Skip to content

APG Cash Drawer Blog

Aug 23, 2010

 Today I wanted to talk about what APG has been doing to sustain an environmentally friendly workplace. We’ve recently posted 2 press releases about our green efforts, but I also think it’s important to share these other efforts. Here are a few things that we do at APG to contribute to a sustainable environment.

Lean Manufacturing

APG uses lean manufacturing. This concept can also be applied to the ‘indirect’ costs and efforts to be green. Lean production and lean manufacturing are applied by using efficient methods to reduce costs and eliminate waste and non-value added activities. Lean manufacturing also attributes to delivering what the customer wants, on time. Last year, APG introduced team Kill-O-Watt. Part of Kill-O-Watt’s premise is to reduce waste, save money, and increase company performance. This year our efforts to reduce as much waste as possible were very practical, but also indirectly lean and green.

Vendor Recycling Program

APG includes vendors in their recycling program. We expanded our ECO friendly efforts to include steps to return corrugated materials to their suppliers. These materials are then reused and returned to APG on the next shipment. Worn down materials are consistently recycled to produce new corrugated products. This effort saves time, energy, space, and trees. It also eliminates waste and provides a cleaner safer work environment for employees and the community.

Product Recycling

APG Cash Drawer has a fully integrated cash drawer manufacturing facility. As many of you know, cash drawers are made almost entirely of steel. At APG, we use a steel recycling program which reclaims over one million pounds of steel per year.  Many cash drawer parts go through a powder coat process. Environmentally friendly powder coat paint is applied to each cash drawer using a new low temperature cure process technology. As an environmentally conscious manufacturer, we strive to research and develop new processes. 

Community Involvement

APG Cash Drawer has also been diligently working to increase awareness on what employees can do to reduce waste at work and also in the community. Every fall and spring, a group of volunteers gathers to collect trash around the area. It is amazing/sad how much garbage you can find around your community. It only takes an hour or two to really make a difference. By simply collecting pop bottles and office paper or cleaning up trash in your community, there are many simple ways to increase green habits and take action.

Links to 2 of APG’s recent press releases are listed below:

APG Cash Drawer Increases Green Initiative With Positive Results
APG Discusses Success of Environmental Projects

 

Breanna MallesBreanna Malles
Marketing Coordinator
APG Cash Drawer, LLC

Jul 22, 2010

So simple yet nearly everyone without fail in the beginning of their Lean Manufacturing Journey ignores the beauty of a map. How do we get from here to there? Where is there? Why should we go there? Who is there? These are often things one either thinks about or discusses with others. If you have ever been to a “learn to write or learn to speak” workshop, it is likely you have heard, “just jump in and do it” practice, practice, practice!

Well, of course we all know that! Right!?

Lean Manufacturing is all about “learning to see”. You must learn to see things from your customer’s point of view full circle. From the time they place the order to the time they receive the delivery. What is done? How long does it take? Who does it? Why do we follow these steps? What equipment do we use? Do we buy anything? What is the lead time? You probably have all of this in your head. Does everyone in the organization have it in theirs? Should they?

Give it some thought. The Value Stream Map is the way to see. What do you do to add value for the customer? What does not add value?

It seems simple yet most of us never look at the map before we take-off. Nothing wrong with that, it just takes longer and this means more time and money. That is never a good thing for your business and that is never a good thing for your customer.

Next time I will talk about the mapping process.

 

Dale Dahlberg

Dale Dahlberg
Vice President Operations
APG Cash Drawer LLC

 

Jun 23, 2010

There are many choices and decisions to make even for something seemingly simple like a cash drawer. Beyond some straight forward preferences such as color, there are several questions that should be asked to help select the drawer that is right for each specific application. In this blog, we will discuss the basic questions to help narrow the field to a few choices.

 The first question relates to the type of store. Will the drawer be opened often, such as in a fast food environment? Or will it be used less often, such as in a mall kiosk? Knowing the operational expectations will help determine if the drawer should be a heavy duty or a standard duty drawer.

 Beyond this basic durability question there are several more questions to ask. They include:

  • How will the drawer be opened? (From the printer, serial or USB?)
      --What does your software require to open the drawer?
  • How much room is available for the POS equipment at the checkout counter?
  • How will the flow of customers and product relate to the location of the drawer?
  • Should the drawer be mounted under the counter?
  • Will the drawer need to have all of the other POS devices located on top of it?
  • Should the cables be hidden from view?

We will explore these and other questions in coming articles. In the mean time, if you have questions like this that you would like have addressed, feel free to contact me at bobd@apgcd.com and we will be happy to answer your question(s).

Bob  DaugsBob Daugs
Business Development Manager
APG Cash Drawer

 

May 28, 2010

In March 2010, APG attended the EuroCIS Retail tradeshow in Dusseldorf, Germany and we were pleasantly surprised with the turnout. The show happened to overlap with the CeBIT show, which was being held in Hannover. We were concerned that the bigger CeBIT show might overshadow the EuroCIS show. Fortunately, we found that many tradeshow attendees scheduled their travel plans to include both shows. People told us they were staying in Dusseldorf where hotels were plentiful, and then taking the train to Hannover to visit CeBIT. Attendees traveled from as far away as South Africa, Spain, Russia, Italy, UK, Nordics and the Middle East. We now think the CeBIT show actually helped boost the attendance of EuroCIS. It brought more tradeshow attendees to Germany and drew them from farther away.

Next year this show is in Dusseldorf again, but it is called EuroShop. EuroShop is a huge show covering everything needed in retail environments. Because of the number of vendors and types of products being shown, the entire Messe is full. We are planning to go again next year during this show and again in 2012 when it goes back to EuroCIS stature.

To see more pictures from the EuroCIS 2011 tradeshow please click here.

John  MeilahnJohn Meilahn
VP of Sales and Marketing
APG Cash Drawer

Syndicate content