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| Smiths High Performance is much more than a distributor of commercial and special alloys. We offer a complete range of supply services starting with a simple "one order at a time" scenario right through to full "Supplier Managed Inventory" (SMI). All of our customers are different and we know that what is right for one isn't necessarily right for another. Flexibility is, of course, key to supplying our customers in the way that is right for them. Most of our customers start of buying from us "one order at a time" and indeed many continue to buy from us in this way every day. This method of supply is the simplest, you contact us, ask us for a price and delivery quotation and we then supply as agreed. For many smaller, niche, customers this is all that they need and the main benefit they get is access to our ex-stock range of materials and services. However, some customers need more from us. The biggest problem with "one order at a time" supply is that even we don't have an infinite amount of stock. Many materials, particularly special alloys, can only be be efficiently stocked against known customer demand. We use complex planning algorithms to predict demand and ensure we have enough material in stock (and on order with our suppliers) to cover most eventualities, but we can only use known demand patterns to do this. Some customers have unique material requirements. These can be unique special alloys or unique consumption patterns (or both). In these cases, to ensure ongoing supply, we have to set up supply contracts that guarantee certain levels of supply. But for some customers we go even further. Using our state-of-the-art computer system we are able to install a system into a customer's premises that moves responsibility for raw material inventory management over to us. This Supplier Managed Inventory (SMI) system dramatically improves supply chain efficiency and can lead to huge cost savings for a customer. Importantly, the customer still retains control of the stocking parameters but all other functions (even including the physical location of the stock if required) are moved over to us. (Click here for more information...) | 
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