Whether your company has fixed production needs or your fastener needs
fluctuate weekly, Accurate Fasteners, Inc. can help you manage your
inventory more efficiently and cost-effectively.
AFI provides a variety of vendor-managed inventory (VMI) programs
that are designed to offer you a simple, automatic reordering process
for stock items. With a VMI program in place, you can rely on AFI to
manage and replenish your inventory when you need it.
This streamlined approach to inventory and order-fulfillment, also
referred to as "Just-In-Time" (JIT), brings significant time and cost
savings to facilities that incorporate them, while maintaining full
availability of product for production needs. We believe that the key
is to design simple, easy-to-run processes that work well in a moderately
controlled fastener stock location. We analyze product use, suggest
economic order quantities and reorder points, and implement the entire
inventory management process.
Both AFI's AccuStock™ and Assured Inventory management
programs provide the confidence and protection you need to effectively
run your business.
Plus, we tailor our operations to meet your technological capabilities.
Our audits and transmissions can be as simple as a visual count and
faxed status report by an AFI representative or as "high-tech" as a
bar-code reader that transfers the data electronically to our inventory
database.
AccuStock Program
This program uses an audit-based reordering scheme. All shipments
from AFI arrive in pre-determined quantities. Product stocking is performed
in a coordinated manner with items maintained in the pre-packaged quantities
until they are used.
AFI personnel perform an inventory audit on a regular basis, and they
compare the product quantity on hand to the reorder point printed on
the bin location (or off a reorder sheet). Items below the reorder point
are noted for replenishment. The replenishment amount can also adapt
to a customer's production schedules.
The audit information is then transferred to AFI, where the reordering
process is completed. At this point, the system functions in the same
way as it does in the Assured Inventory program.
Key Benefits
The AccuStock Program is designed to streamline the reordering process,
eliminating stock-outs and excessive inventory buildup. AFI personnel
work with you to tailor operations to your company's specific technological
capabilities. All audits and transmission to Accurate can be as simple
as a visual count and faxed status report to Accurate, or a single-step
with a bar-code reader and electronic transfer.
Assured Inventory Program
This program uses a card-based reordering scheme. That means
that all shipments from AFI include a pre-printed reorder card in the
package. Customers open items in their shipments one at a time, collect
the cards inside and then deliver those cards to the purchasing department
or directly to AFI for reordering. Everything is set: contract prices,
package sizes, bin locations, etc.
Key Benefits
The Assured Inventory Program is designed for a highly controled environment.
If run correctly this program is the least expensive way to ensure full
availability on all items. However, we have found this program to be
less popular in today's production environments because of the critical
need to return cards to start the re-order process. Often customers
request us to implement a combination card and audit based system.
