How Does VMI Work?
VMI stands for “vendor managed inventory”. When a customer begins to run low on inventory, PathGuide’s Advanced VMI creates an automatic replenishment order.
The vendor receives the order electronically, which is then typically approved, picked, packed, and shipped right back to the customer. Advanced VMI can also trigger automatic advanced shipping notices that the customer can reference when the shipment arrives and is ready to be received into inventory.
PathGuide’s Advanced VMI can run independently outside of the warehouse for a distributor’s customers or as part of a warehouse management system (WMS). Orders are placed faster, easier and more efficient than ever before – especially for customers who consistently order the same products.
Advanced VMI Features
- Customizable customer portals
- Self-service portal
- Bin-level management for complete inventory control
- Lot and shelf life management
- Serial number control management
- Consigned and non-consigned inventory management
- Ad-hoc replenishment
- Industrial vending machine support
- SaaS-based multi-tenant cloud architecture
- User-defined multilingual support
- Audit trail
- Compliance management
- Onboarding
- Project management
- Sourcing management
- Vendor master data management
- Collaboration
- Performance metrics
- Transaction history
Why Use VMI?
If you’re a supplier or distributor looking to:
- Increase sales revenues by providing VMI services to your customers
- Increase the accuracy levels and lower the costs associated with your current VMI program
- Have visibility into inventory being supplied by competing suppliers – and a chance to supply additional inventory as part of your VMI offering
- Manage consigned and non-consigned inventory
Sales Team Advantage
Sales teams find that using the VMI process with a mobile scanning device significantly reduces errors, stockouts and downtime. There’s less handwriting to worry about and fewer instances during which information can be miscommunicated. The order is placed right on the spot at the customer location and transmitted in real-time.
Benefits of VMI
In addition to saving time and virtually eliminating customer order errors, the biggest benefit to VMI is that your customers will love it. Giving customers the ability to replenish orders is a fast and simple way to streamline inventory management and order fulfillment. In other words, Advanced VMI is a win-win for everyone.
