendon Cloud works, whatever the brand.
How it works
Route Planning PRO rests on four pillars:
- Data from connected machines
- Rules you set once
- Automatic route generation in the system
- People (the users in Vendon Cloud) who handle the exceptions
Below, I explain each part in detail.
Data from connected machines
Route planning starts with data the machines already have. Each machine connected to Vendon Cloud reports:
- stock, down to the spiral
- sales, product by product
- cash in the machine
- errors and alerts
- status and location
Set the rules once
Data alone does not make a route. The planner adds what the machines cannot know, once, in Vendon Cloud:
- Employees: who serves which machines
- Triggers: low stock, an empty critical product, or an error
- Priority: which machines come first
- Sites: opening hours and time per stop
- Team hours: each refiller’s working hours, start and end point
- Timing: when the plan is built, the evening before or early morning
Every day, the routes build themselves
With the data and the rules in place, the daily work moves to the system.
At the time you choose, Route Planning PRO:
1. Lists the machines that are due
From live stock and status, against the triggers you set.
2. Builds one route per refiller
Least driving time and distance, using historical traffic for that time of day.
3. Sends routes and pick lists to the Vendon Mobile app
Each refiller opens their phone and sees the stops in order.
Machine that does not fit into anyone’s day is listed with the reason, so nothing drops off unseen. When plans change, a stop or a whole route moves to another refiller in seconds. Nothing is exported, nothing has to be kept in sync.
People handle the rest
The system builds the plan. It does not run the day. Three people do:
- The planner reviews the plan, adds a stop with Plan a visit, moves a stop to another day or refiller, or changes the order. The route recalculates. Five minutes, not an hour.
- The warehouse pre-kits the van from a pick list per machine.
- The refiller sees the stops in order, loads and goes. Stops not reached go into the next day’s plan.
Why we built it
Vendon Cloud has shown which machines are low or faulty for years. But someone still had to turn that into routes, by hand, every morning. In every operation I visited it was one person: the owner, or the one who has done it forever. An hour a day, and it only works while that person is at their desk.
Four problems operators kept telling us about
Vendon Cloud already showed which machines were low or faulty. Turning that into routes was still one person’s job, by hand, every morning. This is what that costs.
Vans visit machines that are still full
Every wasted visit is fuel and an hour of a refiller’s day, while an empty machine waits.
Routes live in one person’s head
When the planner is sick or on holiday, the routes stop with them.
Every ten new sites need another refiller
Fixed routes do not stretch, so growth costs more than it earns.
Machine data goes unused
Machines report stock and errors all day. Routes are still planned by hand.
Look at that list again. None of it is really about routes.
A wasted visit is fuel and an hour of someone’s day.
A route in one person’s head is a business that stops when they are off.
A new refiller for every ten new sites is growth that costs more than it earns.
Fuel is not getting cheaper.
People are not getting easier to find.
We built Route Planning PRO so the routes cost less to run, and the operator’s time goes into growing the business instead of planning the day.
What changes in practice
With manual or static routes, a van visits every machine on its day. With Route Planning PRO, the machines report what they have and the system picks the ones that need a visit. So:
- The driver does not open machines that are still full.
- The van drives less, so you spend less on fuel.
- One driver can look after more machines.
- No machine gets missed, because the list comes from the machines, not from someone’s memory.
- The van carries what those machines need, instead of a bit of everything.
- If the person who plans the routes is off, the routes still get made.
- Planning the day takes a few minutes instead of an hour.
No visits to full machines
Less fuel
More machines per driver
No machine missed
Load only what is needed
Routes made when the planner is off
Planning in minutes
Route Planning vs Route Planning PRO
Many Vendon clients have used Route Planning for years and know it well. For them, nothing changes. Route Planning stays in Vendon Cloud as it is, and anyone who is happy with it can keep using it. Route Planning PRO is an upgrade, not a replacement. The machines, sites and refillers are already in the system, so moving to PRO means setting the rules and letting it build the routes.
The difference between the two is simple. In Route Planning, the planner builds the routes from the list of due machines. In PRO, the system does that step.
Worth to know
Route Planning PRO is developed continuously. New releases come out regularly, and the direction is set by the operators who use it every day. Their feedback is what we value most, and it shapes what we build next.
Where to start
If you already use Vendon Route Planning, I would start small. Take one refiller, set the rules, and let PRO plan their day. Then put it next to the route you would have made yourself. The first few times you will find a rule that needs adjusting. After that you will mostly find things you had missed. That is how it went in every pilot I was part of.
If your machines are not connected yet, or you are with another provider – our team will be happy to run a demo for your team.
