Successes and Innovations in Replenishment Shared Among Industry Leaders at the Datalliance Forum

CINCINNATI, OH--(Marketwired - May 25, 2016) - The 2016 Datalliance Forum, the world's largest annual cross-industry gathering focused entirely on the topic of Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) and related collaborative replenishment processes, attracted a record number of attendees from a wide range of consumer and industrial markets. Attendees included representatives from suppliers, wholesale distributors and retailers. Held May 9-11 in Cincinnati, Ohio, it focused on VMI best practices and successes, as well as innovations across many aspects of VMI. This year's event was the 11^th annual VMI Forum hosted by Datalliance.

The Forum's program featured speakers from organizations ranging from industrial product suppliers such as GE Industrial Solutions, Rexnord Power Transmission and Meritor, to electrical and bearing wholesale distributors such as French Gerleman, McNaughton-McKay, World Electric and BDI, to national grocery retailers Kroger and Delhaize -- all talking about various aspects of their VMI programs and relationships. Customer service, supply chain, inventory management, e-commerce, purchasing and sales professionals from nearly 70 companies were represented. Manufacturers of consumer products found on just about every aisle of grocery, drug, dollar and general merchandise stores were in attendance along with some of the world's leading manufacturers of electrical, plumbing, and industrial products, as well as automotive and heavy duty vehicle parts. It was a very diverse group, but one that shared a common interest in the operational and financial performance benefits of VMI. 

The agenda included a number of breakouts covering new and planned capabilities of the Datalliance VMI platform and supporting services, as well as strategic topics such as "Leveraging Analytics using VMI Data to Answer Business Questions" and an introduction to a new "VMI Program Growth Toolkit." A presentation on "The State of VMI" outlined results from an annual survey of manufacturers and distributors, as well as recent research by industry analysts indicating how and why VMI is a growing business practice. 

In a Datalliance company update, Datalliance President and CEO Carl Hall shared a number of factors that illustrate the steady growth of VMI as well as the global Datalliance community. He discussed accelerated VMI adoption in Asia and Latin America as well as Europe and North America. He stated that the Datalliance VMI platform is now being used to manage inventory in over 25,000 locations around the world. 

The Forum also included a thought-provoking and entertaining keynote session presented by best-selling author, Dr. Tony Alessandra titled "The Platinum Rule - Relationship Strategies for Building Customer and Personal Loyalty" followed by an enlightening interactive workshop. Datalliance 'how-to' tutorial sessions structured networking and unstructured experience exchange opportunities rounded out the program. 

About Datalliance

Datalliance is the world's largest independent Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) service provider. Delivered as a cloud-based platform backed by extensive customer service, Datalliance VMI makes 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 worldwide for leading companies in consumer, industrial and healthcare markets. For more information about Datalliance, visit www.datalliance.com.