Consultations with the client went on for several weeks. We discussed the layout of the sections, the number of cells, the set of additional services, and how quickly the equipment would pay off during the beach season. In the end, the business idea was approved and a compact complex with 24 cells was confirmed. The setup included a mobile device charging terminal and beach radio, which was expected to attract more visitors and make the project pay for itself quickly.
A built-in car alarm was a mandatory requirement for vandal protection — on an open beach, the equipment sits unattended around the clock, so this point was worked through especially carefully. Paid Internet access, a taxi and pizza ordering service, and a payment terminal, all running 24/7 with no days off, were meant to bring in solid extra income throughout the season.
The order was approved and put into production. The new cabinets were ready in just 20 days. Wiring and electronics installation took nearly a week. Getting the full setup installed and running smoothly didn't happen right away — too many modules were interconnected, and some solutions were still unfinished at that stage. A few Chinese components gave us a hard time: we had to re-solder connectors and rewrite parts of the firmware logic on the fly. Time was running short, deadlines were tight, and thorough on-site testing simply wasn't possible.
There wasn't much time to think it over — we loaded the cabinets into the truck and headed to Zaporizhzhia. It was an overnight drive, and by morning the driver started falling asleep, so we had to switch and drive a third of the way ourselves. By around 11 a.m. we were already at the beach and started setting up the complex: unloading, assembling the sections, wiring the electrics, and configuring the network — all in the heat and on open sand, which added its own set of challenges.
By the way, here's why our lockers were chosen for this project. The cabinets are made from high-quality sheet steel coated with powder polymer paint, and the surface is phosphated before painting. This gives the cabinet strong resistance to wear and protects the metal from moisture — critical for equipment standing right by the sea, where the air is constantly loaded with salt and humidity. You can find more details on how and from what our cabinets are made on our automatic locker manufacturing page.
The trip was originally planned for just one day, but in the end we spent a full week in Zaporizhzhia. The whole time was spent testing and fine-tuning the equipment on site: calibrating the touchscreens, checking how the locks performed in high humidity, and adjusting the computer system that controls the automated lockers and synchronizes all the services within the complex. We found hundreds of small issues that simply weren't visible back at the office on the test bench — real-world installations always bring up nuances that are impossible to predict in advance.
In mid-July, the beach in Zaporizhzhia saw its first fully working, all-in-one automated locker complex with color touchscreens, mobile device charging stations, paid internet access, taxi and pizza ordering, and payment terminals. This project became one of the first where we combined several services into a single cabinet, and the experience from this site later shaped our solutions for beaches and festivals. As for us, we came home with a tan — though only on one side — but the job was done right.
