Operations
Service interval
Term from the vending glossary
The designated time interval between regular maintenance visits by a technician. Typical: 30/90/365-day cycles. Intervals that are too short increase service costs; intervals that are too long increase the risk of machine failures. Modern IoT platforms replace fixed intervals with condition-based maintenance (Predictive Maintenance) as telemetry data becomes available.
The service interval defines how frequently a machine is serviced—for restocking, cleaning, and inspection. It is a compromise between two cost pressures: frequent visits increase service costs; infrequent visits result in empty slots and machine failures.
Two distinct requirements operate in parallel. Restocking demand depends on product sales and can be planned based on sales data; manufacturer hygiene and maintenance requirements, by contrast, are fixed schedules independent of sales performance. Planning solely by sales volume will eventually breach the manufacturer's requirements—with consequences that no revenue can offset.