Vending Machine System

The vending machine system optimizes product replenishment through real-time sales data analysis and strategic restocking to minimize surplus and exposure, addressing the waste and workload issues of temperature-sensitive products.

JP7782302B2Active Publication Date: 2025-12-09FUJI ELECTRIC CO LTD
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Patent Information

Application Number
JP2022027150
Authority / Receiving Office
JP · JP
Patent Type
Patents
Current Assignee / Owner
Filing Date
2022-02-24
Publication Date
2025-12-09
Estimated Expiration
2042-02-24

AI Technical Summary

Technical Problem

The existing methods for replenishing vending machines result in surplus temperature-sensitive products like ice cream being exposed to outside temperatures, leading to waste due to melting and increased workload for route workers.

Method used

A vending machine system that includes a management server and mobile terminal to optimize product replenishment by calculating pre-tour quantities, adjusting based on real-time sales data, and guiding workers to minimize surplus products, prioritizing their restocking at nearby machines.

Benefits of technology

Reduces waste of temperature-controlled products by minimizing exposure to outside temperatures and optimizing inventory management, thereby reducing the workload on route workers.

✦ Generated by Eureka AI based on patent content.

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Abstract

To provide a vending machine system capable of reducing disposal loss of a temperature control commodity such as ice cream.SOLUTION: When a route man 100 arrives in the vicinity of a vending machine 1 to be replenished with commodities and parks a delivery vehicle 20, a portable terminal 10 notifies a management server 31 of arrival by operation of the route man 100 before replenished commodities are unloaded. When an arrival notice is received from the portable terminal 10, a management server 31 calculates a present number of commodities that can be replenished based on present commodities sales information of the vending machine 1 that performs replenishment work to notify the portable terminal 10 of, based on the number of difference between the number of commodities to be replenished before patrol and the number of commodities that can be replenished that are loaded on the delivery vehicle 20, presence / absence of surplus commodities that cannot be replenished and the number of difference. When there are surplus commodities that cannot be replenished, based on the notification from the management server 31, the portable terminal 10 guides and displays unloading of minimum necessary replenished commodities based on the number of difference.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1
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Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a vending machine system that can reduce waste of temperature-controlled products such as ice cream. [Background technology]

[0002] At beverage manufacturers that install vending machines, route men visit each vending machine to collect sales proceeds, replenish change, and replenish products.

[0003] One proposal is to put vending machines online and determine the amount of merchandise to be replenished based on the vending machine's sales data (see Non-Patent Document 1). However, there is a time lag between when merchandise is loaded onto a delivery truck and when the truck actually arrives at the vending machine and replenishes the merchandise. For this reason, route workers anticipate product sales and load more merchandise onto the delivery truck than is actually needed at the time of loading. In this case, if there are any surplus merchandise after visiting multiple vending machines, they will be taken back to a sorting area, warehouse, or other location. When merchandise is taken back, it must not remain on the delivery truck for product management purposes, but must be returned to each individual product management space, which is time-consuming. Furthermore, taking merchandise back may result in a loss of sales opportunities for that product.

[0004] Therefore, Patent Document 1 obtains the number of products loaded on a delivery vehicle that delivers products to be replenished to a predetermined number of vending machines, and if the number of products loaded on the delivery vehicle includes a surplus that exceeds the number of products planned to be replenished to the multiple vending machines, it selects at least one vending machine that can replenish the surplus, and notifies the user of information about the selected at least one vending machine. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0005] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2014-199486 [Non-patent literature]

[0006] [Non-Patent Document 1] "DoCo Remote Net V2" http: / / www.nttdocomo.co.jp / biz / service / docoremonetv2 / Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0007] As described above, when visiting each vending machine to replenish products, the number of items picked, which is the number of items loaded onto the delivery vehicle, may differ from the number of items replenished at the time of replenishment. In this case, the surplus items are returned to the delivery vehicle. When replenishing products, the route man parks the delivery vehicle in a parking lot near the vending machine, unloads the replenished items, and transports them to the vending machine using a cart or the like. Therefore, when surplus products occur, the route man transports the surplus products from the delivery vehicle to the vending machine and then returns the surplus products to the delivery vehicle, which places a heavy workload on the route man.

[0008] When route workers transport goods to replenish inventory, including surplus items, temperature-sensitive items such as ice cream, dairy products, and frozen foods may be exposed to the outside air and exceed their temperature control range, causing the products to melt and increasing the risk of the products being discarded.

[0009] The present invention has been made in view of the above, and aims to provide a vending machine system that can reduce waste of temperature-controlled products such as ice cream. [Means for solving the problem]

[0010] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems and achieve the object, the present invention provides a vending machine system that includes a plurality of vending machines and a management server connected to a mobile terminal of a traveling worker who replenishes products to each vending machine along a predetermined delivery route, wherein the management server acquires product inventory for each vending machine based on product sales information acquired from each vending machine, calculates a product replenishment number for each vending machine based on the acquired product inventory number, and calculates a pre-tour replenishment number, which is the number of products to be replenished before a tour for each product to be patrolled, based on the replenishment number, and the traveling worker replenishes products to each vending machine by loading the replenishment products equivalent to the pre-tour replenishment number into a delivery vehicle and making the rounds, and the mobile terminal When the traveling worker arrives near a vending machine to be replenished and parks the delivery truck, the traveling worker operates the delivery truck to notify the management server of the arrival before unloading the replenished products, and when the management server receives the arrival notification from the mobile terminal, it calculates the current number of products that can be replenished based on the current product sales information of the vending machine to be replenished, and based on the difference between the number of products replenished before the tour loaded on the delivery truck and the number of products that can be replenished, it notifies the mobile terminal of whether there are any surplus products that cannot be replenished and the difference, and if there are any surplus products that cannot be replenished based on the notification from the management server, the mobile terminal displays a guide to unload the minimum necessary replenishment products based on the difference.

[0011] Furthermore, in the above invention, the present invention is characterized in that, when there is surplus merchandise that cannot be replenished, and there is a shortage of the same merchandise in subsequent vending machines, the management server issues a replenishment guide or instruction to replenish the surplus merchandise as replenishment merchandise for the delivery vehicle.

[0012] In the present invention, the management server issues a replenishment notice or instruction to replenish products, giving priority to the replenishment products that first became surplus products.

[0013] In the above invention, the surplus products include products that have been withdrawn from the vending machine in conjunction with product replacement.

[0014] Furthermore, in the above invention, if there is a vending machine within a predetermined range of the vending machine that has been restocked that sells the same product as the surplus product and that is capable of restocking the surplus product, the management server will, after restocking the product, provide the patrolling worker with a replenishment guide or replenishment instruction to restock the surplus product at the vending machine via the mobile terminal, even if there is no scheduled visit to the vending machine.

[0015] Furthermore, in the above invention, the present invention is characterized in that, when a withdrawn product is withdrawn from a vending machine as a result of product replacement, and a vending machine that makes a rotation after the product replacement replenishes the same product as the withdrawn product, the management server sets the number of products replenished before the rotation to a number obtained by subtracting and offsetting the number of products replenished that are the same as the withdrawn product.

[0016] In addition, in the above invention, the present invention is characterized in that, in a vending machine that replaces ice cream products, if there is a product to be removed when the product is replaced, the management server lowers the management set temperature of the vending machine before making its rounds. [Effects of the Invention]

[0017] According to the present invention, it is possible to reduce waste of temperature-controlled products such as ice cream. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0018] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the general configuration of a vending machine system according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of vending machine inventory information. [Figure 3] FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of delivery vehicle inventory information. [Figure 4]FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram showing the procedure for replenishing products for each vending machine in the vending machine system. [Figure 5] FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a product replenishment process. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram showing the steps of a product replenishment process for each vending machine in the first variation of the vending machine system. [Figure 7] FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a product replenishment process according to the first modification. [Figure 8] FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a product replenishment process according to the second modification. [Figure 9] FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a product replenishment process according to the third modification. [Figure 10] FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing the concept of the product replenishment process according to the fourth modification. [Figure 11] FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the procedure for the management server to lower the management temperature setting of the vending machine. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0019] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0020] <Structure of money handling device> FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the overall configuration of a vending machine system according to an embodiment of the present invention. This vending machine system includes communication units 11 and 12 for multiple vending machines 1 and 2, and a management server 31 connected to a mobile terminal 10 of a routeman 100, a traveling worker who performs tasks including replenishing products at each of the vending machines 1 and 2 along a predetermined delivery route R. In addition to replenishing products, the routeman 100's tasks include troubleshooting, collecting sales proceeds, and providing change. In this example, the vending machines 1 and 2 are ice cream vending machines that sell ice cream. The vending machines 1 and 2 are an example of multiple vending machines.

[0021] Management server 31 is a server on cloud 30 and contains vending machine DB 32, inventory DB 33, and delivery plan information 34. Vending machine DB 32 stores static information about vending machines 1 and 2, such as their installation locations and product configuration information. Inventory DB 33 stores dynamic information, such as vending machine inventory information D1 and delivery vehicle inventory information D2. Vending machine inventory information D1 contains inventory information for each vending machine. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the vending machine's installation location, product name, inventory quantity, and replenishment quantity are updated almost in real time. The inventory quantity is updated based on the details sent from the vending machine, and the replenishment quantity is notified via communication units 11 and 12 when routeman 100 completes product replenishment. Delivery vehicle inventory information D2 contains inventory information for delivery vehicle 20. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, product name and inventory are stored for each delivery vehicle. Inventory is divided into the number of cases and the number of pieces, and the total inventory quantity is managed. This delivery vehicle inventory information D2 is updated each time a vending machine is replenished. Delivery plan information 34 is information related to delivery plans, such as delivery routes, delivery dates, delivery vehicles, and the number of products to be loaded (number of products replenished before a tour: number of pickings). The management server 31 also manages sales data and other data.

[0022] The management server 31 obtains the inventory quantity for each vending machine 1, 2 based on the product sales information obtained from the detailed itemized statements sent from each vending machine 1, 2. On the day before the delivery date, the management server 31 calculates the number of items to be replenished for each vending machine 1, 2 based on the inventory quantity obtained on the previous day, and also calculates the pre-tour replenishment quantity (picking quantity), which is the number of items to be replenished for each product before the tour for each vending machine 1, 2 that will be visited, based on the replenishment quantity. This pre-tour replenishment quantity is a value that predicts product sales when products are replenished to the vending machines on the delivery date. For example, if products are picked the day before delivery, the pre-tour replenishment quantity is the sum of the number of items to be replenished on the day before delivery and the average daily number of products sold in the week up to the day before.

[0023] Management server 31 sends a delivery plan including the pre-tour replenishment product numbers to food management warehouse 101. Although the delivery plan may be sent to mobile terminal 10, management server 31 sends the delivery plan to a terminal (not shown) in food management warehouse 101, and based on this, a delivery plan is passed to each routeman 100. Routeman 100 loads replenishment products onto delivery vehicle 20 based on the delivery plan at food management warehouse 101 at installation location LO. The number of products loaded becomes the delivery vehicle inventory number before the tour.

[0024] On the day of delivery, routeman 100 drives delivery van 20, which was loaded with products the day before delivery, along delivery route R to replenish each vending machine 1, 2. When delivery van 20 arrives at parking lot PP1 near installation location LP1 of the first vending machine 1, routeman 100 sends an arrival notification to management server 31 via mobile terminal 10 indicating that delivery van 20 has arrived at vending machine 1 before unloading the replenished products. Note that at least an app (application software) related to product replenishment is pre-installed and registered on the mobile terminal.

[0025] Upon receiving this arrival notification, management server 31 calculates the current number of products that can be replenished based on current product sales information, and notifies mobile terminal 10 of the presence or absence of surplus products that cannot be replenished and the difference in number based on the difference between the number of products loaded by the delivery van before its tour and the current number of products that can be replenished. Mobile terminal 10, which has received the presence or absence of surplus products that cannot be replenished and the difference in number, displays a message regarding unloading. For example, if there are surplus products that cannot be replenished, a message to that effect and the number of products that will not be unloaded is displayed. If there are no surplus products that cannot be replenished, a message to the effect that there is no change in the number to be unloaded is displayed. This reduces the workload of routeman 100, who uses cart 40 or the like to transport replenishment products from delivery van 20 to vending machine 1, as he does not need to transport unnecessary surplus products and does not need to return surplus products that could not be replenished from vending machine 1 from vending machine 1 to delivery van 20. In particular, when surplus merchandise is transported between delivery truck 20 and a vending machine, the combined time required for restocking and other tasks, combined with the time required for transportation, increases the risk of the surplus merchandise melting due to the outside temperature, resulting in product waste. However, in this embodiment, the surplus merchandise is not affected by the outside temperature, so product waste can be reduced. After that, when delivery truck 20 arrives at parking lot PP2 near location LP2 where the next vending machine 2 is installed, route man 100 performs the same restocking operation on vending machine 2 as he performed on vending machine 1.

[0026] <Product replenishment process> 4 is a sequence diagram showing the steps of replenishing products for each vending machine in the vending machine system. Note that management server 31 obtains product sales details from vending machines 1 and 2 via communication units 11 and 12 in almost real time.

[0027] 4, when delivery van 20 arrives at a parking lot near the vending machine installation location (Step S101: Yes), mobile terminal 10 notifies management server 31 of the arrival notification (Step S102). Upon receiving this arrival notification, management server 31 calculates the current number of products that can be replenished and calculates the difference between this and the number of products replenished before the tour (number of picks) (Step S103). Management server 31 then notifies mobile terminal 10 of the presence or absence of surplus products that cannot be replenished and the difference (Step S104).

[0028] Thereafter, when the mobile terminal 10 receives information on whether or not there are any surplus products that cannot be replenished and the difference in the number of products, it displays a guide regarding unloading (step S105). This prevents unnecessary unloading of surplus products and reduces product waste. Thereafter, when the work including the replenishment work by the routeman 100 is completed (step S106: Yes), the mobile terminal 10 notifies the management server 31 that the work is complete (step S107). Meanwhile, upon receiving the work completion notification, the management server 31 updates the inventory DB 33 (step S108) and ends the product replenishment process for one vending machine.

[0029] <Example of product replenishment process> Fig. 5 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of product replenishment processing. As shown in Fig. 5, in this vending machine, the sales volume of product A was lower than expected, so the number of items picked for product A (the number of items replenished before the round) was greater than the current number that could be replenished, and the surplus products that could not be replenished are stored in inventory in the delivery vehicle and are not unloaded.

[0030] On the other hand, contrary to expectations, sales of product B were higher, so the number of items picked for product B was less than the current number that could be replenished, no surplus products were generated, and all of the items picked were replenished as the number to be loaded on that day.

[0031] <Variation 1> In the above embodiment, there is a possibility that surplus merchandise may increase in delivery vehicle 20 as the replenishment process progresses. In delivery vehicle 20, surplus merchandise that cannot be replenished will melt and have to be discarded if taken home, especially when the outside temperature is high in the summer, so it is important to reduce the amount of surplus merchandise in delivery vehicle 20. Therefore, in this first variation, the surplus merchandise is replenished in vending machines on the following delivery route R or in nearby vending machines, thereby reducing the amount of surplus merchandise in delivery vehicle 20.

[0032] 6 is a sequence diagram showing the steps of replenishing products for each vending machine in the vending machine system according to Variation 1. Note that management server 31 acquires product sales details from vending machines 1 and 2 via communication units 11 and 12 in almost real time.

[0033] 6, when delivery van 20 arrives at a parking lot near the vending machine installation location (step S201: Yes), mobile terminal 10 notifies management server 31 of the arrival (step S202). Upon receiving this arrival notification, management server 31 calculates the current number of products that can be replenished, and calculates the difference between this and the number of products replenished before the tour (number of products picked) (step S203).

[0034] Thereafter, the management server 31 determines whether or not there are any surplus products that cannot be replenished (step S204). The management server 31 notifies the mobile terminal 10 of the presence or absence of such products and the number of differences (step S104). If there are any surplus products that cannot be replenished (step S204: Yes), the management server 31 notifies the mobile terminal 10 of the presence of surplus products and the number of differences (step S205).

[0035] On the other hand, if there are no surplus products that cannot be replenished (step S204: No), the management server 31 further determines whether there are insufficient replenishment products (step S206). If there are insufficient replenishment products (step S206: Yes), the management server 31 determines whether there are any more surplus products (step S207). If there are surplus products (step S207: Yes), a notification that there are surplus products that can be replenished is sent to the mobile terminal 10 (step S208). In this case, it is preferable to include information that replenishes surplus products that have become surplus products first, with priority given to replenishment.

[0036] If there is no shortage of replenished products (step S206: No), or if there are no surplus products (step S207: No), the mobile terminal 10 is notified that there is no change in replenishment of products (step S209).

[0037] Upon receiving the notifications in steps S205, S208, and S209, the mobile terminal 10 displays a guide corresponding to each notification (step S210). When the notification in step S208 is received, for example, a guide display for additional replenishment such as "Please add two more bottles of product A" is displayed. The additional replenishment of surplus products may be instructed by the management server 31, or may be at the discretion of the route man 100 who refers to the guide display.

[0038] Thereafter, when the work including the replenishment work of the routeman 100 is completed (step S211: Yes), the mobile terminal 10 notifies the management server 31 of the completion of the work (step S212). Meanwhile, upon receiving the work completion notification, the management server 31 updates the inventory DB 33 (step S213) and completes the product replenishment process for one vending machine.

[0039] <Example of product replenishment process> Figure 7 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of product replenishment processing according to Variation 1. Here, surplus products have occurred in vending machine 1, and these surplus products are used to replenish the shortage in vending machine 2. As shown in Figure 7, in vending machine 1, the sales volume of both products A and B was lower than expected, so the number of products picked (product replenishment numbers before the round) for products A and B is greater than the current number that can be replenished, and the surplus products that cannot be replenished are stored as inventory in the delivery vehicle and are not unloaded.

[0040] Meanwhile, in vending machine 2, the sales of both products A and B were higher than expected, so the number of items picked for products A and B was less than the current number that could be replenished, and no surplus products were generated. Then, all of the items picked were replenished as the number to be loaded that day, and the replenishment items were not full, but the surplus products A and B generated in vending machine 1 were used to replenish the shortage of products in vending machine 2. This allows the number of surplus products in stock in delivery vehicle 20 to be reduced.

[0041] <Variation 2> When a new product is sold or other product replacement occurs, the inventory in the vending machine before the replacement is withdrawn and the new product is replenished. In this case, the withdrawn product becomes inventory in the delivery vehicle. Therefore, in this second variation, the withdrawn product withdrawn from the vending machine in conjunction with the product replacement is treated as surplus product, and as in the first variation, the surplus product is replenished as replenishment product, thereby reducing the surplus product in delivery vehicle 20.

[0042] <Example of product replenishment process> FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a product replenishment process according to Modification 2. Here, in vending machine 1, product C is replaced with product A, and the withdrawn product A is managed as a surplus product. Furthermore, product B is a surplus product resulting from the product replenishment. Here, in Modification 2, in vending machine 2, the withdrawn product A is treated as a surplus product of product A, and product A is replenished as a replenishment product. Furthermore, the surplus product of product B is replenished with product B as a replenishment product of product B. This makes it possible to reduce the number of surplus products in stock in delivery vehicle 20.

[0043] <Variation 3> Since it is known in advance that product A will be replaced with product C, when a product is removed from the vending machine as a result of the product replacement, and a vending machine that makes a rotation after the product replacement replenishes the same product as the removed product, the management server 31 may set the number of products replenished before the rotation to a number obtained by subtracting the number of products replenished that are the same as the pulled product and offsetting the result.

[0044] 9 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a product replenishment process according to Modification 3. As shown in Fig. 9, the product C to be withdrawn when product C is replaced with product A in vending machine 1 is predicted, and this withdrawn product C is planned as a replenishment product for product C in vending machine 2. This reduces the number of product Cs to be picked, and makes it possible to reduce surplus product Cs in delivery vehicle 20.

[0045] <Variation 4> Incidentally, even if the vending machine is not on delivery route R, if there is a vending machine nearby that has currently completed restocking that can replenish the same product as the surplus product, restocking this vending machine will be a more efficient way to reduce the surplus product in the delivery vehicle. In other words, if there is a vending machine that sells the same product as the surplus product and that can replenish the surplus product within a predetermined range of the vending machine that has been restocked, management server 31 will, after restocking, send a replenishment guide or replenishment instruction to routeman 100 via mobile terminal 10 to replenish the surplus product to vending machines within the predetermined range, even if there is no scheduled visit to that vending machine.

[0046] 10 is an explanatory diagram showing the concept of product replenishment processing according to Modification 4. As shown in Fig. 10, vending machines 1 and 2 are located along delivery route R, and vending machine 3, which is not located along delivery route R, is located within a predetermined range E of radius r from vending machine 1. Here, if there are surplus products remaining in delivery vehicle 20 that are the same as the replenishment products in vending machine 3 when replenishment of vending machine 1 is completed, management server 31 sends a replenishment guide or instruction to mobile terminal 10 to replenish vending machine 3 with the surplus products.

[0047] In this case, the routeman 100 does not move the delivery vehicle 20, but instead unloads the surplus products from the delivery vehicle 20 and transports them to the vending machine 3 to replenish the products. Note that the condition for replenishing surplus products in a vending machine 3 outside the delivery route R is not limited to being within a predetermined range E, but may also be that the number of products replenished in the vending machine 3 is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, or may be an additional condition.

[0048] <Variation 5> When replacing products, the previous inventory in the vending machine is removed, new products are replenished, and the removed products are returned to the delivery truck. However, because the product replacement process takes time, the removed products may melt due to the outside temperature. Therefore, in this variation 5, in a vending machine that replaces ice cream products, if there are products to be removed when replacing products, the control temperature setting of the vending machine is lowered before the round. This instruction to lower the control temperature setting is sent to the vending machine by the management server 31, which has delivery plan information 34. Note that even if the control temperature setting is lowered in advance, it does not affect the replenished products, because it is the removed products that are cooled.

[0049] 11 is a flowchart showing the processing steps for lowering the control set temperature of a vending machine by management server 31. As shown in FIG. 11, first, management server 31 references delivery plan information 34 and determines whether or not there is a product replacement in the delivery plan (step S301). If there is a product replacement (step S301: Yes), it further determines whether or not there is a product to be removed remaining in the vending machine (step S302). If there is a product to be removed remaining in the vending machine (step S302: Yes), management server 31 instructs the vending machine that will be replaced to lower the control set temperature from the previous day (step S303).

[0050] It is then determined whether or not the sales suspension conditions are met (Step S304). An example of a sales suspension condition is when the number of withdrawn product sales per day exceeds a predetermined number. If the sales suspension conditions are met (Step S304: Yes), a sales suspension message is displayed (Step S305), and the process ends. On the other hand, if there is no replacement of the product (Step S301: No), if there are no withdrawn products left in the vending machine (Step S302: No), or if the sales suspension conditions are not met (Step S304: No), the process ends.

[0051] The reason for displaying the "Sales Suspension" sign is that in vending machines that sell products, the ice cream products have hardened due to cooling, making them unsuitable for sale. Also, in vending machines that sell products, the ice cream products may be cooled at an appropriate temperature that is not too low in the management set temperature, so that the ice cream products do not harden too much.

[0052] Furthermore, in the above embodiment and modifications 1 to 4, temperature-controlled products such as ice cream, dairy products, and frozen foods have been described as targets, but the present invention is not limited to these and can also be applied to general canned beverage products and the like.

[0053] Note that the configurations illustrated in the above-described embodiments are merely functional schematics and are not necessarily physically configured as shown. In other words, the distribution and integration of each device and component is not limited to that illustrated, and all or part of them can be functionally or physically distributed and integrated in any unit depending on various usage situations, etc. [Explanation of symbols]

[0054] 1,2,3 Vending Machine 10 Mobile devices 11,12 Communication unit 20 Delivery vehicle 30 Cloud 31 Management Server 32 Vending machine database 33 Inventory DB 34 Delivery plan information 40 carts 100 Routeman 101 Food storage A,B,C products D1 Vending machine inventory information D2 Delivery vehicle inventory information E. Prescribed range LO, LP1, LP2 installation location PP1, PP2 parking lot R Delivery Route r radius

Claims

1. A vending machine system comprising a plurality of vending machines and a management server connected to a mobile terminal of a traveling worker who replenishes products to each vending machine along a predetermined delivery route, wherein the management server acquires product inventory for each vending machine based on product sales information acquired from each vending machine, calculates a product replenishment number for each vending machine based on the acquired product inventory number, and calculates a pre-tour replenishment number, which is the number of products to be replenished before a tour for each product to be patrolled, based on the replenishment number, and the traveling worker replenishes products to each vending machine by loading the replenishment products equivalent to the pre-tour replenishment number into a delivery vehicle and making the rounds, When the traveling worker arrives near the vending machine to which the product is to be replenished and parks the delivery vehicle, the mobile terminal notifies the management server of the arrival of the delivery vehicle by operation of the traveling worker before unloading the replenished product, When the management server receives the arrival notification from the mobile terminal, it calculates the current number of products that can be replenished based on the current product sales information of the vending machine that will be replenished, and based on the difference between the number of products that can be replenished before the delivery vehicle's tour and the number of products that can be replenished, it notifies the mobile terminal of the presence or absence of surplus products that cannot be replenished and the difference. The vending machine system is characterized in that, based on notification from the management server, if there is surplus product that cannot be replenished, the mobile terminal displays guidance on unloading the minimum amount of replenishment product based on the difference in number.

2. The vending machine system according to claim 1, characterized in that, when there is surplus product that cannot be replenished, if there is a shortage of the same product in subsequent vending machines, the management server issues a replenishment guide or replenishment instruction to use the surplus product as a replenishment product for the delivery vehicle.

3. 3. The vending machine system according to claim 2, wherein the management server issues a replenishment notice or a replenishment instruction to prioritize the replenishment product that first became the surplus product.

4. 4. The vending machine system according to claim 2, wherein the surplus products include products that have been withdrawn from the vending machine in conjunction with product replacement.

5. The vending machine system of any one of claims 2 to 4, characterized in that if there is a vending machine within a predetermined range of the vending machine that has been replenished that sells the same product as the surplus product and is capable of replenishing the surplus product, the management server, after replenishing the product, sends a replenishment guide or replenishment instruction to the patrolling worker via the mobile terminal to replenish the surplus product at the vending machine, even if there is no scheduled visit to the vending machine.

6. The vending machine system described in any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that when a withdrawn product is withdrawn from a vending machine as a result of product replacement, and a vending machine that rotates after the product replacement replenishes the same product as the withdrawn product, the management server sets the number of products replenished before the rotation to a number obtained by subtracting the number of products replenished that are the same as the withdrawn product and offsetting the two.

7. The vending machine system according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the management server lowers the management set temperature of a vending machine that replaces ice cream products before making a round if there is a product to be removed when the product is replaced.

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