Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) - An analysis of how Microsoft could implement VMI functionality in the ERP system Microsoft Dynamics AX.

Sammanfattning: Title: ?Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) ? An analysis of how Microsoft could implement VMI functionality in the ERP system Microsoft Dynamics AX.? Authors: Peter Gurenius Johanna Wicander Supervisors: Ola Johansson, Department of Packaging Logistics, Lund University Per Lykke Lynnerup, Microsoft Development Center, Copenhagen Background issues: VMI is being increasingly implemented in companies and therefore Microsoft wants to have this functionality in the ERP system Microsoft Dynamics AX. Today, in version 4.0 of AX, there is no VMI functionality and customers have to buy add on VMI solutions from Microsoft's partners. However, these solutions are customer specific and do not lead to competitiveness for Microsoft in the long run. Microsoft wants to have generic VMI functionality build into AX, why Microsoft has started a large project for implementing advanced trading functionality in AX, including VMI. Purpose: The purpose of this master's thesis is to ?investigate how Microsoft could implement VMI functionality in Microsoft Dynamics AX?. To achieve this, three research questions will be answered regarding purposes of starting VMI relationships, information needed in VMI collaborations and communication methods. Method: Since little prior research is done on VMI implementations into ERP systems the authors have conducted benchmarking case studies at six companies, both suppliers and customers working with different VMI solutions. The conclusions and recommendations are to a large extent based on the findings from the case studies. Conclusions: In summary, the case companies have reported overall positive results after implementing VMI and want to develop the collaborations further. The findings from the study indicate that more or less the same information is VI needed irrespective of how the information is sent. However, differences in how the information is sent are found. Recommendations to Microsoft: The authors believe after having conducted literature and case studies that it is necessary for Microsoft to have VMI functionality in AX to be able to compete successfully in the future. The authors present a generic solution for VMI in AX, in which configurations can be made easily to suit different methods of communication.