Key Takeaways

  1. VMI enables efficient growth
    NCE’s inventory grew only 18% while sales grew 40%, proving that scale doesn’t require proportional inventory investment.
  2. Shared real-time visibility drives trust
    TrueCommerce Datalliance’s online charting and graphing, accessible to both distributor and supplier, created a collaborative dynamic NCE didn’t have with any other trading partner.
  3. VMI extends beyond inventory
    Automating routine replenishment freed inventory managers to focus on exceptions, allowing NCE to manage more locations with fewer staff.

About the Customer

North Coast Electric (NCE) is the largest distributor of electrical materials in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. A recognized industry leader in inventory management, NCE has consistently outperformed benchmarks in inventory turns, fill rates, and carrying costs. At the time of this study, the company had grown from 16 to 28 geographically dispersed locations, with roughly 25% of total inventory managed through VMI programs across 13 manufacturing suppliers.

The Challenge

Rapid growth introduced new operational complexity. Managing inventory effectively across 28 locations, while simultaneously minimizing carrying costs and maximizing customer fill rates, became increasingly difficult. NCE’s inventory managers faced a persistent tension: keeping products in stock while keeping inventory lean. Compounding this, experienced inventory managers were hard to find. NCE’s existing VMI relationships also lacked transparency; managers had little insight into the orders being generated by supplier planners, creating discomfort and limiting collaboration.

The Solution

NCE implemented TrueCommerce Datalliance VMI in partnership with key supplier Rockwell International. The platform automates replenishment decisions, handling a high percentage of SKUs with minimal manual intervention. Out-of-stock orders route directly to the manufacturer via EDI the same day. What distinguished TrueCommerce Datalliance from other VMI systems was shared online information, charting, and graphing — giving both NCE’s inventory managers and Rockwell’s planners full real-time visibility into order status, execution, and historical trends. The system also reports order data in weekly time buckets, compared to the monthly cadence of most other platforms, enabling faster responses to shifts in demand.

Our experience with VMI has proven to us that we can significantly improve the efficiency of our entire supply chain, from manufacturer to our end customer.

Rick Bumpus, VP of Operations

Of all the VMI systems that we use, TrueCommerce Datalliance is the only one that provides online information, charting, and graphing to give us a clear insight into the status and execution of our supply chain with Rockwell.

Rick Bumpus, VP of Operations

Brand Element

Detailed Results & Business Impact

NCE achieved improvements across every target metric, plus meaningful unanticipated benefits:

  • 20% increase in inventory turns achieved while supporting 40% sales growth, with inventory rising only 18%
  • Fill rate improved from 95% to 98% daily replenishment communication with Rockwell reduced safety stock while improving availability
  • 20% improvement in inventory manager productivity with routine items handled automatically, staff redirected to exception management across more locations
  • Stronger supplier collaboration through shared dashboards and weekly data granularity that built trust with Rockwell that NCE hadn’t achieved with other trading partners