Smart Vending Company Reimagines Delivery
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIndianapolis-based IVM Inc. is a “smart vending” company that creates and sells lockers, kiosks and vending machines that go well beyond standard snack dispensers. The pandemic forced the company to reimagine how it delivers products, including personal protective equipment, to businesses.
IVM says its SmartSolutions systems help companies distribute and control everything from scanners to smartphones.
On this weekend’s edition of Inside INdiana Business with Gerry Dick, IVM President Mike Pitts explained why the company expanded its portfolio.
“COVID has impacted everybody up and down the (supply) chain. It has driven e-commerce through the roof,” explained Pitts. “All of their employees have these little hand scanners that they track and order through the distribution center. Those hand scanners were being lost or misplaced or not charged.”
One such company is Wayfair. IVM developed a smart vault system to help track, recharge and store the scanners for employees.
Like others in the vending machine business, IVM started by operating machines that deliver candy, soda and sandwiches. But the business model has changed in the 30 years it has been in business.
Pitts says it now specializes in tech-focused vending solutions.
“One of our clients, Union Pacific railroad, came to us and asked us to vend, their personal protective equipment, gloves, goggles, earplugs,” said Pitts. “We developed a system that would allow them to vend those products to their employees as they needed them and control that distribution for Union Pacific.
Pitts says it also provides smart-vending solutions to Facebook, the Federal Reserve, Salesforce, Intel, and Microsoft.
