February/March 2023 - 28

VENDING MANAGEMENT
The vending management system is the longest-running
high-tech tool for unattended retail. And there's never been
a better time for die-hards to embrace a VMS.
By Nick Montano, Contributing Editor
O
PERATORS TODAY CONFRONT
the urgent need to reduce
expenses and increase sales.
Historically high inflation, rising oil
prices and skyrocketing wages, among
other pandemic-related factors, have
been eroding the operator's profit
margins for the past two years. Rising
fuel prices, which only recently show
signs of easing, have been driving up
delivery costs throughout the supply
chain. At the same time, however,
operators have never had at their
disposal such an array of retail
technology to streamline convenience
services and boost profitability. And
never has this technology been so
accessible and relatively affordable.
Dating back to the 1970s, the
industry's earliest and longestrunning
high-tech tool is the vending
management system, and it ran on
a room-sized mainframe computer.
Flashforward 50 years ... powerful and
intuitive VMS solutions now fit in the
palm of one's hand. They work online,
monitoring vending machine activity
and status, and offline, saving on the
overhead associated with connecting
machines to the internet. They can
manage more than vending machines
- handling office coffee service,
pantry deliveries and warehouse
picking, and sometimes can integrate
with micro market management
systems. Evolving and improving for
five decades, there's a VMS product for
operations of all sizes and budgets.
An expert on automated retailing
technology takes us through the past to
the present of VMS. Mark Kronenberg
is the founder of Automated Retail
Associates (ARA), a consultancy he
founded, and third-generation operator.
In the early 1980s, he developed the
first PC-based VMS for the New
Orleans-based vending operation
started by his grandparents in the
1930s. Kronenberg's creation
computerized the operation's vending
and OCS routes, as well as its
commissary, foodservice and executive
dining businesses. It worked well, and
soon, other vending companies wanted
it. So Kronenberg and his father, Allen,
formed CompuVend Systems.
The father-and-son team pioneered
Mark Kronenberg, founder of Automated Retail Associates.
Automated Retail Associates
several key VMS integrations that
combined coin-counting equipment,
handheld computers and DEX (or
digital exchange), among other
machine and route compliance
functions. It also introduced a
28 Automatic Merchandiser * February/March 2023

February/March 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of February/March 2023

February/March 2023 - PCOV1
February/March 2023 - PCOV2
February/March 2023 - 1
February/March 2023 - 2
February/March 2023 - 3
February/March 2023 - 4
February/March 2023 - 5
February/March 2023 - 6
February/March 2023 - 7
February/March 2023 - 8
February/March 2023 - 9
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February/March 2023 - 11
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February/March 2023 - 14
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February/March 2023 - 16
February/March 2023 - 17
February/March 2023 - 18
February/March 2023 - 19
February/March 2023 - 20
February/March 2023 - 21
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February/March 2023 - 23
February/March 2023 - 24
February/March 2023 - 25
February/March 2023 - 26
February/March 2023 - 27
February/March 2023 - 28
February/March 2023 - 29
February/March 2023 - 30
February/March 2023 - 31
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February/March 2023 - 33
February/March 2023 - 34
February/March 2023 - 35
February/March 2023 - 38
February/March 2023 - 39
February/March 2023 - 36
February/March 2023 - 37
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February/March 2023 - 40
February/March 2023 - 41
February/March 2023 - 42
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