I've done whatever I want

Chapter 229 VMI Strategies for Agencies
Semiconductors can be called the jewel in the crown of the industry. Both design and manufacturing are very complicated. Investment in any link is very expensive. Only a very small number of powerful companies in the market will completely build the entire industrial chain.

Generally speaking, this industry has a clear market division of labor, with many companies participating in dividing the cake.

To sort it out, the source is chip design activities, and chip design mainly relies on EDA software. Functional design, synthesis, verification, physical design (including layout, wiring, layout, design rule checking, etc.) of chips, etc., so EDA software is known as the "mother of chips" and is the cornerstone of integrated circuit design.

In addition to EDA simulation verification, chip design activities will also carry out sample performance and reliability verification activities, which has brought fire to test verification companies such as iST, Hongkang, CTI Weisibo and Jifeng.

After the chip design is completed, the tape-out business will be handed over to the Fab factory.

The lithography machines, etching equipment, deposition equipment and cleaning equipment used in a fab are all precision equipment, integrating precision optics, precision instruments, polymer physics and chemistry, mechanical automation software, high-precision environmental control and fluid mechanics A variety of advanced technologies in the world, especially lithography machines, can be called the "fate gate" of the chip industry. The difficulty of manufacturing lithography machines with a precision above 28nm is far more difficult than that of atomic bombs. The wafer manufacturing technology using these precision equipment can be called human. The perfect crystallization of civilization wisdom.

After the chip is taped out at the Fab factory, it enters the downstream industry chain of the semiconductor. Except for a very small number of IDM manufacturers, the packaging and testing business is generally handed over to the OSAT factory.

OSAT, the full name of Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Testing, is outsourced semiconductor (product) packaging and testing. It is a link in the industrial chain of IC product packaging and testing for chip brand companies. Mingyueguang packaging and testing factory belongs to OSAT.

The size of the chip is very small, and electronic products are inseparable from the chip. The traditional direct sales model often requires investing huge resources to establish a strong marketing network. This method is not suitable for pervasive chips, so most chip manufacturers will set up their own Sell ​​Office and use the agent sales model to sell chips.

You can think of these agents as Alibaba, JD.com or Suning Appliances in the traditional electrical appliance industry.

Arrow and Avnet are giants in the chip consignment industry.

Xin Tong entered Kilby from Mingyueguang, that is, from the OSAT of the industrial chain to the original factory sales, and his sales activities are inseparable from agents.

That afternoon, agent Allen went to their office in person, said hello to sales director Simon, and then found Xin Tong.

After a brief introduction, Xin Tong followed him out of the Office with his computer bag on his back.

On the way to Alfa customers, Allen said while driving: "Manager Xin, our Dalian University has already become the largest in Asia in terms of sales channels, and we will undoubtedly become the world's largest in the future. Excellent semiconductor Design companies and IDM companies all seek cooperation with us, such as the MCU product line, XT, TI, Infineon, NXP, etc. have all had good cooperation with us.”

When he met Xin Tong for the first time, he wanted to impress Xin Tong. After all, the strong original Sales has a veto power in deciding the agent. Although Dalian Dalian is powerful, it will try its best to please them.

"Thank you Allen, what is the core advantage of Dalian University?" Xin Tong asked curiously.

In his impression, these agents are just some handbag companies that have been handed over, and they are not of much value. Some agents ask the original factory for the payment period, and they ask the customer for cash settlement. The bowl is full, the goods are turning like a wheel, and the money is flowing like a spring.

"VMI! Have you heard of VMI?" Allen turned around and asked.

"No!" Xin Tong shook his head, it was the first time he had heard of this interesting term.

"VMI, the full English name is Vendor Managed Inventory, which means vendor managed inventory!" Allen explained.

Vendor managed inventory?It sounds quite tall, but Xin Tong didn't fully understand it just from this term.

While he was wondering, Allen continued: "Let me tell you this, when we sell chips to Siemens, the traditional approach is that Siemens needs to stock up, right?"

Xin Tong served as the factory manager of Mingyueguang Suzhou factory, and of course he knows the meaning of safety stock. After all, safety stock is the minimum stocking quantity of the factory. If it is lower than this quantity, it will call the police. Paying attention to changes in safety stock is the main work of every company’s PMC. .

"Yes, without the concept of safety stock, factories are prone to material shortages. The definition of safety stock and the monitoring of safety stock are the main tasks of every factory!" Xin Tong said.

"VMI will subvert this perception, because Dalian Dalian, as a supplier of Siemens, will help customers manage and control safety stock!" Allen said.

When Xin Tong heard this, he was stunned!
In this way, customers don't have to worry about running out of cooking!

"Customers don't prepare safety stock, this will save a lot of precipitation funds!" Xin Tong is very clear about this account. Ming Yueguang Suzhou factory was established by him. At that time, they discussed that according to the safety stock According to the calculation method, the inventory of many materials needs to be prepared for a month or even longer.

Establishing safety stock means squeezing out raw material funds for a month.

"Isn't it? With our full support, many customers don't have to worry about safety stock, and can even achieve zero stock and achieve real JIT!" Allen showed a mysterious smile on his face.

He found that Xin Tong was very interested in this topic, which meant that he accepted Dalian University's operating model from the bottom of his heart.

Yes, Xin Tong has indeed accepted Allen's statement. If agents can help customers manage the safety inventory of chips, zero inventory can indeed be achieved.

Large-scale agents are like lakes, with a large throughput capacity. Companies flow in and out like streams. A certain stream has more water and less water, which is basically negligible for the impact of the lake. Excluding.

House A has accumulated too many chips and can sell them to House B. For agents with very strong channel capabilities, digesting the inventory is not a problem at all.

It sounds like Dalian is still generating value in the semiconductor industry chain, no wonder it will be the number one channel in Asia.

As they talked, they arrived at the Alpha client.

During this period of time, Alice, the purchasing manager of the Alpha customer, clamored to kick the Kilby K100 MCU chip distributed by Dalian Dalian out of the AVL (qualified supplier) list, and they wanted to use the XT chip represented by Avnet.

In the conference room of Alpha Purchasing, Allen and Xin Tong are anxiously waiting for Alice to appear.

An hour passed and Alice did not show up.

Xin Tong checked the emails in his laptop. Manager Cui of Huizhou Industrial Control had already given him a positive reply, and he was looking forward to the BGA144 samples and face-to-face communication with him next Monday.

Two hours later, Allen was like an ant on a hot pot. He wanted to rush Alice. This strong woman was like this. The more he pushed, the longer the wait would be, so he had no choice but to give up.

Continue to wait?Today is the first business trip with Manager Xin from the original factory. He won't turn his back on him, will he?He remembered that he used to go out with Rich to visit customers, and Rich turned his face a few times. The sales of the original factory was the uncle of the agent, and he should not be offended.

A smile appeared on Allen's face, and he said to Xin Tong, "Manager Alice is busy now, I'm sorry to keep you waiting."

"It's okay, the customer is God, let's wait!" Xin Tong patted Allen on the shoulder, trying to make him relax. In his previous life, he was a boss and had seen many such scenes.

Seeing Xin Tong's natural expression, not angry, Allen let out a long breath. It's not easy to be an agent's salesman. The salesman of the original factory is the uncle, and the customer's purchase is also the uncle. The grandson of the turtle, for the sake of a few taels of silver, had to be a man with his tail between his legs.

(End of this chapter)