West Marine recently was recognized by the Voluntary Interindustry Commerce Standards Association for excellence in integrating the company's collaborative, planning, forecasting and replenishment operations.
The CPFR program awarded uses all nine steps of the VICS CPFR process. In their program, West Marine is primarily responsible for developing sales and order forecasts in active collaboration with its suppliers. This process ultimately improves in-stocks and on-time shipments, reduces lead-time and lost sales, and increases average order value.
“On behalf of the West Marine category management team and the more than 200 participating West Marine suppliers, we're honored to be recognized with this award,” said Larry Smith, senior vice president, planning and replenishment. “The honor represents West Marine's commitment to accuracy in replenishment forecasting as well as the company's dedication to improving our customers' experience by providing improved fulfillment and higher in-stock levels in stores.”
VICS is comprised of small and large companies, united in their pursuit of timely, accurate flow of product and information between trading partners. The organization has a collective goal of improving the companies' competitive positions. West Marine, like other participating organizations, supports VICS' belief that cross-industry commerce standards help to facilitate better customer service while reducing costs, which increases the efficiency and effectiveness of the entire supply chain.
The industry recognition was announced in late May at the Retail Systems 2004 Conference in Chicago. West Marine submitted quantifiable results from their internal implementation programs to earn the honor.
