Coca-Cola Bottling Co. United Deploys MEI Easitrax Telemetry On 7,000 Vending Machines

Coca-Cola Bottling Co. United (CCBCU), which services 30,000 machines on 120 different routes across Mississippi, South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Tennessee, has successfully deployed MEI Easitrax with telemetry in three of its 10 markets, totaling 7,000 online machines.
Since deploying the technology, CCBCU has been able to increase route efficiencies by 25 percent. The company also reports that drivers and other employees are now able to spend their time more productively, leading to improvements, for example, in customer satisfaction due to increased machine uptime.  
“This has really helped catapult our company’s profitability,” said David Sours, director of commercial leadership for CCBCU in a prepared statement. “We have dramatically increased route efficiency, closed the loop on cash accountability, and improved driver productivity. And we’ve improved customer service by being more proactive in servicing machines.”
The deployment followed a trial on a 250-machine route in Chattanooga, Tenn. that delivered a 150 percent return on investment (ROI) and huge productivity improvements in cases per fill, stops per day and cases per day for each driver. CCBCU went from averaging 13 service calls per week on that route to one or fewer per week because they were able to repair machines proactively.
CCBCU cites the following advantages of Easitrax with telemetry technology:
•    Closed-loop cash accountability
•    Remote insight into health of machines
•    Increased route efficiency
•    Less wear and tear on trucks
•    Lower inventory costs
•    Fewer routes and trucks
•    Less labor
•    Improved customer satisfaction
•    Improved sales/increased machine uptime
CCBCU plans to roll out the complete MEI solution, including telemeters and driver handheld devices, throughout its remaining seven markets and 23,000 machines by 2013.