MechChem Africa March-April 2023

VEGA Inventory System: the proactive supply chain solution Some years ago, VEGA Controls SA introduced the VEGA Inventory System (VIS), a Cloud-Based system designed to manage and optimise stock levels of liquids in tanks and/or bulk solids in silos, into South Africa. MechChem Africa talks to Product and Technical support Manager, Clint Viviers, about the system’s benefits for suppliers and customers. C lint Viviers’ responsibilities include all technical aspects within VEGA Controls SA, along with sales and service support, and the flow of It enables multiple users from across the sup ply chain to see live data and how to manage their future needs remotely, from anywhere, on a 24/7 basis,” he adds.

makes for a lot of room for error,” says Viviers. If, on the other hand, the supplier is using VEGA level measurement technology – such as our VEGAPULS 6X RADAR Level trans mitter – along with our Inventory system, the supplier and the chemicals/commodities customer can connect to each other via the Cloud. The levels in every tank are measured and uploaded to the VIS at specified time intervals. From there they can be viewed by anyone with access to the VIS portal. Suppliers can also alert their customers directly to the need for stock in one or any number of their tanks. Orders can automati cally be generated and dispatched on a just in-time basis, without the need for human intervention. “For full transparency, customer levels can also be made available to the supplier, creat ing the certainty needed for future planning,” he explains. “So the customer’s needs are automatically made known to the supplier, who enables suppliers to proactively respond and plan a delivery, which will arrive without the need for any action from the customer,” Clint Viviers tells MechChem Africa . Advantages for the supplier include: quick access to current and historical customer consumption data, enabling supplier stock ing levels to be optimised; cost-effective production and inventory management in its own facilities; increased efficiency of plan ning processes; cost savings through optimised logistics;

Describing the conventional way of replen ishing stocks, he says that stock levels of tanks have always been measured using some sort of level measuring technique or sensor. “We at VEGA are specialists in level measurement and have a number of measurement solutions that are used in countries all over the world, including South Africa. “Traditionally, a production facility at a chemical plant, for example, would have relied on an operator to take manual readings of the levels in all the tanks, which would then be manually entered into an Excel spreadsheet. The accuracy of this manual reporting has a direct impact on production planning and the efficient supply to end users or customers. “The customer order would be received and processed, and the supplier would need to confirm having the stock before a tanker could be arranged, filled, and sent across to the customer. It was, and for many people still is, a very manual and time-con suming process – and manual intervention

communication on sensors and approvals between South Africa and Germany. “I am also the radiation protection officer, so I have multiple roles to keep me awake and excited,” he begins. The VEGA Inventory System (VIS) is another reason for excitement: “VIS is our value-added product, complementing our main business line of Level and Pressure Instrumentation. It is a purpose built and ultra-modern Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) system that uses the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) to couple advanced software with our latest VEGA level sensors. It closes the supply chain loop between customers and production facilities dependent on stocks of chemicals, fuels, food, beverages or any liquid or powdered commodity stored in a tank or silo with a level sensor,” he explains. Companies across the world, he says, are moving to cloud-based inventory control sys tems. “Our VIS is the equivalent of a remote monitoring system for stocking levels in tanks.

and improved customer relationships and long term customer loyalty. From a supplier

perspective VEGA’s Inventory System offers continuous, 24/7 remote inventory monitoring for a diverse range of liquids, including

water, chemicals, fuels, lubricants, additives and liquid gases; as well as bulk solids such as cement, grain, powders, granules and pel lets. “The advantages in terms of security of production and customer are considerable. And not only does VIS software draw on

Ideal for petrochemical industries, the VEGA Inventory System (VIS) is a Cloud-based system designed to automatically measure, manage and optimise stock levels of liquids in tanks and/or bulk solids in silos.

4 ¦ MechChem Africa • March-April 2023