VMI Working Group Completes Testing,
Looks At Trading Relationships

The VMI Working Group’s operational testing of key EDI documents to exchange sales and inventory data between trading partners has demonstrated the system works and can now be applied to closer collaboration between retailers and suppliers to manage inventory, ordering, and fulfillment.

Five industry suppliers and several retailers participated in the testing. Now that data can be exchanged, the issues under study now relate to what to do with the information exchanged and how the system might relate to or affect other technology systems—such as Above The Treeline and other data tools and software—in collaborative planning, forecasting, and replenishment activities.

Under the EDI technology, retailers send electronic documents to trading partners to report inventory on hand, sales, and price information. The supplier analyzes the data for sales trends, replenishment, and suggested orders.

Depending on how these collaborative relationships are established, suppliers can send a suggested order for retailer review and approval, or the supplier can fill the order based on prearranged agreements. These agreements typically outline performance metrics, such as turns, profitability, etc., that are monitored and periodically evaluated.

Gary Miller, Provident Distribution information technology director, is leading the task force and the testing.