A ‘Touch’ of Upgrades for Employees in Office Buildings with Mitsubishi Corp
Not going to lie, but having a vending machine at your workplace sounds like a big help. During short breaks or in the last stretches of your working hours you may need some sugar boost. This activity requires you to go to the nearest canteen or minimarket. But when you work in a tall building, you have to do many steps in order to do this. You wait for the elevator to come, you walk to where the snacks are located, you queue when you pay, then walk back to your floor –it can be exhausting at times.
Sometimes it is the source of your light workout during work hours, we know. But if you go down to the ground floor to buy snacks that are high in calories, well, might as well have the snacks right on your floor because no calories will be burned even if you walk a mile. We’re not going to talk about your diet system here. But instead, we give you an idea of why a vending machine will fill in the gaps between your urge to snack and your lack of enthusiasm on cardio walking to the nearest canteen.
Vending machines at office buildings
We obviously have returned to a normal lifestyle, with extra care of course. This notes that most employees have returned to their respective office buildings and progressively alternated back to work-from-office settings. As the regulation is effective immediately, balancing the physical and emotional wellbeing of the employees after being in their comfort zones at home can be a challenge. So it sparks some intentions of making their office as comfortable as it can be.
The idea is to have a space where employees can still feel provided in a productive setting. Most modern office buildings have pantries or communal spaces to be the pit-stop for their busy work hours. They refill their water bottles there, they make coffee or tea, they have a snack, or maybe just want to catch up with weekend plans, they seem to do it there. Another thing to be noted is that these employees tend to snack. We all know snacking itself can do no harm to the working pace, but the wasted time to get the snack is quite counterproductive. Even if they go downstairs or order online, it can still take up some of their time. So why not use something that can bridge this?
By that, placing vending machines can be an option as a way to merge the blur lines between a communal space and a pantry. It is an efficient step when the snacks and drinks are not free but you don’t want to put an actual store in the communal space. Almost like having a mini minimart, without having to go outside the building and cutting the recess time. Most smart vending machines also accept payments with QR codes so it really can speed up the transaction time. Bonus cookie point if the machine is aesthetic and blends with the space.
Mitsubishi Corp with their advanced steps
Being in the central business district can make employees find it hard to go around. Mainly because they are in the middle of tall buildings around so they either order online or walk some extra steps to get snacks. Located in Sentral Senayan II, Central Jakarta, Mitsubishi Corp had an idea to place a vending machine for their employees. The company also takes this as an opportunity to display products from their subsidiaries from Mitsubishi Corp Living Essentials Indonesia (MCLEI). Such as bottled milk tea drinks from Ichitan, ramen cups from Nissin, breads from Yamazaki MyRoti and fresh choux pastries and roll cakes from MC Deli.
Employees can easily find the vending machine in the recess area. Not only that, there is also an employee benefit where they can claim one free snack each week. They can enter their phone number, receive the OTP code, type in the code on the screen and they can then choose which product they want, free of charge! As the vending machine is also a partnership with Octovending, employees can receive an instant cashback if they pay using CIMB Niaga. It just gets much sweeter from here, isn’t it?
You can also watch our full coverage on the vending machine at Mitsubishi Corp here.
Shelf-life management system
The bread, the choux pastries and the roll cakes get you into thinking. They have a short life that can go bad within days, so how are they even an option to be put inside a vending machine?
Smartven has invented a system where you can input the shelf-life of each product. Customers will not have to worry that they get a less decent product. How it works is that it will automatically give a discount whenever certain days have passed, and eventually it will not be available to be purchased.
As an example, a fresh choux pastry can last for up to five days when refrigerated. On the third day, it will show a 15% discount for the product. Then it will be on 25% sale on the fourth day, and then 50% sale on the last day before the expiry date. After it has passed all five days and it goes bad, the button becomes grey noting that it cannot be purchased. All of this management system happens simultaneously so you don’t have to do it manually to check.
Final notes
With an upgrade of a vending machine, employees can still enjoy their daily working life at the office building, especially for snacking. They don’t even have to do some cardio walking to the nearest minimarket, like what Mitsubishi Corp does with its employees. Know an office building that can use a vending machine or have a brand that you want to put in a vending machine for office buildings? You can click the button at the end of this article to have a free consultation with the Smartven team. For more information, you can also check our website and Instagram page. Happy working, stay healthy and see you soon!
