An innovative inbound logistic strategy for the two wheels vehicles market

In the automotive industry, Just in Time Delivery is generally regarded as the primary way to reduce inventory and to avoid delays. However, when demand is variable and/or seasonal as for the two wheels vehicles market, JITD presents several drawbacks and cannot be effectively implemented. Considering these issues, the present paper proposes an innovative inbound logistic strategy, which is based on Vendor Managed Inventory coupled with Consignment Stock. At present, this approach is being implemented in an important Italian district for the production of two wheels vehicles. The technical problems that have been successfully addressed and the preliminary results of the industrial application are described in details in the paper