Vendor Managed Inventory in Spotlight at Datalliance Forum

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Companies from Multiple Industries Share VMI Successes at Two-day Event

Cincinnati, Ohio, June 7, 2011- This year’s Datalliance Forum held May 24-25 in Cincinnati, Ohio was quite possibly the largest cross-industry gathering focused completely on the topic of Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) ever held. Nearly 150 people from over 70 different companies participated in the event. Attendees represented a wide range of industries, including the electrical, plumbing, heavy duty/automotive, industrial, consumer packaged goods, retail, and healthcare products industries.

The forum’s program featured presentations sharing the successes of VMI programs from executives and senior managers at companies such as Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems, Schneider Electric, and The Sports Authority. Industry-specific distributor and supplier panel discussions stimulated considerable group interaction about both the challenges and rewards of VMI. Companies represented on panels and in other sessions included such diverse organizations as Anvil International, Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems, Canplas, Dannon, Fleetpride, Hubbell, Kimberly Clark, Leff Electric, Meritor, Sunny Delight, Thorlo Socks, Van Meter Industrial, and Veyance Technologies/Goodyear Engineered Products.

Keynote presentations highlighted the value of trust among trading partners, and outlined global issues impacting the future of supply chain management in general. Breakout sessions, roundtables, and workshops focused on topics such as: techniques for setting proper expectations between VMI partners, approaches to benchmarking VMI performance within different industry segments, the use of retail POS data to drive VMI, and various ways to utilize VMI information beyond replenishment planning.

“The year over year increases in attendance at the Datalliance Forum are a reflection of the growth in VMI,” said Datalliance CEO Carl Hall when delivering an update on the Datalliance VMI service. “For many wholesale distribution industries, we’re seeing a steady growth in VMI participation from both the supplier and distributor side. In consumer and retail environments, we’re seeing a renewed focus on VMI, with an increasing number of companies in the process of taking their programs to a new level. We’re happy to see companies across all these industries adopting Datalliance VMI as the platform for their programs.”

About Datalliance

Datalliance is a leading provider of collaborative commerce services, and the world's largest independent VMI service provider. Delivered via the Internet using the 'Software as a Service' (SaaS) model, Datalliance solutions make it easy for suppliers and their customers to establish sales and inventory management relationships that fully align business objectives, improve collaboration, and streamline supply chain operations. Datalliance manages billions of dollars in orders, millions of SKUs, and thousands of locations for leading Fortune 1000 companies in a number of industries. For more information about Datalliance, visit www.datalliance.com.

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