februarymarch2024 - 26

TECHNOLOGY
Inventory control
management
Technology solutions can help manage inventory - a vital piece
of business for any vending, OCS or micro market operation.
By Molly Rogers, Editor-in-Chief
W
HY IS INVENTORY
management important?
Staci Thornton Ryan -
a second-generation
operator, industry consultant and
founder of Convenience Brigade -
said it can be summed up in one
word, consolidation. " Gone are the
days that it is necessary to log into
multiple VMS platforms. "
Convenience Brigade assists
operators with setting up
Cantaloupe's technology solutions:
Seed Delivery, Seed Market and
Seed Warehouse. " Getting these off
the ground can be an uphill task for
operators. Many operators simply
don't have the time it takes to get
these new systems fully functional, "
Ryan said. " We offer an A-Z plan
for implementation. This allows us
to do the heavy lifting, while the
operator functions in supporting and
guidance roles. "
Cantaloupe makes it possible for
all lines of business to operate in a
centralized location. Seed Delivery,
Seed Market and Seed Warehouse
combine with Seed Office to produce
a one-stop shop for inventory
management. Seed Delivery handles
OCS and pantry orders and invoicing.
Seed Market brings in all the various
market VMS systems together in
the Seed database. There is also the
traditional vending VMS in Seed.
These work together with Seed
Warehouse to track what's going out
of the warehouse as well as what's
coming in - all in real time.
Ryan said that Seed Warehouse
can sometimes be an underutilized
tool. It tracks inventory and can
even create orders. Taking weekly
and monthly inventories is easy, and
once the initial setup is complete,
maintaining Seed Warehouse is
also simple.
" With supply chain issues
improving, but not completely back
to normal, it's a tremendous asset
for operators to be able to reliably
see what's on hand in the warehouse
with a few simple clicks in Seed, "
Ryan said. " Knowing how much to
order so you don't run out of product
or overstock your warehouse is
critical to minimizing problems in
the field and a company's cash flow.
Smart software like the warehouse
functionality in Cantaloupe can help
to make that the norm. "
She also explained that it is
important to stay on top of costs
as soon as they increase to help
maintain margins in your operation.
" Tired of monthly or quarterly
updating your unit costs for 1,000+
items? Utilizing the purchase and
receive functionality in Cantaloupe
will update unit costs automatically
every time you receive/purchase
26 Automatic Merchandiser * February/March 2024
product. Cantaloupe uses a unique
method of calculating unit cost that
mirrors FIFO costing accurately, "
Ryan said.
The Cantaloupe platform also
manages pre-pick calculating
and interfaces seamlessly with an
operator's pick platform. It manages
the flow of products leaving and
coming back to the warehouse for
daily operations. Ryan said, " Properly
implemented, this is a game-changer.
With the adoption of pre-picking
for routes, the need to monitor
route truck inventory variances has
virtually become obsolete. "
CUSTOMIZING SOLUTIONS
Nayax, a global commerce
enablement, payments and loyalty
platform, also offers inventory
management solutions - allowing
operators to run their day-to-day
operations in real time. Pete Carmain,
vice president of national accounts,
said, " Anything in 'real time' is
efficient, and that is the goal of
any VMS. We believe in inventory
management as a baseline for any
management system. So much so
that we have it built into our backend
system, Nayax Core, as well as our
enterprise VMS solution, VendSys. "
februarymarch2024

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