Straight Talking 21 07 2008 - 11:02:07 AM

Well this blog’s subtitle is ‘an insider’s guide to the world of drink vending’ so we thought we should post a jargon buster!! If you are thinking of dumping the old office coffee machine and looking for something more versatile, getting your head around some of these terms will help you along the way.

Cup Capacity: the number of cups the machine can hold. The more it holds the fewer times it needs refilling!

Cup Cost: the cost of each drink, without taking account of any cleaning or preparation time.

Direct: a manufacturer who deals directly with the customer: providing the machine, the drinks and any technical support needed.

First Time Fix: this is a way of measuring the on-site repair effectiveness. It records the number of technical errors that are solved on the first visit by an engineer.

Hybrid: a drink vending machine that provides a choice of an in-cup drink or a ground bean coffee. A nice idea, but these are noisy and the wastage resulting from too many coffee beans being ground and becoming stale, can be significant.

In-Cup: the drinks are ordered to fill the customer’s vending machine, they arrive already pre-measured and sealed in the cup. This ensures that when the drink is selected and the water added by the machine, it is fantastically fresh and tastes great. This is the system that the KLIX machines use.

Linking: this is when a drink vending machine is programmed to allow multiple stacks of the same drink to be linked, so that you can fit more cups in the machine. This ensures that frequent ‘drink not available’ messages do not appear.

Menu Select: this is the wide-ranging KLIX drink menu from which a customer can choose their favourite drink from.

Mtbf: Meantime Between Failure - this is the way manufacturers measure their drink vending machines’ reliability.

One Touch Ordering: this enables customers to order a drink simply by pressing a single label button, instead of entering a code.

Operators: these are usually agents for a number of manufacturers. The operator will supply the drink vending machine, provide the drinks, and fill, clean and maintain the machines.

Round Buying: this option allows a single user to order lots of drinks for their colleagues by pressing multiple drinks buttons in a row. The drink vending machine will then deliver them sequentially.

Tainting: cross-contamination is a common problem in traditional machines and this can result in drinks tasting of the drink made previously. KLIX’s in-cup technology and FLAVIA’s single serve filterpacks ensure that this cannot happen.

Traditional Machine: these are vending machines that use containers of separate ingredients, which are mixed together and then fed down tubes when each drink is ordered. There is a tendency for moisture to enter the tubes, resulting in ingredients not remaining dry - this results in blockages and machine failures.

True Cup Cost: this is the complete cost of each cup after cleaning and preparation time have been factored in.