Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI)
During the past ten years countless customers have benefited from Arrow’s VMI programs, receiving delivered reductions in total cost, improved cash-to-cash cycle times, and increased time to react to changing customer demand.
Pipelining and Bonded Inventory
Delivers Secure Supply and Delayed Ownership
Thousands of customers throughout North America currently enjoy the benefits of secured and delayed inventory ownership through Arrow’s bonded inventory programs. In these arrangements, Arrow continues to store the inventory within our central warehouses but the inventory is electronically segregated within our systems and reserved specifically for you.
Bonded inventory programs deliver all of the improved inventory turns results and reduced product liability benefits of Arrow’s other vendor managed inventory programs without requiring any additional storage space in your facility. Because the inventory is stored in an Arrow warehouse, we can manage the safety buffers dynamically without the need for unnecessary transportation and inventory build-ups. In addition, the management of inventory to meet your forecasted demands is performed entirely by Arrow personnel.
For more information on how Arrow’s VMI Services can benefit your organization contact your local Arrow sales office at 1-800-777-2776.
Customers that partner with Arrow on a bonded inventory program enjoy the following benefits:
- Reductions in inventory carrying costs
- Improved cash-to-cash cycle times
- Greater security in supply
Consignments
Offering the Benefits of On-Site Inventory and Delayed Ownership
Consignment programs can be an option for certain customer needs to delay ownership of inventory and reduce cycle times while increasing the availability of components. Customers maintain physical management of the consignment and must provide a secure, physically segregated area to hold the inventory. Arrow maintains the material planning responsibilities, delivers inventory to this on-site area, and retains title to the inventory until disbursement. Strict controls are required to maintain visibility, align liability, and preserve inventory accuracy.
Arrow's consignment programs, in some instances, can help customers:
- Improve flexibility when reacting to changing demands
- Reduce total cost from lower inventory levels, lower materials overhead, reduce transaction costs, and delay cash disbursements
- Improve cycle times
Arrow tailors all consignment and IPS(spell out)-type engagements to our customer needs. Please contact your local Arrow sales representative and supply chain solutions manager for details.
In-Plant Stores
Deliver Cost Savings and Increased Flexibility
Today, companies are looking for ways to manage their inventory more efficiently and cost-effectively than ever before. For certain manufacturers, an Arrow In Plant Store is the ideal solution for effective inventory management. With material profiled to meet your specific demands, the In Plant Store is located within your manufacturing facility to support your production and engineering requirements in a Just-In-Time (JIT) fashion.
Arrow's In Plant Store program can deliver a wide range of benefits including:
- Improved flexibility when reacting to changing demands
- Reductions in total cost from lower inventory levels, lower materials overhead, reduced transaction costs, and delayed cash disbursements
- Faster time to market and improved response to engineering change notices
- Elimination of unnecessary handling and overhead
- Improved cycle times
- Greater ability to focus current staff on strategic issues
eCOMPASS
eCOMPASS - Electronic Customer Originated Material Planning And Scheduling System.
eCOMPASS is an integrated materials management planning system that utilizes the customer's forecast to automate and drive the fulfillment process. By comparing customer demand to Arrow inventory levels, eCOMPASS generates a series of reports that allow the SMR or Material Planner to work the customer's MRP by exception, allowing more time for proactive planning and pipeline maintenance. The eCOMPASS tool also evaluates the MRP data and feeds the information to our supplier scheduling system, Manugistics. Here, planned orders are automatically generated to Arrow's Suppliers to ensure pipeline vitality.
Additionally, eCOMPASS can include embedded releases. This means that when a demand falls into a specific weekly window (period of time), the demand automatically becomes a firm order when a purchase order number is included in the part information.