 |
 | |
| Type | Automated vending equipment manufacturer |
|---|---|
| Industry | Automated vending |
| Founded | 1926 |
| Founder | B. E. Fry |
| Products | Vending machines |
| Parent | Crane Co. |
| Website | www |
Crane Merchandising Systems is a designer and manufacturer of vending machines. Their manufacturing facility is located in Williston, South Carolina, United States. [1]
Crane Merchandising Systems was founded in 1926 by B. E. Fry, a St. Louis businessman, as the "National Sales Machine Company.[ citation needed ]" Fry invented a more foolproof vending machine that would only accept coins, unlike older machines, such as the "Smoketeria", a cigarette vending machine, which would accept things such as flat buttons and cardboard discs.
By 1931, National Sales Machine Company was a well established business, manufacturing a variety of merchandisers for various food products. However, The Great Depression proved too much for the company, and it went under in 1932. Soon thereafter, in the spring of 1933, Fry's son, B. W. Fry, reopened the company as National Vendors, Inc. In 1934, Al Diederich joined B. W. Fry in National Vendors, giving it the administrative strength it would need to grow during the tumultuous 30s and 40s.
During World War II, National Vendors took part in the war effort by producing mortar ammunitions casings. After the war, the company returned to the demand for convenient cigarette, candy and pastry vendors. In 1956, National Vendors was acquired by the Universal Match Company, allowing National Vendors to introduce several new products. In 1967, National Vendors introduced its first full line of automatic merchandising equipment. CMS was acquired by Crane Corporation in 1985, and became Crane National Vendors.
Today, Crane Merchandising Systems designs and manufactures a diverse, yet integrated portfolio of automatic merchandising equipment across multiple verticals, including hot and cold beverage, snack, and food. It also offers other vending solutions including Media touch screens, cashless processing, payment devices, vending management software, and wireless communication technology. The company is a segment of Crane Co., a diversified manufacturer of engineered industrial product. Crane Co. is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE:CR). Brad Tedder is the company's president.
In 2017, CMS retired its legacy National, Dixie-Narco, GPL, and Automatic Products brands in favor of the single Crane Merchandising Systems brand for all its products.
On March 30, 2023, Crane announced a spinoff of their Technology segment into a separate and publicly trade company, Crane NXT, Co. which launched on the NYSE on April 4, 2023 under the stock symbol CXT.
A vending machine is an automated machine that provides items such as snacks, beverages, cigarettes, and lottery tickets to consumers after cash, a credit card, or other forms of payment are inserted into the machine or otherwise made. The first modern vending machines were developed in England in the early 1880s and dispensed postcards. Vending machines exist in many countries and, in more recent times, specialized vending machines that provide less common products compared to traditional vending machine items have been created.
Atlas Copco is a Swedish multinational industrial company that was founded in 1873. It manufactures industrial tools and equipment.
The Maytag Corporation is an American home and commercial appliance company owned by Whirlpool Corporation since April 2006.
ZF Friedrichshafen AG, also known as ZF Group, originally Zahnradfabrik Friedrichshafen, and commonly abbreviated to ZF, is a global technology company supplying systems for passenger cars, commercial vehicles and industrial technology headquartered in Friedrichshafen, in the south-west German state of Baden-Württemberg. Specialising in engineering, it is primarily known for its design, research and development, and manufacturing activities in the automotive industry. It is a worldwide supplier of driveline and chassis technology for cars and commercial vehicles, along with specialist plant equipment such as construction equipment. It is also involved in rail, marine, defense and aviation industries, as well as general industrial applications. ZF has 168 production locations in 32 countries with approximately 165,000 (2022) employees.
American Machine and Foundry was one of the United States' largest recreational equipment companies, with diversified products as disparate as garden equipment, atomic reactors, and yachts.
The Vendo Company is a large manufacturer of cold beverage vending machines. Since its founding in 1937, Vendo has come out with many innovations that now exist in nearly every beverage and snack vending machine in use today. In 2005, Vendo moved its headquarters to Dallas, Texas, and was renamed SandenVendo America, Inc.
Dixie-Narco was a former brand of soda vending machines located in Williston, South Carolina owned by Crane Merchandising Systems.
The E. B. Eddy Company was a Canadian pulp and paper company, now a division of Domtar Inc. At the time of the purchase, the company had facilities in Hull, Quebec, Timmins, Ontario, Espanola, Ontario, Chapleau, Ontario, Pembroke, Ontario, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Delta, British Columbia and Port Huron, Michigan.
Bulk vending is the sale of unsorted confections, nuts, gumballs, toys and novelties selected at random and dispensed generally through non-electrically operated vending machines. Bulk vending is a separate segment of the vending industry from full-line vending — i.e., the snack and soda vending industries — and involves different products and strategies. Bulk vending represents less than 1% of the total vending industry.
Crane Holdings, Co. is an American industrial products company based in Stamford, Connecticut. Founded by Richard Teller Crane in 1855, it became one of the leading manufacturers of bathroom fixtures in the United States, until 1990, when that division was sold off. In 1960 it began the process of becoming a holding company with a diverse portfolio. Its business segments are Aerospace & Electronics, Engineered Materials, Payment and Merchandising Technology, Fluid Handling, and Controls. Industries served by these segments include chemical industries, commercial construction, food and beverage, general and commercial aviation, and power generation.
J&J Snack Foods Corporation (JJSFC) is an American manufacturer, marketer, and distributor of name brand snack foods and frozen beverages. Headquartered in Pennsauken, NJ, JJSF uses over 175 facilities for manufacturing, warehousing, and distributing located in 44 states, Mexico, and Canada. The company is listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market as “JJSFC”, and serves both national and international markets.
The Manitowoc Company, Inc. was founded in 1902 and, through its wholly owned subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, markets, and supports mobile telescopic cranes, tower cranes, lattice-boom crawler cranes, and boom trucks under the Grove, Manitowoc, National Crane, Potain, Shuttlelift and Manitowoc Crane Care brand names.
The Mills Novelty Company, Incorporated of Chicago was once a leading manufacturer of coin-operated machines, including slot machines, vending machines, and jukeboxes, in the United States. Between about 1905 and 1930, the company's products included the Mills Violano-Virtuoso and its predecessors, celebrated machines that automatically played a violin and, after about 1909, a piano. By 1944, the name of the company had changed to Mills Industries, Incorporated. The slot machine division was then owned by Bell-O-Matic Corporation. By the late 1930s, vending machines were being installed by Mills Automatic Merchandising Corporation of New York.
Dover Corporation is an American conglomerate manufacturer of industrial products. The Downers Grove, Illinois-based company was founded in 1955. As of 2021, Dover's business was divided into five segments: Engineered Products, Clean Energy and Fueling, Imaging & Identification, Pumps & Process Solutions and Climate and Sustainability Technologies. Dover is a constituent of the S&P 500 index and trades on the New York Stock Exchange under "DOV". Dover was ranked 433rd in the 2022 Fortune 500. The company relocated its headquarters to Illinois from New York in mid-2010.
Micro Markets are a retail sector, closely tied to the vending machine industry, that utilizes automated self-checkout technology to operate in locations that require unattended payment capability. Grab-and-go Micro Markets are unattended retail environments where consumers can purchase products from open shelves, coolers, or freezers. Consumers use a self-checkout kiosk to purchase their products, or advanced AI technology that is leveraged to facilitate a seamless experience. They are a hybrid form of vending, foodservice, coffee service, and convenience stores that provide an improved customer experience, exponentially greater product variety, and increased sales within a single location, while keeping labor costs down and increasing operational efficiencies. Given the market sector in which Micro Markets exist, the National Automatic Merchandising Association (NAMA) “recognize[s] [Micro Markets] as one of its focus channels along with vending, foodservice and refreshment services". The COVID-19 pandemic is expected to drive innovation in the self-checkout model as vendors are looking for ways to provide safe, touchless, and easy-to-use self-checkout solutions to protect both employees and customers.
Manitowoc Cranes is a division of The Manitowoc Company, Inc. Manitowoc Cranes produces five brands of cranes: Grove, National Crane, Shuttlelift, Manitowoc, and Potain. In addition, Manitowoc has two distribution businesses based in the U.S.: Aspen Equipment and MGX Equipment Services.
Utz Brands, Inc., more commonly known as Utz, is a large American snack food company based in Hanover, Pennsylvania. The company produces a wide variety of potato chips, pretzels, and other snacks, with most of its products primarily sold under their family of brands. Utz is also a leading snack supplier to Warehouse Clubs and Mass Merchandisers nationwide.
Mettler Toledo is a multinational manufacturer of scales and analytical instruments. It is the largest provider of weighing instruments for use in laboratory, industrial, and food retailing applications. The company also provides various analytical instruments, process analytics instruments, and end-of-line inspection systems. The company operates worldwide with 70% of net sales, derived in equal parts, from Europe and from the Americas. Asian business is included in the remaining 30%. Mettler Toledo is headquartered in Switzerland and incorporated in the United States.
Sanden Corporation is a Japanese, Isesaki, Gunma-based automotive equipment and electrical equipment manufacturing company and is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
TriGem Computer Co., Ltd., was a South Korean personal computer manufacturer and technology company. Established in 1980, TriGem was the first Korean company dedicated to manufacturing computer systems. It delivered Korea's first microcomputer in 1981 and the first Korean IBM PC compatibles in 1984. From that point until its breakup in 2010, it alternated between the first- and second-largest computer manufacturer in South Korea, competing with Samsung Electronics.