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7 Strategies for Sustained Innovation
The need for constant reinvention is a given in today’s business environment. And while a breakthrough product or concept can catapult an organization ahead of its competitors, in these fast-paced times, that advantage is often short-lived. While...
Choosing a Winning Business Idea
You've probably heard it a hundred times by now - if you want to make alot of money with an online business you have to offer your own product or service. Well, make that a hundred and one times...
It's true. Although affiliate programs are...
Creativity And Innovation Directors, Consultants And Managers
Creativity and Innovation is essential for competitive advantage, yet the role of Creativity and Innovation Manager is often not viewed as essential. Organizations without such a role will simply not perform as competitively as their rivals.
...
Getting Together: The Importance of Business Relationships
To succeed in today's collaborative, client-driven, networked economy, companies must take advantage of the strength of their business relationships to succeed. The business world of the past, in which each company could be managed in isolation, has...
Innovation Management – Measuring Failure!
Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.
There are distinct processes that enhance problem identification and idea...
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An Introduction To Vending Machines
The very first vending machine was said to have been invented by
Hero of Alexandria, a 1st century inventor. His machine accepted
a coin and then dispensed a fixed amount of "holy water."
Basically, a vending machine is a machine that dispenses
merchandise after a customer deposits money. Vending machines
have a currency detector which determines if the money inserted
is sufficient to purchase the desired item.
Common locations where vending machines are usually placed
include: next to the entrances/exits, next to the water
fountain, in front of the restroom, in the break room, by the
coffee maker, next to the other vending machines, by the
receptionist, next to the cash register, next to the listening
station at a music store, next to the change machine or in the
waiting area.
The items sold in vending machine vary. In the U.S. vending
machines may even carry alcoholic beverages such as beer and
cigarettes. This practice is increasingly rare though, due to
concerns about underage buyers. I
n Japan, there seems to be no limits to what is sold by vending
machines. These include: drinks and cigarettes, bottles of wine,
cartons of beer and pairs of underwear. Japan has the highest
number of vending machines per capita, with about one machine
for every 23 people.
Vending machines are classified mainly according to the products
it carries. Below are just some of them: Newspaper vending
machines
With newspaper vending machines, a customer could open the box
and make off with all of the newspapers after paying for one.
Such assumes that the customer will be honest.
Candy vending machines
Candy vending machines are mechanical machines that vend a
handful of candy, a bouncy ball, or perhaps a capsule with a
small toy or jewelry, for one or two quarters.
Soda snack/vending machines
Soda/snack vending machines are, as the name
suggests, sell cans
or bottles of soda and/or small packages of snacks. For
operators, soda/snack machines have the advantage that many
locations recognize their need for such machines.
Specialized Vending
Specialized vending machines are those that dispense personal
products, typically in public toilet facilities. These vending
machines are often found in toilets used by transient persons in
high traffic locations, such as bus stations and truck stops.
The machines in ladies restrooms typically sell sanitary
napkins, tampons and tissue paper. In men's rooms, the vending
machines contain tissue paper, cleansers and sometimes condoms.
These vending machines use a spiral kind of mechanism to
separate and to hold the products. When the machine vends, the
spiral turns, thus pushing the product forward and falling down
to be vended.
Most vending machines are designed as large safes. They have
also been extensively tested and designed to inhibit theft. Like
any machines, vending machines are susceptible to malfunction.
The causes are many-fold.
Coin acceptors often jam up, especially if a child inserts a
bill or other foreign object into the coin slot. Bill validators
sometimes falsely reject a legal tender bill that happens to be
crumpled, ripped, or dirty. Vending machines usually have a
phone number that angry users can call for service.
One of the newest vending innovations is telemetry, which is
made possible by the advent of reliable, affordable wireless
technology. With telemetry, data can be transmitted to a remote
headquarters for use in scheduling a route stop, detecting
component failure or verifying collection information.
About the author:
James Monahan is the owner and Senior Editor of VendingWebs.com and writes
expert articles about vending.
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| DTI - Welcome to the DTI's Innovation Home Page |
| The DTI is working to stimulate a significant increase in innovation throughout ... It covers Living Innovation, web streaming of a series of high profile ... |
| www.dti.gov.uk |
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| Innovation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
| An innovation in this light occurs whether or not the act of innovating ... A convenient definition of innovation from an organizational perspective is ... |
| en.wikipedia.org |
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| National Innovation Website |
| The Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources has developed this website to raise awareness of the importance and benefits of innovation and ... |
| www.innovation.gov.au |
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| Innovation, creativity and brainstorming resources from ... |
| A comprehensive site designed to provide busy entrepreneurs with a focused collection of the best resources on innovation, creativity, and brainstorming. |
| www.innovationtools.com |
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| Innovation Weblog - Trends, resources, viewpoints from Chuck Frey ... |
| The Innovation Weblog - Valuable trends, resources and viewpoints in innovation, creativity and brainstorming from Chuck Frey at InnovationTools. |
| www.innovationtools.com |
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| CORDIS: Innovation Portal: Home |
| This Innovation Portal is supported by DG ENTR of the European Commission, ... European Commission adopts new Communication on Innovation: on 13 September ... |
| cordis.europa.eu |
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| CORDIS: Promotion of Innovation: Home |
| This programme stands at the cross-roads of the Community's policies on Research, Innovation and SMEs. |
| cordis.europa.eu |
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| Innovation Network... leveraging innovation, creativity and ... |
| The Innovation Network is an association of companies and employees committed to innovation. The site features some interesting articles as well as some fun ... |
| www.thinksmart.com |
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| Business Innovation : Car Reviews, Online Gaming, and Product Branding |
| If your in need of great Online Gaming material, we carry up to the minute news and reviews for all of your favorite games and gaming systems. |
| www.businessweek.com |
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| Innovation - Life, Inspired | PBS |
| Learn about fascinating innovations, explore interactive features, submit questions to our experts, investigate resources and lesson plans, and more. |
| www.pbs.org |
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| Innovation.org - Welcome |
| Impact of Innovation Saving & Improving Lives Controlling Healthcare Costs Strengthening ... Future of Innovation New Medicines in Development Next Wave of ... |
| www.innovation.org |
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| Innovation: See what people are saying right now on Technorati |
| See all blog posts tagged with innovation on Technorati. |
| www.technorati.com |
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| Innovation Relay Centres - The World Largest Network for ... |
| Innovation Relay Centres giving advice on Innovation, Technology Transfer and Exploitation. Major European source for innovative technologies or new ... |
| irc.cordis.lu |
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| The Tech Museum of Innovation | Welcome |
| The Tech Museum of Innovation - Welcome! The Tech Museum inspires and educates the innovators of the future. |
| www.thetech.org |
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| Pages tagged with "innovation" on del.icio.us |
| CoDev 2007 - Co-Development for Business Growth: Open Innovation and Alternatives ... PDMA & IIR's 5th Annual Front End of Innovation ... |
| del.icio.us |
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| innovation |
| Publication highlighting the research activities of NUS. The site provides snippets of selected articles online, and provides a subscription form online. |
| www.innovationmagazine.com |
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| Canadian Innovation Centre |
| Services includes invention evaluation, technology due diligence, market research, and education programs. |
| www.innovationcentre.ca |
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| London INNOVATION :: Home |
| Maximise your business potential through innovation. Learn the secrets of successful business innovation in London. |
| www.london-innovation.org.uk |
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| Eric Von Hippel's Homepage |
| Downloadable Books. Democratizing Innovation (2005) ... The Sources of Innovation (1988). Free download of the complete book. Permission granted by Oxford ... |
| web.mit.edu |
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| Intel Innovation in Education |
| www.intel.com/education/ - 3k - Cached - Similar pages |
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