These Vending Machines Make City More Lean
City of Sacramento departments take control, saving taxpayer money while gaining productivity
Candy bars, cans of soda and bags of chips aren't the only reasons people have a taste for the convenience of vending machines.
Now the benefits include saving taxpayer money and increasing the efficiency of city services in one of America's largest municipalities.
The City of Sacramento, California has turned to state-of-the-art industrial vending machines to dispense everything from safety gloves to batteries. But these machines do a lot more than provide city workers with much-needed items - they also manage, track, and control inventory. It all began with a mandate from the city to achieve better inventory control.
Tom Webber is Operations General Manager of the city's Traffic Signs and Markings department, part of the Street Services division.
"I got to thinking about how we often put a case of gloves in a closet and there's no tracking of who's grabbing them," Webber said.
He learned of a program in which one of America's largest industrial distributors makes an investment in its customers by placing industrial vending machines at the point-of-work - at no cost to the customer. Items stocked in the machines are consigned, so the customer - in this case, the City of Sacramento - is charged only for items dispensed.
Sean Luigs is store manager for Fastenal in Sacramento, one of more than 2,300 stores nationwide.
He explained the SmartStore program to Webber.
"Traceability is the biggest thing," Luigs said. "Before, they didn't have any way of tracking. There were no controls. A person could take as many gloves as they needed. The city needed to be able to set limits."
Fastenal's Fast 5000 machines:
o Allow supervisors to set limits or restrictions on access and/or quantities
o Eliminate both overstock and stockouts with automated reordering
o Send alerts when stock levels are low, orders are late or usage patterns change
Until recently, "point-of-work dispensing" was too expensive and too complicated for both suppliers and end-users. Fastenal's Smart Store program incorporates next-generation Connect n' Go(TM) software from its technology partner, Apex Industrial Technologies.
The city started an industrial vending pilot program in 2009, with two Fastenal Fast 5000 machines placed in Webber's department, primarily dispensing personal protection equipment such as safety gloves and safety glasses, dust masks, ear plugs, sanitary wipes, and a variety of items from duct tape to batteries.
Webber said his employees' first impression was positive, as they saw the possibilities of better accountability. An employee simply uses his or her proximity card and an ID code to dispense an item.
"They love it now," Webber said. "It's easy and it works."
He said that inventory control and tracking, and the resulting cost savings, are the most obvious benefits.
"Fastenal manages the inventory, keeps the machines full, and we don't even pay for an item until it's used," Webber said. "We've had bins and closets with stuff not used in two years. That ties up public funds and isn't a good use of taxpayers' money. We had too much inventory on some items, but we were running out of others."
The SmartStore system allows Webber to download a report at any time that shows names, dates, times and items checked out. He said managers love the system, and employees don't have to ask if they can have a specific item. "They make the decision on their own and each person is totally accountable now."
Webber said it's hard to put a dollar figure on how much the city is saving, since there was so little tracking previously.
"We're still slowly depleting the inventory that's been in closets. Stuff has been forgotten about or sometimes we just stumble over it," he said.
"I just know that the convenience is great. This had added a lot of efficiency."
After the success of the first machines, another one was placed in the Solid Waste Services division of the Department of Utilities. It's used by 160 garbage truck drivers to dispense safety gloves, hearing protection, dust masks, safety/high-visibility vests, safety glasses, batteries of varying sizes, alcohol wipes, hand cleaner, glass cleaner, first-aid kits, sunscreen and insect repellant.
Before the Fast 5000, both overstock and running out of stock were problems, according to Environmental Health and Safety Specialist Shannon Lichty. "It was hard to keep track of who was getting what," she said.
Now, all items are tracked, restrictions on quantities and items dispensed can be set, and re-ordering is automatic through Fastenal.
"I think it's just great," she said of the Fast 5000 system. "It's a worry-free system."
Lichty hopes the Solid Waste Services division will now get a Fastenal Auto SmartStore locker system, which dispenses larger items such as hard hats, spill kits, shovels and brooms.
The next Fast 5000 machine is slated for the city's Urban Forest Services Division - the department that takes care of all the city's trees in parks and along roadways.
"I can envision machines throughout the city's departments," Webber said.
For more on the program's success, see the Apex Industrial Technologies case study at http://apexindustrial.com/images/casestudy/ApexSacramentoCaseStudy.pdf
For more on Apex Industrial Technologies, go to www.apexindustrial.com
The Fast 5000 dispensing system is helping eliminate both overstock and stockouts, according to the City of Sacramento's Shannon Lichty.
Fastenal's Sean Luigs keeps the City of Sacramento's industrial vending machines stocked. Because the items are consigned, the city pays only for items it uses. The City of Sacramento's Tom Webber says industrial vending is saving taxpayer money while decreasing workers' downtime.
A case study details how the City of Sacramento is effectively utilizing industrial vending.
Contact:
Thomas Barr
Director of Corporate Communications
Apex Industrial Technologies
Phone: (513) 204-2117
E-Mail: thomas.barr@apexindustrial.com
