Industrial Safety Supply Vending Solution
An automated solution to distribute and manage safety supplies and other PPE
Project Summary
Implemented an innovative vending solution that provides real-time management and distribution of essential safety supplies for industrial environments. Integrated with bespoke analytics, this system tracks usage and automatically reorders stock, helping the company trace supply costs to specific cost/revenue centers, reduce supply shortages, and maintain compliance in order to mitigate OSHA-reportable safety incidents.
Problem & Objective
Industrial sites frequently experienced shortages of critical safety equipment, leading to downtime, compliance risks, and untraceable usage. The objective was to create a system that automates supply tracking and restocking, allocates usage by department, and reduces the risk of OSHA-reportable incidents.
My Role
I led the end-to-end deployment of the vending hardware and software solution across multiple industrial locations. My responsibilities included stakeholder collaboration, vendor integration, deployment coordination, and post-launch analysis reporting to operations leadership.
Features
- Automated reordering based on consumption trends
- Integration with Power BI for real-time reporting
- User badge authentication for supply checkout
- Supply usage audit trail for OSHA compliance
- Automated vending limits for specific safety supplies
- Cost allocation by department/cost center
Results
The system improved safety stock availability by 96%, reduced supply-related incidents, and saved over $150,000 annually through more accurate cost tracking and proactive replenishment. It also contributed to a 35% reduction in reportable safety events related to missing or misused equipment.
Challenges & Learnings
Key challenges included coordinating deployments across multiple facilities with differing safety protocols, handling connectivity issues in remote locations, and ensuring that supply data synchronized correctly with internal reporting systems.
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