The stocking and transport of raw materials is often of significant cost to a manufacturing company. When the supplier looks after the customer’s raw materials inventory (vendor managed inventory – VMI) both parties benefit from dovetailing processes. Vega supports the VMI business model with sensors for level measurement, various options for wired and wireless data transmission and a platform for making all inventory data available, the Internet portal Web-VV.
Vega supplies sensors for level measurement of any kind of liquid or bulk solid. The measurement data is made available by signal conditioning instruments on site or by telecommunication via standard interfaces (Ethernet, Modem, GSM, GPRS). This has advantages for both sides. The plant operators always have access to the critical data they need for production control. The supplier, on the other hand, can retrieve inventory data regularly from a distant location and fill up stocks when required.
Web-VV is a user-friendly inventory visualisation and data storage system that is just as suitable for company networks as it is for worldwide measurement data-logging. The data collected by Web-VV is made available as charts, bar graphs and histograms. Inventory levels are actively monitored and transmitted in time or event controlled reports via e-mail or SMS. Integrating Web-VV into planning and control systems is simple because it provides, along with the Web services, a standardised interface to user programs and ERP systems such as SAP.
The Web-W Internet portal is being used in numerous companies at over one hundred locations worldwide. The applications are running successfully in flour mills, water works and tank farms. The business model can be applied to many other application areas as well, eg, in the food, building materials, petrochemical, environmental and recycling industries.
VMI saves both suppliers and customers work and overhead in the supply chain through precise monitoring and control of delivery vehicles, storage capacities and production processes. Vega delivers the ideal base for VMI projects: a coordinated system of sensors, communication modules, the software WEB-VV and the corresponding IT infrastructure.
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