With VMI, the supplier plans its customer’s stocks. The delivery is not triggered by the customer’s order, but by the supplier’s scheduling. The owner of the stock can be the customer or the supplier. The fact that the customer provides the supplier with its demand and stock information promptly means that the supplier knows the “true demand signal” very early on. The benefits are short response times, high delivery readiness and a reduction in costs and administrative work in purchasing and scheduling. A prerequisite for the implementation of a VMI system is a basis of trust between supplier and customer: both the confidential treatment of customer information and trust in the competent planning of stocks by the supplier are essential.
Our tip:
VMI systems can be implemented transparently and reliably and adapted to changing requirements as needed with clear agreements and procedural instructions for handling customer information as well as unambiguous regulations for lower or upper stock limits, for example.
