Self Service Print Kiosks

Nowadays it is both green environment issues and fashionable that our technology sectors are moving away from use of paper but unlike other tech savvy industries the self-service kiosk industry still has a large requirement for printing paper from a self-service solution in an array of sizes.

Large format printers
We have today three means to offer a large format print solution in size of A4 which is either by ink, laser or thermos heat transfer print solutions.  The latter two are definitively the most popular as they are both quickest to complete print task when ordered and speed of print is very important in field of self-service printing.

Digital Photo printers
Kiosks have been sinuous with photo printers since the first dry lab dye sublimation printers launched on market. Industrial giants such as Kodak, Fuji have launched ten of thousands of these into retail space globally and KT Group launched its OEM version the K4.

Receipt printers
Receipts have been synonymous since launch of very first cash registers into retailers stores,  and there are certainly no stranger in a standard configuration of payment kiosks and ATM,  KT Group has a broad spectrum of payment kiosk designs such as APP, AMA and CUSB1 available all equipped with receipt printers.

Betting printers
Betting requires in most setups a print of receipt as well as a paper copy of the physical bet placed on a betting terminal,  KT Group range of betting terminals such as Beast, Whizz and Apollo all come equipped with a receipt printer. 

Health printers
Health kiosks that have seen recent exponential growth in numbers in self-service kiosks for medical and health purposes on most occasions come with a form of print function that allows patients and medical staff to print out diagnosis, prescriptions or analysis’s of medical reports.  KT Group recently launched a health kiosk that prints out results for blood pressure, fat content, height and weight measurements.

Printer company
There are several large established printer manufacturers who specialise in area of kiosk printing,  such brands as Citizen, EPSON being most likely some of the largest but notable others include Zebra, SNBC, Custom engineering are all very popular brands for kiosk deployment.

Model Spotlight VFS Cost Effective Kiosk

KT Group specializes in design, engineering, manufacturing of custom payment kiosk terminals that can be utilized for host of different concepts but one primary key is the vend of a product that requires a machine to accept payment.

Back in 2011 a new customer based in Vietnam contacted us for exactly this purpose that it was searching for a vendor that could supply a payment kiosk terminal that could accept bill cash notes and vend a ticket which on it would allow the consumer to enact a transaction to top up their mobile prepaid time subscription with the local mobile telecommunications providers such as Viettel Mobile, Mobifone, Vinaphone, Vietnamobile, Gmobile.   The management was very clear in its instructions of what they were searching for from a vendor that at KT management we appreciate in that they gave us some specific targets.  We could list them as

1. A terminal that could be purchased for $1500 dollars complete
2. A terminal manufactured with security to protect the cash stored inside
3. A terminal that was easy to service in the field by the clients own service technicians
4. A terminal that due to volume was able to effectively be manufactured efficiently as they were after a company with ability to mass manufactured 100 plus per order
5. A terminal that could be branded so it was distinguished in retail outlets

The challenge was set quite high,   with each point we had to think through our process but points 2 through 5 were relatively simple but on point 1 it was a massive challenge as any veteran familiar to self service kiosk manufacturing is aware the budget even when producing 100 machines per order is not much while still turning a profit which any business must.

Our design and engineering team worked collectively to tackle our customer Paylink wishes and we finally evolved the model we called The VFS.  First renderings below were submitted for approval together with a indicated price.

Their did not go much time in between submission and we received the response,  the reply received was please immediately come to Ho Chi Minh City for further discussion, and a flight was booked for our then Managing Director and as well our Manufacturing Director to Vietnam, we met with the three Directors of Paylink and after a long lunch a contract was signed to begin production.

Production of the sample began and shortly afterwards the units were inspected at KT Group manufacturing facility in Shenzhen by then Technical Director and was approved on site that same day and an order of first 100 machines were enacted.

The VFS was borne like so many other of #KTKiosks from a demand and that proved a very profitable terminal for the company over next few years were several other customers of KT.

The overall reaction is of VFS model it is simplistic in design which is why from production scale it can be more cost efficient than many of KT Groups other payment kiosk terminals,  but it has ability to combine several salient features that are commonly requested, whether it is coin systems, bar code scanners or advertising monitors.

Model Spotlight Beastely A4 Print and Payment Terminal

The custom terminal design was initially developed in 2014 for a Middle Eastern client who were searching for a manufacturer of kiosk terminals that could design a solution which had several key characteristics.

Characteristics or challenge was
1. Design a machine that was elegant and aesthetically engineered to be appealing
2. Functional for a individual to be able to stand in front the user interface and be able to with ease use the different multi functionality of the machine provided in one full cycle,  example find correct document then proceed to print out a hard copy after receiving payment for the document purchased and then be able to type in the fields required and submitted it for approval and print a copy for users own records.
3. Be able to manage cash withdrawals by security firm easily therefore creating a safe work environment and also an efficient process so that labor interaction was kept to a minimum.
4. Separate payment with machine,   ensuring that support technical staff were not able to access payment safe when fielding service onsite.
5. Provide a solution that could be financially acceptable to deploy in field with budget provided.

KT Group with seat in Hong Kong specializes in providing cost effective self service custom design solutions we are a company that works on key characteristics of a machine hardware road map with ingenuity and specialist knowledge no opportunity passes without defined quality control process so that we can deliver a working solution to the clients needs.

Image of the concept we submitted for approval

Final Manufactured Sample

KT Group 10th Anniversay a decade of success in custom design Part 2

Our companies has gathered and built our success in past 10 years on the acumen we have learned how design can assist our clients to attain more success and achievement and in one recent project which initially started 3 years ago with a client approaching us that they were starting to launch a new business concept that require kioskterminals that were able to accept coins and cash.

Initially the unit the client showed interest in was one of our standardized models,  the C8 a robust curved model which has proven popular with customers certainly has attractive design as well as incorporating easy serviceability so important when in reference to having ability to collect cash inside that it can be done quickly and without having to spend time which could increase cost that is combined in managing a network of terminals that accept old fashioned cash.

Concept of initial unit pictured below

The client proceed with a purchase of 5 pilot terminals,  and with any new venture a pilot is critical to the investor to demonstrate a proof of concept and in this case our client had to be able to demonstrate to its investors that this solution would pay off.    Luckily it did!

After the initial pilot the customer who had regularly visited the terminals in their place of installation to gain better understanding of users and their use of these machines,  the concept was so new in marketplace this tracking took best part of 4 months before the accumulated reserach was studied and the client then returned to us with their findings.  He initiated a further order and expanded it to 25 terminals a so called first mass production run and he had understood he required a more ad space to proliferate and inform the users who were within a large building to gain their attention to the kiosk and what offerings it provided them.

Concept of secondary design we prepared.

Once the initial 25 units placed the client then began his study on performance and noticed that adding an additional larger monitor and top did in increase awareness,   the client who was positioned in locations which in times required potentially to increase turnover to accept other foreign currency expanded two having dual coin slots so that each different coin validator was able to accept two different kinds of foreign currency which also expanded the turnover of these terminals.   Their was a healthy 6 months of research undertaken and data collated and then the client returned a third time,  he had found that he had voluminous increased his turnover but he felt that with the amount of people traffic occuring in this international location their was more that could be achieved which at KT we initially were quizzical that this could be true but during a in-depth Q&A meeting the customer explained to us why there firm of specialists came to this conclusion.  The design was once again re-engineered to the customers wishes and on this occasion we also called in our designer as it required more thought and hence our version 3 was borne.

Concept of third design prepared

Now radically redesign the unit achieved what our specialist client had seen through his in-depth marketing research,  the corridors of which there are many and extremely long in which people traffic went from left - right or viceversa were seeing the terminals from the side and thus when walking past them the majority being the busy men and women they are would walk past these terminals without giving them much attention what our client proposed was to add both digital large sized monitors and traditional poster print advertising to each side of the terminal and therefore these units ended up being labelled internally at KT Group as Christmas trees.

Cinema Ticketing Kiosks

As several of our customers are already aware KT distinguishes itself with its unique designs that we develop in cohesion with our customers wishes and demands,  one such project we worked on back in 2010 was for Nordisk Film who are largest chain of cinemas in the Scandinavian countries.

The enclosure that the client preferred to establish a base for design was based on our model Simplicity Kiosk that was originally designed by an award winning designer Jerry Schweikart, the units came equipped with full cashless card payment solution and ticket dispensing printer and in all 65 of the cinema ticketing machines we ordered by the customer.

Original design by Jerry Schweikart

What happens with allot of our kiosk machines once we ship them from our production facility in Shenzhen is that they go out in the field and then we no longer here about those machines ever again unless of course their is a fault which requires KT Group to assist in warranty RMA procedure.

In this case our partner House Of IT who are sadly no longer a business in operation as they went into liquidation in 2015 had in fact received so much commendation from their customer that they sent us a letter of recommendation.

Now lets fast forward to April 2015 so five years have passed and i am out on a family vacation back visiting my country of origin Denmark,  my family and I decided we wanted to go and see a movie we ended up at one of the cinemas owned by Nordisk Film near Copenhgaen and as I walk into the cinema I noticed immediately the shiny looking units that my company manufactured back then. I literally turned around to the family and pointed out that it was those that our company manufactured 5 years ago and hey as we had not heard anything in that time i gathered that the units we still active and proof was shown yesterday evening as i gladly purchased 3 tickets with my creditcard on one of the units and walked away with tickets and a receipt.  Just goes to show that KT kiosks are well manufactured terminals that are designed for longevity and components hand picked for their excellent craftmanship.

APP Payment Kiosk Spotlight

KT has a wide range of models,  its in our capacity as kiosk manufacturers that we engage and continually expand our product range,  back in 2011 we worked with a gentlemen who in fact was a client of ours and he very nicely helped us create what we now still see as one of the best terminals for job.
We ended up calling the new design,  the APP but others have called it Mini Kiosk or Omnivend kiosk but the unit design has become a flagship cornerstone for several of KT clients.

Version 1 which you see below in the images was built as a sample unit back in 2011.

The development of the APP continued in 2012 with our client and we then received our first medium sized order of 25 fully kitted payment terminals.

These now currently reside in Germany in several small to medium sized municipality buildings were they offer citizens the ease of paying their monthly utilities to local government institutions.  A second client in 2012 approached us and after we built them a custom sample of the APP the project expanded to encompass well over 150 units in less than 6 months period,  these were installed into nationwide deployment in Tesco Ireland.

The APP is popular due to a few underlying factors that our client initially told us,  first the curved front aperture of the design is appealing.   Secondly versatility of being able to customize the solution and then finally ease of serviceability.  All these points were integrated into the solution

The person who we like to thank was Edward Kogan who sadly is no longer with us,  but we hope your proud as we are of the design you spurned us to create.