Metra offers renowned clients vast expertise, technical support, constant innovation and fully-tailored smart storage solutions. The company’s solutions enhance the functionality and usability of storage furniture for a wide range of B2B clients, from corporate, industry, health, educational, leisure, sports and other sectors.
Interview with Gregor Jenčič, Marketing Manager at Metra.
Easy Engineering: Tell us a short story about innovation in your company.
Gregor Jenčič: Innovation was always, and still is, an essential part of Metra’s essence and an important part of its business, going back to Metra’s beginnings in the early 1990s. Metra developed their first smart locking systems for lockers out of market necessity. At the time, no “smart” system for lockers would enable seamless, frictionless, and touchless locker access and use for guests of successful ski and sea resorts worldwide. More importantly, a smart system for lockers, which would provide centralized locker management and be connected with access control, rental services and/or other systems within the leisure facility or compound.
E.E: Which are the most significant projects from 2023?
G.J: The most significant projects, size- and integration-wise, were surely the ones from the corporate and leisure markets. Those Metra smart locker solutions usually manage many hundreds or even thousands of lockers and locker users, which can be located in various locations.
Such smart locker projects are also seamlessly embedded or integrated with the existing ecosystem of access control, rental & payment software, management software, Human resources, etc., to ensure a more frictionless user experience and facility management.
E.E: What projects were the most challenging?
G.J: The most challenging projects are usually also the most interesting to work on. The finished result is always a unique, innovative use of lockers, fully tailored to client’s wishes and needs. We are always happy to see how our smart locker solutions help grow the client’s business, reduce their maintenance time and costs, support the daily dynamics of the locker users, and elevate their user experience and wellbeing.
E.E: What products / solutions were used in the projects?
G.J: The Metra Workplace Lockers is the name for Metra smart solutions tailored for personal lockers at offices, office buildings and other workplaces (f. ex. in healthcare). The lockers are mostly used by employees, but can also be used by daily business visitors and others. Due to their workplace-related specifics, these solutions are also used by students, faculty, and employees at schools, campuses and other educational facilities.
The Delivery Metra lockers are smart solutions for enabling delivery/pickup type of locker use. They are mostly used in corporate, educational or healthcare environments. They provide secure and easy-to-use dropoff, pickup, and exchange storage for exchanging IT assets, business documentation or to collect various ordered products. The lockers can be used by employees, customers or others, depending on the solution. The Metra Delivery Lockers solution is sometimes used alongside Metra Workplace Lockers solution, to provide personal and exchange storage functionality to locker users in certain building, campus or facility.
Metra Entry-to-Exit solution for leisure facilities is a preferred go-to solution for modern pools, waterparks and other leisure facilities, which want to bring their facility’s access management and their guest experience to a whole new level. The solution combines Metra smart access and Metra smart lockers for guests with payment system into an enclosed and complete solution, which enables seamless user access and payment experience throughout the leisure facility (Blue Lagoon, Iceland).
Metra Rental Lockers is Metra’s smart solution for clients, which want to monetize their guests’, visitors’ or customers’ locker use via Point-of-sale, Self-service or a combination of both at their amusement park, ski resort and elsewhere.
Though each Metra solution is unique as no smart locker project is the same, the above solutions are chosen by most of clients which want to transform their lockers and change the perception, use and functionality of it for the benefit of their users, their business and its environmental impact.
E.E: What are the usual challenges you encounter?
G.J: The challenges can be different, yet the most enjoyable and satisfying ones are the unique ones. The result is usually a creative solution that optimizes client’s and locker users’ processes and/or saves different resources for the client. A highly appreciative and satisfied client is a big added bonus.
E.E: How did you overcome the challenges?
G.J: Being one of the pioneers of the smart locker system industry with over thirty years of track record, we, of course, had our share of different challenges related to technology advancement, macroeconomic and geopolitical developments, general trends, and various others. It surely has to do with our company’s philosophy of staying innovative, reliable, and flexible so that we can adjust instantly to changes and challenges. Much like our smart systems for lockers.
E.E: Which are the most innovative products/solutions in your lineup?
G.J: Innovative Metra solutions can enable a user to access, use and manage a locker as a personal and as an exchange locker. Sometimes, the location where lockers with the Metra system are available can be an innovative solution on its own.
Metra was the first to provide mobile locker access, which allows users to access personal and parcel lockers with mobile phones and smartwatches via mobile apps or mobile wallets like Apple Wallet. This can be identified as the latest trend in the access industry.
E.E: What was the research behind the products/solutions?
G.J: The research focuses on identifying and solving the current and future needs of clients and end users and other elements that we believe are or will be important in our industry. Further improving the reliability, functionality, and usability of Metra smart locks and the Metra smart system is also always part of the research.
E.E: What problems / challenges do users usually encounter?
G.J: Our clients want to enhance and improve their day-to-day business by reducing or completely removing the costly, time-consuming problems caused by daily use, needed maintenance, and management of their ordinary or battery-operated lockers. Companies and organizations from various markets are becoming increasingly aware that such lockers can directly affect how securely personal or business items are stored in them and the ease of access and use of those lockers. Because those factors affect the experience, perception, and well-being of employees, guests, or others in the client’s office, water park, or other facility.
E.E: How are your products / solutions used in solving users problems?
G.J: Lockers, equipped with Metra smart system, provide secure and user-adapted smart storage which support users’ dynamics and improve experience and wellbeing. From the clients’ perspective, The Metra smart system enables client’s lockers to become an integral and integrated part of their smart office or building environment, which helps optimize various facility management, access and HR activities.
Metra smart locking technology in lockers helps company or organization save time, money, energy, and else, reduce maintenance staff, help improve the visual appeal of the interior, elevate the users’ positive perception of the clients’ facility and services, attract and retain talent, make the environment more user-centric, reduce the business’s environmental footprint, and have other positive effects which are important to the client.
E.E: What are your forecasts for 2024?
G.J: We see corporate markets and individual clients understand better and better the various advantages and positive effects of equipping their lockers with Metra smart locker systems on the level of employee experience, guest satisfaction, and their overall wellbeing, their brand, their business operations, and last but not least, their business growth and success.
Should you want your lockers to provide a future-ready level of locker security, frictionless locker use and seamless experience to optimize workflows and elevate well-being at your office, building or facility, don’t hesitate to contact us at www.metra.si/contact-us.