Datalliance, Cincinnati, has enhanced returns processing capabilities for its Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) platform by further streamlining and automating the process for electrical manufacturers and electrical distributors.
The company said in a press release that the new capabilities are the result of a joint effort between Datalliance and Hubbell. Hubbell has already piloted and implemented the new capabilities with one of its largest electrical distributors and is in the process of rolling it out to all trading partners. Said John Riley, director of eCommerce for Hubbell Electrical Systems, “VMI greatly reduces the need for returns, but they are still a fact of life in such a dynamic environment as the electrical industry. Our goal was therefore to reduce non valued-added manual processing as much as possible for both our partner and Hubbell. This new capability eliminates virtually all of that manual processing. Datalliance has been a great partner in producing this game-changing expansion of the VMI process.”
Datalliance VMI generates recommended returns based on inventory management parameters established between a supplier and distributor — just as it generates recommended replenishment orders. It provides the supplier with an electronic file of recommendations that they can collaboratively review and refine with their distributor.
With this enhancement, Datalliance now closes the loop by automatically validating each action against return handling rules and generating transactions into each party’s respective ERP system to drive execution. In addition to elimination of manual processing, it also more closely tracks returns activity for later analysis. This enhanced returns processing is available to all users of Datalliance VMI at no cost, and with no need to upgrade software since the platform is delivered using the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) approach.