By a strange coincidence, just after I wrote my Display Daily about ATMs (Another Birthday for Technology) and mentioned a baguette dispenser that I had seen in France, I saw a story that another French vending machine maker, SAS Adial has upgraded its pizza dispenser (which it has been selling since 2002) to use PCap technology from Zytronic and use a full colour LCD display. The new design was developed by Eurocomposant
Delphine Haton, of Eurocomposant, explained the challenging nature of the application. “Adial required a relatively large touch screen, of 31.5” diagonal, which needed to operate reliably, despite the high levels of wear and tear that self-service systems deployed in unattended outdoor locations are subjected to. The quality of the touch performance and the dependability of the screens needed to be very high, as snack foods such as pizzas can often be impulse purchases and customers will walk away if the interaction with the system is unreliable or difficult. Furthermore, although ADIAL is a leader in this market, the quantities of vending machines built are relatively low.”
Haton added “We have had considerable experience of using its touchscreens in outdoor, public locations, exposed to the weather, extreme temperatures and the risk of vandalism and abuse. The quality of its touch performance is also exceptional – they genuinely provide a tablet-like performance, even on a large format touch screen. Zytronic’s flexible manufacturing process also allows ADIAL to order touch sensors as required in the volumes needed to fulfil orders as received. As a result, Adial is delighted with the result.”
Vincent of Le Gouic said “The touch screen enabled version of PizzaDoor has proved extremely popular, and now accounts for the majority of the machines sold. Demand was such that we ran out of touch screens at one point. Fortunately, Zytronic was able to respond quickly and allowed us to fulfil orders without a serious delay.”
Zytronic provided a 31.5” diagonal, dual-touch Zybrid touch sensor featuring a durable 6mm thick anti-glare glass, with a custom printed black border. Zytronic also laminates UV blocking and IR blocking filters to the rear of the touchscreens for the purely outdoor version of the pizza vending machine, enhancing the protection for the LCD behind. The machines dispense a crisp pizza in three minutes.
Adial said that adding touch has boosted sales by 30%.
