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Success story

Automated Retail Technologies expands into the UK with hot vending machines connected by Wireless Logic

Reliable connectivity was a problem until the hot vending machine provider began working with Wireless Logic

About

Automated Retail Technologies (ART) supply and install Just Baked Smart Bistro temperature-controlled vending machines. The machines provide hot savoury and sweet food day and night to consumers based at, visiting or passing through universities, hospitals, airports, train stations and more.

The vending machines must always stay online, so they need effective and reliable connectivity and, as they are installed at ART’s client sites, it must be simple and scalable to get machines up and running. ART tried a range of connectivity solutions before the team discovered Wireless Logic.

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Challenge

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ART’s hot vending machines are fully established in the U.S. but entry into the UK market began only when Maxwell Cooper and Alberto Celli won an entrepreneurship competition to work with ART in Florida. The enterprising duo pitched the case to expand into the UK to ART’s CEO and were charged with making their vision a reality.

Connectivity is essential to ART’s business model. It is needed for payments processing, but also to comply with health and safety rules on the temperature hot food must be stored at.

To prove compliance, the Just Baked machines measure and report temperature every minute. If they cannot, the machines shut down, ART risks dissatisfying customers and partners, incurs the cost of sending engineers to resolve problems and operator customers lose sales revenue.

ART wanted the simplicity and consistency of connecting machines in the UK in the same way they are connected in the U.S. The team tried using the same router and payment terminal, but found they suffered from a weak cellular signal at customer sites.

Solution

Wireless Logic recommended its network Conexa, built specifically for the IoT, to support ART’s continued growth in the UK. As well as being flexible and scalable, Conexa provides a multi-network SIM that maximises reliability through automatic switching should a primary network be unavailable.

Maxwell Cooper, general manager at ART, explains: “The main thing for us was the ability to have different networks, so if there’s maintenance on one, the SIM will auto-connect to a different one. The key thing is the connection stability Conexa SIMs provide.”  

Conexa transmits data from each vending machine to ART’s sophisticated backend system, where collated metrics reveal the status of each machine. Temperatures, any operating faults, sales volumes and uptime - the percentage of time the machine is stocked and able to supply - are all clearly visible.

 

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Outcome

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ART resolved its connectivity issues by working with Wireless Logic. Reliable connectivity keeps its vending machines online and generating revenue without incurring engineering costs to resolve issues.

“Wireless Logic met our need for reliability,” says Alberto. “Being new in the market with an innovative product that no-one has seen before, it is crucial to give customers confidence - that is what Wireless Logic achieved for us.”

In Maxwell’s words, machine uptime went “through the roof” from 70% to 99%.

“Connectivity is a requirement for our customers to experience our product, so it’s a very important pillar. It’s what we really need for the connection to work,” adds Alberto. “With this important pillar, we can showcase our work and what we strive to achieve in the UK.”

"Reliability is the most important. A machine that sells 24/7 gives more value. Customer confidence that the machine will work increases sales and the performance of sites."

Alberto Celli
General Manager Europe, Automated Retail Technologies

Extra reading

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