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ARC teams with Brendamour to meet surging demand for intelligent locker solutions

While customer demand for device management solutions continues to surge, Brendamour's partnership has allowed ARC to meet that demand head-on and effectively scale its operations to meet clients' needs.

A Brendamour Logistics technician checks on a recently installed ARC (Asset Recharge Center) at a Sam's Club. Photo: Brendamour Logistics.

March 6, 2024 by Elliot Maras — Editor, Kiosk Marketplace & Vending Times

For any business, tools that can improve employee efficiency are highly valued. This is particularly the case for companies investing in handheld devices, such as Zebra Technologies, Honeywell, Samsung and other scanners. This explains why the demand for ChargeItSpot's ARC (Asset Recharge Center) device management integrated with smart lockers has been growing so fast.

Businesses that provide employees handheld devices are experiencing significant shrink of these devices, often exceeding rates of 20% per year due to loss and theft.

The ARC kiosks allow organizations to more efficiently track and manage handheld devices, which has helped to reduce device shrink to around 1%.

"If a client is paying over $1,000 each for these handheld devices and we can reduce the number of devices they need per store by 20% or 30%, and they have hundreds or thousands of stores, you can see where those numbers add up very quickly," Robert Kay, ARC's senior vice president of operations, said in a phone interview.

The Philadelphia-based company developed its ARC product during the pandemic in response to client concerns.

Meeting client needs

"Our clients were telling us they had issues with managing handheld devices at their facilities," Kay said. "We responded to their needs by developing a kiosk and a software-based management platform that reduces shrink, reduces managerial oversight time and increases employee productivity."

The platform generates reports that show how many handheld devices are checked out, how many are checked in, how long they are checked out, which employees are using them, and importantly, which employees have not returned a handheld device that they checked out.

On the touchscreen, the user can report any issues with the handheld devices, such as a cracked screen or an uncharged battery. If a device is not functioning properly, that gets escalated automatically to a supervisor or the IT department as requested by the client.

The most obvious benefits the ARC offers, Kay noted, are visibility and control. Allowing managers to have actionable insights into what's really going on with their assets has proven to have an impact on the business' bottom line.

A more long-term benefit, however, is overall improved operational efficiency.

Clients often overstock devices because so many remain nonfunctioning and also don't always know the optimal number of handheld devices they need at the premises. With ARC's ability to immediately flag faulty devices for repair and generate insights on specific device quantity needs on a location level, it allows companies to save money by right-sizing their device fleet.

ChargeItSpot's ARC device management integrated with smart lockers improves device management for organizations. Photo: ChargeItSpot.

Logistics partnership

ARC, in its efforts to fine tune efficiencies for its customers, recently combined the delivery and installation functions for its kiosks into one service instead of two. This has been accomplished through a partnership with Brendamour Logistics, a logistics provider that specializes in full truck load deliveries, with a focus on self-serve kiosks.

Unlike other logistics companies, Brendamour employs drivers trained in kiosk installation who can install the kiosk at the time of delivery. This cuts a two-step process in half.

"They're delivering and installing at the same time," Kay said. "It's a much more efficient and cost-effective way to install our kiosks."

Previously, ARC used "less than truckload" (known as "LTL") companies for deliveries. The kiosks would arrive two or three days prior to the installation.

The Brendamour driver, on the other hand, goes out with a full truck to make deliveries and installations, then returns with an empty truck.

"We know each week when the deliveries are going out, and when I say deliveries, I also mean installations," Kay said. "By having it delivered and installed at the same time, we don't have to worry about our kiosks sitting on one of our clients' loading docks or sitting in a warehouse for two or three days…and possibly getting damaged.

"Also, we don't have to coordinate with two companies, because from time to time with LTL shipments, you can have delays. And then you have to reach out to the installer and let them know that, 'Oh, these kiosks weren't delivered to this location. You're going to have to skip this or come back to it or dispatch a technician a week later.'"

At the start of the partnership, ARC sent senior technicians to Brendamour's facility in Cincinnati with a demo kiosk to train Brendamour's driver/technicians on how to install an ARC kiosk.

"We could tell right away they understood technology," Kay said for Brendamour. "They're used to installing kiosks. As an operations person, I like the fact that they [Brendamour] just get it done."

Logistics partner considerations

When looking for a logistics provider, Kay looks at the following considerations:

How quickly can they convey the information and have them perform the service?
Do they have the trucks available?
Can they meet our delivery and installation schedule?
Does it make sense financially?

The kiosks typically get shipped from the manufacturer to the client, reducing the need for warehousing. A certain amount of inventory is housed at the company's Philadelphia warehouse while some is warehoused at Brendamour's Cincinnati headquarters.

Kay's biggest surprise has been the extent of the post-COVID business rebound.

"Post COVID things are going gangbusters," he said. It has surpassed pre-COVID levels "considerably."

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