News

3M offers personal protective equipment kiosk

April 28, 2014

3M Vending Solutions is marketing a kiosk that dispenses essential safety products for mining and other industries such as oil, gas, construction, manufacturing and maintenance workshops.

The kiosks increase productivity by providing a continual supply of essential products. They also control inventory and cut costs by providing controlled distribution of personal protective equipment (PPE) and industrial consumables. Other benefits of the kiosks include protection from dust and assistance with PPE regulatory compliance.

"Our machines can be configured to dispense a variety of products, including industrial, electrical, office and healthcare consumables — everything from protective eyewear, grinding discs and respirators to first aid supplies or stationery supplies," 3M says.

Workers access the products by swiping their card or tags, enter the code for the item they require and collect the item from the kiosk's bin. 3M says its kiosks can work with a variety of site access systems including RFID.

The kiosks eliminate product waste and unauthorized usage, and reduce procurement and inventory costs, according to 3M. Also, by identifying contractors, they give companies the option to back-charge for product usage.

3M has a web-based maintenance and monitoring software system that controls and monitors its vending machines. This system tracks transactions by employee, machine or product and generates usage reports which can be used for inventory management, budgeting and cost recharge.