Stryker Instruments has acquired a new system for implementing vendor-managed
inventory (VMI) programs with its suppliers. Stryker is a provider of surgical
instruments and other types of medical technology. It was having problems
sharing real-time forecasts and consumption-rate data with key suppliers. As a
result, the company was suffering from inflated inventory levels, stockouts and
high administrative costs. Stryker needed to share data with suppliers in the
U.S. and overseas, without the help of expensive electronic data interchange
(EDI) technology. It began looking for a more efficient tool for scheduling and
replenishment, as well as rating supplier performance. The solution was a VMI
application from TradeBeam. The vendor's GTM software suite lets the user
transmit to suppliers real-time data on inventory consumption, forecasts and
shipping information. Suppliers can view the entire supply-chain process, while
deploying a Web browser to provide advance ship notices (ASNs) and
promise-to-ship information to their customers. The tool uses active alerting
technology to allow for proactive, event-based management of the direct material
supply chain. According to TradeBeam, the GTM suite has helped Stryker to reduce
direct material inventory by 30 percent. Suppliers have realized efficiencies as
well; complete visibility of supply and demand activities allows them to design
better processes for manufacturing scheduling, replenishment and shipping. In
some cases, TradeBeam said, suppliers have been able to reduce their component
inventories by as much as 25 percent. John Macchia, president of Advance Turning
& Manufacturing Inc., said his company is importing data from Stryker
directly into its production system. “As a result,” he said, “we have reduced
our inventory levels, dramatically improving our production schedules for parts
to Stryker Instruments.”
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