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)

 

 
 
   

Transport Flight Cases For Kiosks

An undisputed fact for any firm that exports 99% of its produce is shipping, and with shipping comes the importance of choosing packaging to freight your goods in.   A kiosk although commonly is designed and built in metals to be robust and protective to the inside delicate components housed inside is still a machine that requires tactile handling which as most are commonly aware of sadly transporters are not known for.
In case of air freight which is our experience is the toughest handling due to countless points it is man handled on the way to its destination and with many having to ship it to several locations we at KT Group suggest to ship using a transport designed specialist flightcase. 

Are flight cases are designed for multiple use, with hinged easy but strong metal closing mechanisms that can be locked if needed,  internally are units are housed inside hard foam cases which protect the units from weather conditions such as dust, humidity and moisture as well as rough handling as cases are mounted on lockable wheels that make it easy for moving when needed.   Cost wise when purchasing a machine that costs a few thousand dollars the few hundred dollars the case cost makes sense to most so we have found that investment is prudent and advisable especially if the unit is a sample terminal that is needed to be flown to multiple destinations.  Unlike the mass produced units we produce that are shipped almost always by sea freight containers these are packed in wooden shipping crates that are ideal for 1 time use from Destination A to B.

Ask your sales rep next time your considering such a investment it is worth every penny these flight cases cost,  plus when it turns up it creates a professional look as well to any formal business presentation to investors to boot.

Art of assembling self service kiosk terminal

One of the issues we always receive from our clients who have used other vendors when ordering self service kiosks is that they overlook many simple but yet highly important tasks in overall final assembly,  when as a client may purchase 100 terminals to assemble 100 machines requires both due diligence beforehand in ensuring that assembly team is qualified and has an understanding on how to best approach this.

An example on how to layout your terminals before beginning assembly

Importance must be placed in arranging them systematically and with enough space to allow staff to easily be able to move around the machines to be able to quickly efficiently do the work required.

Mapping the inside of space you have available already takes place right at start of job when engineering department will map out the area within enclosure so that their is a space provided for each components and required space for mounting parts to affix inside.

An example on how to map out your internal space equally and proportionally

The ability to be able for the companies service technicians to easily service the terminals in the field is paramount,  most customers work on either outsourcing or paying by hour for technicians to service a terminal and having easy to access service doors to reach the machines internal components can literally save thousands of dollars.

An example on how to design your terminal for ease of access

Furthermore certain main components require also special attention when your for example installing in the field kiosks that are designed for payment,  in this instance the kiosks should be able to easily accessed the printer for changing the receipt paper,   as well as ease of removal of cash in this case our team always mount these on sliding drawers and we use only cash accepters with built in cash boxes that store physically bill cash notes so as in the field those responsible are not physically having to scoop out the notes but can easily methodically unclip small cash safe box mounted either on front or rear.

An example of how to design your terminal for easy printer and cash note accepting service

In some instances we are also requested to install wheels so that units can be easily moved around in case for example they maybe located up against a wall and the technician has to access rear.  The oversight many do not see is that wheels require wheel lock brakes so that units do not move once in site

Example of Base Wheel with Lock Brake

Several important factors are crucial for a successful cable installation to ensure that terminals are guarded against cable failure,  cable damage and electrical shock damage.  Some short examples of correctly installing these are given below.

Example of Mains AC power cable extruding from rear with rubber groment to protect the power cable plastic sheath.

Example of primary data cable protected by plastic cable guard

Example of using correctly plastic groments to afix to power dc connections

Example of labelling cables to easily trace cable and parts

Light Boxes for advertising or information purposes tend to be popular as more cost effective means than additional secondary monitors the oversight that several vendors do is use of dual LED lighting rods instead of single rods,  the effect is that with single rods the light will be strongest were it is mounted and weakest from its furthest edges whereas with dual rods the light emitted will be uniformed.

An example of LED Lightbox with dual LED rods installed

Finally we raise the issue of PVC lettering,  this should be mounted in a clear contrasting color so it can be easily read afar,  naturally all languages checked they are spelt and translated correctly and lettering stands linearly.

An example of PVC lettering

These suggestions are obviously not all of the points but it does provide a glance as to what we see to often overlooked by others.

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.

Sports Betting KT Kiosk at ICETECHGAMING 2015

KT Group entered into the new market sector of sports betting terminals also known as Fixed offline Betting Terminals back in 2013 when approached by a client asking us to manufacture a unit of theirs.  After the initial production of their design which was delivered a quantity of 50 terminals.

Initial Model

In past 24 months sales are stronger than ever and Beast recently was exhibited at London ICE Gaming expo held at EXCEL London at beginning of February.
The functionality was all there but the flair appeal was not,  so our client requested we come up with an alternative design solution which would raise the design bar so that it could entice and attract players to be drawn to the machine.

KT Group is well renowned for its designs, the cornerstone of the companies philosophy is that enclosures should not be square boxes but works of industrial art.  So the model we inspired came to life and was aptly labelled BEAST,  since launching it we have received commendation after commendation for the unique appeal of our machine industrial design.

KT Beast Initial Sketches

In past 24 months sales are stronger than ever and Beast recently was exhibited at London ICE Gaming expo held at EXCEL London at beginning of February.

At isoftbet stand

In past 24 months sales are stronger than ever and Beast recently was exhibited at London ICE Gaming expo held at EXCEL London at beginning of February. The terminal has full cash and coin management systems for accepting payments and is fitted with a dual 19 inch touch display.
We are also currently working on a revision version 2 aptly named Whizz.  Which will launch in Q2 of 2015.