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Article: Coming of age: no longer just for cutting tools, today's automated vending machines are helping distributors and their end users curb inventory costs.(Tool Cribs)
- Article from:
- Industrial Distribution
- Article date:
- November 1, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. (US). This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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On any given day, in any given machine shop in America, a foreman saunters up to a machine that looks suspiciously like a candy bar vending machine, punches in his personal identification number on a keypad, and waits--not for a bag of chips or cup of coffee to pop out--but for a metalworking tool that a worker on the shop floor needs to complete a critical job.
Known as automated tool vending machines, these hulking pieces of equipment that operate much like snack vending machines are gracing more shop floors these days, thanks to the seamless inventory control, loss prevention and state-of-the-art interfaces they provide. Almost more important than the tools ...