Authors:
Ari Happonen
and
Erno Salmela
Affiliation:
Lappeenranta University of Technology, Finland
Keyword(s):
Unmanned stock replenishment, automatic-replenishment, vendor managed inventory.
Related
Ontology
Subjects/Areas/Topics:
B2B, B2C and C2C
;
Communication and Software Technologies and Architectures
;
e-Business
;
e-Business and e-Commerce
;
Enterprise Information Systems
;
e-Payment
;
Society, e-Business and e-Government
;
Software Agents and Internet Computing
;
Web Information Systems and Technologies
Abstract:
This paper presents a process description for a fully integrated, unmanned warehouse inventory
replenishment system. This description serves as a springboard for discussion on the TEMO project
(TEMO-Project, 2006), where the Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) model’s current situation and future
possibilities in the Finnish engineering industry are being studied. In this paper we concentrate exclusively
on C-class product management challenges. Because of the exceptional characteristics of these products, Cclass
product monitoring cannot be directly adapted to the VMI models used by the food industry, which are
usually based on Point of Sale (POS) information. By presenting the “ideal” model, as well as an adapted
version which can be carried out using currently available technology, the researchers would like to open
scientific discussion on the subject, especially considering challenges in stock monitoring. The main idea is
to offer a higher level of service to customers as we
ll as new business opportunities to service providers.
This kind of technology implementation would bring new challenges to supply chain management but also
new areas for research, such as information management, communications engineering, as well as ecommerce
and added value services, to the forefront.
(More)