Svetsmaskinservice is one of the largest service companies for the welding industry in the Nordic region. The company supplies metal fabrication and construction customers with welding consumables, cutting and grinding products, and personal protective equipment.
Before adopting vendor-managed inventory (VMI) technology, the team managed replenishment through weekly on-site stock checks, resulting in up to a 7-day gap between identifying a need and filling it. With Invendor’s Gravity Cabinet installed at customer sites, that gap closed. Replenishment is now driven by real consumption data, and time previously spent on manual rounds is recovered.
Key Results
Since implementing Invendor’s VMI solution for the welding industry, Svetsmaskinservice has:
- Saved at least 30 minutes per site visit previously spent on manual inventory checks
- Eliminated stock-outs and overstocking caused by estimation-based weekly replenishment
- Enabled accurate project-based cost tracking for every item withdrawn from point-of-use storage
- Reduced waste at customer sites through demand-matched replenishment quantities
- Protected customer sales that were previously at risk when shelves ran empty between deliveries
- Gone from product evaluation to first cabinet live in under two months
The Challenge: Losing Sales Without Real-Time Data
For welding industry distributors managing vendor inventory at customer sites, an empty shelf is not just an inconvenience. It is a lost sale. A customer who needs welding wire or a grinding disc right now will not wait a week for the next scheduled delivery. They will buy the substitute product from whichever supplier has it in stock nearby, or the distributor is forced into a costly emergency delivery just to keep the business. Either way, the distributor loses: either the margin on an expensive one-off delivery, or the sale itself to a competitor.
Svetsmaskinservice’s process before Invendor followed the standard cycle: a sales rep visited the customer site, walked through point-of-use storage, assessed stock levels by hand, and placed a replenishment order. Delivery came the following week. That meant up to seven days between identifying a need and filling it, a window wide enough for fast-moving consumables to run out entirely.
When a customer’s workload surged mid-week, consumable usage outpaced the weekly estimate and items ran out before the next visit. At that point, the customer’s production does not stop and wait. They source the item elsewhere, and the distributor risks losing not just that single sale but the ongoing relationship if it happens repeatedly.
The inverse problem was just as real, if less costly: when customer workloads fell, the visual estimate led to overstocking, tying up working capital and cluttering point-of-use storage areas.
On top of the replenishment accuracy problem, the manual check process itself consumed significant time. For each Gravity Cabinet customer, the sales rep responsible for VMI at Svetsmaskinservice estimates that at least 30 minutes per visit were spent walking storage areas and auditing items before any restocking began.
Why Svetsmaskinservice Chose Invendor for VMI
Svetsmaskinservice evaluated several inventory management systems before selecting Invendor. In October 2024, the team travelled to Estonia for a hands-on product overview. The shortlist narrowed quickly.
“What differentiated Invendor was not only the technology. It was the people behind it, the clarity of the product roadmap, and a demonstrated willingness to build the partnership collaboratively rather than transactionally,” said Isak Wetterlind from Svetsmaskinservice AB.
How Svetsmaskinservice Uses Invendor’s VMI Solution
Invendor Gravity Cabinets are installed at customer sites across Svetsmaskinservice’s network. Each cabinet stores the welding consumables, cutting and grinding products, and PPE used daily in fabrication and construction operations. The cabinet tracks consumption automatically at the point of use, removing the need for manual stock checks between replenishment visits.
Before each cabinet goes live, the sales rep responsible for Invendor prepares the setup in the portal: products configured with bin addresses and reorder parameters, labels printed, users created and assigned. When the cabinet is installed, connections are handled with Invendor support on hand. From that point, the system is live.
Once live, Svetsmaskinservice’s weekly delivery rounds are guided by portal data rather than a manual walk-through. The job number and cost centre tracking feature is active at each site, allowing customers to assign every withdrawal to a specific project at the point of use.
Outcomes: What Changed After Implementing VMI in the Welding Industry
Time recovered on every site visit
The most direct and measurable impact is time. The sales rep estimates saving at least 30 minutes per visit for the first Gravity Cabinet customer, time that was previously spent walking storage areas and checking items by hand. That time has been replaced by a delivery round guided by live portal data, a fundamentally shorter and more purposeful task.
As the cabinet estate grows across additional customer sites, the time saving compounds. Each new cabinet added removes another manual check cycle from the weekly route.
Replenishment accuracy matched to actual demand
The weekly delivery rhythm that Svetsmaskinservice customers valued has been preserved. What changed is the data behind it. Instead of stock levels being assessed through a visual estimate, the Gravity Cabinet records consumption continuously. Replenishment quantities now reflect real demand, not a point-in-time guess, reducing both stock-outs and overstocking, and protecting sales that would otherwise be lost to a competitor when a shelf runs empty.
Project cost tracking for welding consumables
In metal fabrication and construction, consumables are used across multiple concurrent projects. Attributing that usage to the correct cost centre has historically been difficult when items are available in open storage with no registration at the point of withdrawal.
With the Gravity Cabinet, every item taken is logged automatically in the Invendor portal and can be assigned to a job number or cost centre at the point of use. Customers can now assign welding consumables, grinding products, and PPE directly to the project that items were consumed for.
Before and After: VMI for Welding Industry Replenishment
Before Invendor VMI
- Weekly manual stock checks at each customer site
- Up to 7-day gap between identifying a need and replenishment
- Empty shelves risk lost sales to competitors
- Stock-outs or overstocking from visual estimates
- 30+ min per visit spent on manual item audits
- Welding consumable costs hard to attribute to projects
After Invendor VMI
- Delivery rounds guided by real-time portal data
- Replenishment driven by actual point-of-use consumption
- Stock levels protected, sales secured
- Quantities matched to real demand, waste reduced
- Time recovered for customer-facing activity
- Every withdrawal logged to job number or cost centre
Frequently Asked Questions: VMI in the Welding Industry
What is vendor managed inventory (VMI) in the welding industry?
VMI in the welding industry is a replenishment model where the distributor or service company takes responsibility for monitoring and restocking welding consumables, PPE, and related products at the customer’s site. Instead of the customer placing orders, the supplier tracks consumption and replenishes stock based on actual usage data, typically using point-of-use smart cabinets.
What problems does VMI solve for welding consumable distributors?
The main problems VMI solves for welding distributors are lost sales and stock-outs caused by demand spikes between manual check cycles, overstocking during slower production periods, and the time cost of weekly on-site manual inventory audits. When a shelf runs empty, customers do not wait for the next scheduled delivery, they buy elsewhere. A smart cabinet that tracks consumption in real time keeps stock levels matched to actual usage, protecting both the customer relationship and the sale.
How long does it take to implement a VMI smart cabinet solution?
Svetsmaskinservice went from product evaluation to the first Gravity Cabinet live at a customer site in under two months. That timeline reflects the initial evaluation period, including a product overview and decision-making process. Once a distributor is set up with Invendor, installing each additional cabinet is faster: depending on the agreed product mix, subsequent installations have taken anywhere from one to two weeks up to one to two months, from the client’s order to a fully operating cabinet on site.
Can VMI cabinets track welding consumable usage by project or cost centre?
Yes. Invendor’s Gravity Cabinet supports job number and cost centre tracking at the point of withdrawal. Customers can assign each item taken from the cabinet to a specific project, making it straightforward to charge welding consumables, grinding products, and PPE directly to the job that consumed them.
What types of products are typically stored in a VMI cabinet in the welding industry?
The most common products in VMI cabinets for welding industry customers are welding consumables (wire, electrodes, contact tips), cutting and grinding products (discs, blades), and personal protective equipment (gloves, visors, hearing protection). The product range varies by customer but typically covers high-turnover items where stock-outs would interrupt production or risk losing the sale to a competitor.
About Svetsmaskinservice
Company type: Service company for the welding industry
Market: Nordic region
Customers: Metal fabrication and construction companies
Products managed: Welding consumables, cutting & grinding products, PPE
VMI solution: Invendor Gravity Cabinet
Live since: December 2024
