Almost every item that has ever been invented stemmed from a desire to meet a need. This has led to truly amazing feats in the areas of communication, food preservation, transportation, and more. The entire country of Japan found a need for innovation after recent natural disasters. The Coca-Cola Company describes how the need arose and how the problem is being solved in “How the Japanese Earthquake Launched the ‘Impossible’ Vending Machine.”
Vending machines might make the list of “things not to worry about after a natural disaster” here in the United States, but in Japan the devices find much more use than providing the occasional beverage or snack. Japanese vending machines offer an astounding variety of products ranging from beer and hot meals to clothing and cigarettes. Their convenience and variety are highly sought, to the point that vending machines were responsible for a considerable number of sales for Japan in 2011, and those sales barely dropped after the earthquake. It was a sign that people were still anxious to use them; but these devices require power to run, and because of their prevalence in society, it amounts to a great deal of power usage.
Much of Japan’s energy-producing infrastructure was shut down due to safety concerns just after the earthquake. Coca-Cola realized how integral vending machines are to Japan, and designed a much more energy-efficient vending machine that could provide cold beverages even after being shut down for most of the day. It was thought to be impossible, but they somehow came up with a design which cools all the drinks and uses them like ice cubes to keep adjoining drinks cooler. The results of their efforts is a vending machine that uses less energy and can be shut down most of the day under a blackout, yet still works perfectly. It is a textbook case of innovation meeting demand, even when the demand was unplanned for.
Kyle Brandon
Kyle Brandon pursued a degree in Information Technology. He is skilled at designing websites and creating graphics through different applications.
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