Andreas Radke

Director Value Evolution Services Practice

Chicago

3 min Reading Time ∙

Let’s Get Logical: Understanding the Value of Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI)

As a business leader in today's ever-changing world, you make hundreds of decisions every day. Building trust among your sites, processes and outcomes can often be tedious and challenging.

So, where do you begin in finding and successfully implementing a solution that bridges the gap between vendors and buyers? By getting logical. 

Vendor managed inventory (VMI) is a straightforward concept which assigns responsibility for inventory management to the experts:  you, the product vendor. As experts in the field, we have created the VMI Platform which addresses your questions holistically and as a synchronization hub for the x-enterprise business processes.

Through VMI, your customers will feel more engaged knowing your supply chain management capabilities are not only efficient, but tried and true. The VMI Platform is up and running quickly because we manage the data integration smartly and designed the platform with the business process in the lead – process first, technology leveraged. After that, your customer service will be empowered to roll out VMI autonomously across your entire customer base.

 

VMI success...

What will VMI success look like to you as a business leader? There’s no better feeling than when you can reap the rewards of increased sales and the corresponding service levels to go with them. Having visibility of the consumption patterns across all your VMI customers allows you to work smarter and, here is that word again, more logically.

From the onset, you and your customers look at the same data to facilitate collaborative elements of VMI. The VMI Platform logic monitors the performance of each customer’s inventory enabling your users to respond to event triggers, spending time and effort where it is most needed.

And best of all? Your users can prioritize and control the replenishments between your warehouse and your customers’ inventories to proactively prevent issues before they occur. The VMI Platform builds the logic around the purpose of the data integration and ensures you and your customers are in control of high-quality data by supporting resolution protocols. With a spirit of collaboration and optimization, vendor managed inventory streamlines your internal operations allowing you to focus on your long-term supply chain goals.

 

Value of a VMI solution

When trying to understand the full value of a VMI solution, it is helpful to go back to the basics. By answering these logical questions and ultimately defining your Who, What and How, you will better understand the value of VMI and how it can be efficiently applied to your particular business model.

 

DEFINING THE WHO:

  • What distinct customer segments do you have within your VMI program?

  • Which segments haven’t you addressed yet because the process orchestration seemed too difficult?

 

UNDERSTANDING THE WHAT:

  • What are the business process configurations to cater to each segment?

 

HOW IS PROGRESS DEFINED?

  • How do you control the progress of business process workflow for each VMI fulfillment order?

  • Do you want VMI to directly support your users in executing the business process, or is there still a business need for Excel?

  • How do you leverage the existing functionalities in your systems?

 

Sound like the logic you and your business need? Schedule a call with our supply chain experts. Together, we will partner with your business and teach you more about the value of understanding our VMI Platform  today.

Andreas Radke

Director Value Evolution Services Practice

Chicago