英文摘要 |
Vendor Management Inventory (VMI) is one of the most widely discussed partnering initiatives for improving multi-firm supply chain efficiency. Also known as continuing replenishment or supplier-managed inventory, VMI became popular in mid -1980’s, pioneered by the famous retailing case of Wall-Mart and Procter & Gamable. Through sharing inventory information and collaborating work in procurement, VMI allows suppliers manage inventories for their customers, thus streamlining the entire supply chain process and leading to cost reduction for the overall supply chain. VMI can apply to a product with large transaction volume and relatively long product life cycle, and the fastener industry falls into this category. VMI was first implemented in the fastener industry in the early to mid-90’s, and later was applied in Taiwan by QST International.
Considering the system dynamic model of international fastner supply chain, a case study of QST was conducted in this article. The purpose is to compare VMI with the traditional inventory management practice. The comparison is based on simulation experiments in various scenario designs. By setting up a safety stock environment, this study first examined supply chain performance in four different demand patterns. Then the supply chain performance was assessed by simulating a precipitate demand increase. This study finally addressed the supply chain performance in different terms of transaction with overseas customers.
Inventory cost and shut-down penalty are two major risks in fastener business operation. The amount of inventory has a direct influence on cost in the supply side. Material shortage will have customers shut down their production line, and suppliers in turn face penalty and loss of faith. Consequently, this article selects inventory cost, inventory turnover rate and order fulfillment rate as the key performance index (KPI) as the comparison criteria.
The findings based on the simulation experiments indicated that optimum replenishment parameters of VMI model are established through scenarios design, dynamic simulation, parameters tuning and KPI measuring. Furthermore, a systematic modeling approach provides Fastener VMI players with feasible methodology in solving real world VMI problems. |