Wednesday 8 May 2019

Sports Betting Whizz Design

Having work in field of self service kiosk hardware manufacturing for 14 years you learn a thing or two in this time,  in 2012 we were asked by a new start up to develop an exciting design thus was borne our first foray into sports betting but this spurned our passion for desire to improve and then in 2014 we launched our first Whizz design.
Whizz encompasses several important features that are incumbent to a self service design,  but one of the core characteristics of the design is its ease to gain access for simple tasks like replacing ticket rolls and also emptying cash from the safe by means of the complete front of the Whizz range opens up easily and more importantly allows access to all areas inside of the terminal and with its gas springs that hoist the top front door upwards it also makes it very user friendly to work on terminal.





The Whizz had its first successful venture when in 2016 KT signed a contract to supply close to 3000 SSBT into a large well known brand in Europe this spurned our design and engineering team to enhance range thus the Mini Whizz and also the Whizz Mac range were developed over next couple of years spurring on more projects and opportunities.




The Whizz range comes in a palatte of touch monitor sizes ranging from 22" inch and up to 32", it can come in various configurations suitable for both sports betting and now also with new Whizz Mac within QSR food sector. 

Saturday 26 January 2019

Jury verdict vindicates KT against NCR Corporation in breach of agreement on its Self Serv 90 kiosk


New York: on January 4th 2019, in a Federal Court in the Southern District of New York reached a verdict in the matter between KT Group  and NCR Corporation, in regards an agreement to collaborate on a project referred to as the London kiosk, which later became the NCR Selfserv-90.

At the heart of the breach that NCR inflicted was the use of KT Groups 3D CAD detailed designs.

Once they terminated our partnership, NCR should have developed its own versions of the 3D CAD detailed designs, but instead continued to base their future productions on the original KT Group files, which breached the mutual Non-Disclosure Agreement.

This, however, was much more than just reneging on a piece of paper; it was also a flagrant disregard by a large corporation to simply do the right thing and that is also why KT Groups management decided it had to act in a manner that is a not normal reflection of our firm, as we prefer to opt for negotiating difficult situations.

In the end, we had no other choice to but seek justice in the courts, when all other avenues were exhausted, and the reflection of the jurys verdict by KT Groups management was not one of exhilaration or pleasure, but more it was a sense of pride in the justice system and how it upheld KT Group in its accusations, based on the preponderance of evidence in form of testimonies from both the plaintiff and defence, as well as hundreds of documents.

All these things assisted the jury in removing any doubt as to which party had acted in bad faith, which was NCR Corporation.
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Friday 14 September 2018

What is Quality kiosk mean


As a industry veteran of both owning my own business and a business that is manufacturing a product one of the most common phrases clients have to either listen or read is anthology that this supplier product is a quality product but how can all suppliers provide quality as we all have heard horror stories and more so what do we perceive quality to be as surely it is different from each location.
If one searches for a meaning in a dictionary which is a good resource to begin with the word means “the standard of something as measured against other things of a similar kind; the degree of excellence of something.” and I felt that this was a good benchmark or starting point to examine closer.  Quality therefore means something that is measured against similar product and is better than that product so when a manufacturer writes it’s a quality product how has he made such a statement or claim did he measure his product with others most probably not so my understanding is quality has lost its relevance its loosely thrown into some marketing jargon but sadly many products aren’t defined in their build and assembly to be quality more than likely it is built as cheaply as possible and pushed through as quickly to.
Furthermore quality is on many occasions distracted when labelled “Made In China” again I find myself wondering why everyone automatically thinks Chinese made products are poorly made remember that China manufacturers so many products for global market more than US&EU combined could that not be in essence were we get jaded that we overlook or forget countless products that come out of China well made we zero in on that one bad experience. 
So in what way does KT Group build on trying to achieve its slogan, a slogan that was borne out of a desire to reach a level that would allow us to build for some of biggest retailers or clients and to which we have reached as well I can proudly say,  first and foremost we build and engineer a product based on 13 years of experience.  In beginning we made many errors and mistakes it comes with territory but what we did not replicate was we didn’t make same error continuously we removed the errors and mistakes and furthermore we explored those previous errors to ensure that new products also didn’t get hit with similar issues so after a while you find that core team of skilled staff who started off working as professionals without background now have a background a side note here that KT Group isn’t about laying off staff in lean times we keep core staff on payroll at all times so that we have our resource in place to ensure continuous expertise and experience.     Next step for our cornerstone to achieving quality was manufacturing location,  its well-known fact that if you wish to achieve excellence you must have building blocks to do so and one such building cornerstone is right manufacturing partner in 13 years we have seen our fair share of manufacturing partners but as our success grew our thirst for improvements grow as with more complex designs required more advanced machinery and also expertise to interact with machinery to gain best results.  With any product you start with raw materials in our case raw materials are based on metals primarily steel is material we use but we enhance our products with an array of other materials such as stainless steel, plastics, acrylics, aluminium’s are just some of the raw products that have been added the factor that relates to quality is ability to gain resources of these materials and confirm that materials are of high grade,  only most experienced staff will know how to grade raw materials so that it can confirm that if we ordered a particular gage of steel plate and type of steel plate that our qualified staff can visually inspect it and check documentation and see that it conforms such staff are far and few between. Assembly of product is another factor that many inexperienced will not know what to look for,  whether its in finish of welding, powder coat paint finish or the type of hinges used to affix doors a kiosk has many hundreds of minute  parts to make up a completed product and each item or stage is just as important as next because this sets aside products robustness, finish, appearance, lifespan as in more cases than not unexperienced will overlook facets which may not seem important at the time but play an important role for example rust and metal degradation can start to appear on enclosures that are painted but not primer beforehand that can extend both lifespans of unit and also the maintain appearance of the finished product. 
Cabling is complex and the amount of errors I see from companies who claim to be experts is breathtaking as process to cable a unit is a complex undertaking it not only has to be thought out how best to reach from Point A to Point B to ensure that cables are routed out of way of service staff and also away from areas that can potentially damage the cables but also these cables are at heart to ensure that machines run uninterrupted so therefore a must is cable boxes and shields to protect cable itself against damage and wear and tear.    A thorough cable diagram has to be starting point for each new kiosk project so that a plan is set into motion on how all connections connect together and at what points they should meet at,   furthermore labelling of cables and using index cards for reference points are a must for each unit as dozens of cables are used in each kiosk to quickly and efficiently locate a specific USB or AC Cable should not be time consuming but more so also not stressful. 
Manuals how many owners receive technical manuals with their purchases that should be mandatory for each kiosk that provides a detailed overview of the kiosk terminal,  with detailed photos, schematics and short descriptions the manual is the cornerstone to any service technicians toolbox.   
Finally primary components that come with kiosk cabinet,  a host of specialised equipment that are designed for integration within a box the mechanical engineers who perform integration must have a well document past to understand unbeknown challenges that face both investors, service personnel, customers of kiosk all play important role to meet with deadlines for delivery, budgets, servicing fees and successes of deployments at heart are key to the success of kiosk projects.
Wait there is also more to word Quality,  they may be more indirect but we also see such categories as Design, Service, Spares, Know-How as also factors to achieve a proud stamp to be called a quality supplier.  

About the author, Kenneth Larsen is the owner of KT Group Ltd a kiosk manufacturer that specializes in designing unique bespoke kiosk machines for some of the top industry leaders in their field.  Kenneth background is a 17 year veteran of which 13 years has been with KT Group the company he himself started as a sole proprietor back in 2005. Clients of KT Group include Chevron, NCR, UN, Nordisk Film, Snaitech, US Army, Danish Tourist Board, Volkswagen, GE, NASA.

Monday 2 July 2018

Custom Kiosk Designs a service on rise

Self service has enjoyed a growing expansion internationally to extent that industry business corporations have evolved to expand its product offerings, as costs are offset by demand price structures from early days to now have made it increasingly affordable to businesses to invest and thus more small to mid sized businesses are launching their products, services and solutions by means of a self service kiosk.
One such sector that we have seen a rise and demand is in custom styled kiosks,  like many manufacturers of hardware they want to offer a self styled touch to its finished product and be that in a customisations of an existing product or otherwise a complete new design just for that client more manufacturers are seeing a rise and meeting the demand.  But what does it take to create a truly successful custom kiosk sadly the majority lack the vision or experience to realise.
Design is in fact second tier before a design can be created the partners normally the client and the manufacturer should ascertain the technical, user, environment and other relevant data that need to be considered and plotted into the finished design,  then once that data is assembled next step is to identify a designer that is able due to background or education use this data together with their design experience and expertise to create some original sketches that once completed will act as a guide to a finished project.   @KT Group 14 years we have been creating and manufacturing kiosks of all types and sorts and for past 7 years our services niched into providing custom designs we have partnered with one of the youngest talented designers and together working with many well known international clients created more than 60 to date successful launchments and simply said we have a track pedigree in taking a concept to reality and beyond the samples and pilots but true to a manufacturer we have produced many thousands of machines that now today fulfill their roles in perfect synchronisation with its original requirements that set mark.
Here are just a few
Beast (Betfirst)
D8TB (Travelersbox)
Whizz (Snaitech)
Simplicity (Nordisk Film)
APP (Omnivend)
SFI (Kiber Pay)
 

 
 
   

Thursday 15 February 2018

Outdoor Payment Kiosk Dynamic C9


Self-service kiosks are found across a wide market of applications and thus a demand has arisen for clients seeking to install kiosks for use in outdoor locations, outdoor can be anything from a wide open space without any other form of roofing or coverage as well as locations that are still outside but within a building structure say a self-service petrol station or a train concourse.














Outdoor self-service brings solutions to our clients requirements at very forefront of the citadel infrastructures and provides service 24x7 to worlds population demanding ever more quick resources to their needs,  self-service providers continually developing new concepts to expand on outdoor market shares some of the latest ideas are convenience foods in form of pizzas being placed in outdoor locations such as train stations to provide our appetite for warm tasty food at any time of the day or skiing passes that grant skiers access to new slopes on mountains.



KT Group a local Hong Kong business that specialises in custom self service kiosk manufacturing and has for past thirteen years been providing hundreds of customers with uniquely manufactured custom self service kiosks has developed many different forms and shapes to meet customers demands for outdoor engineered manufactured self service kiosks.  One flexible approach is to utilize a current form or design and then customise it to meet the application and KT Group model C9 has been restyled to fit purposes for “ski ticketing issuance self-service”, “golf swing analysis”, “top up mobile recharging for air time” but to name few of the concepts the C9 has been previously utilized on.

 
 




















The basis of the enclosures is a totem shaped cabinet that has stocky muscular form and a top that encroaches at front to protect the monitor and enhance the visuals on touch monitor so that users can more readily access the digital media easily and comfortably,  the muscular shape a necessity as stock body of the cabinet core metal is traditionally based on a thick steel plate to ensure it is robust and sturdy to withstand acts of vandalism or just every day use that can occur in outdoor environments.  The inward area surrounding the touch monitor provides spaces to implement hardware integration such as printers, pin-pad devices, coin slots and validators, cash bill slots and validators and total free standing enclosure has a large space to give a special visual graphic artwork in case client wishes to brand it.




The C9 uses high impact anti vandal locking mechanisms and louvre style ventilation to ensure flow of air can be continuous and ensure internals such as industrial rated fanless computer can run 24x7 without interruption and although no installation can ever be 100 percent protected from damage the more experience the manufacturer ensures less risk due to hands on experience gained from over a decade of practice and knowledge.