Industrial supply distributors like Grainger and Fastenal have long offered vending machines that give manufacturers easy access to the distributors’ materials. SouthernCarlson Construction Supplywants to build on that. SouthernCarlson’s booth at the Building Component Manufacturing Conference included this storage unit, which they filled with ideas for the ways LBM’s truss, window, and other factory-like operations could use them. 

For instance, employees often have favorite tools, so letting them store their preferred drill or hammer will keep them happy and save them from having to spend time at the start of each shift looking for those items. The locked doors also can be set to require a user ID before opening, so managers can see whether a particular employee is using up materials at a higher rate than their peers.