VMI Group Trusts aPriori to Accelerate RFQ Responses and Drive Higher Revenues

CONCORD, Mass. --(Business Wire)--

aPriori, a provider of product cost management software solutions, has announced that international specialist in tire and rubber component machinery, VMI Group, has deployed aPriori product cost management software to improve understanding of custom and standard machine design costs, respond to more RFQs quickly and accurately, and secure more business at higher margins.

Headquartered in the Netherlands with sites in China and America, VMI Group designs custom engineered production systems for manufacturers that build vehicle tires, re-tread existing tires or produce other technical rubber components and products. The company's 750 employees engineer core products such as single-stage tire building machines for globally renowned clients, driving annual revenues of around €160 million.

The aPriori product cost management platform solves real business problems by providing discrete manufacturers like VMI Group with unprecedented real-time product cost visibility throughout their entire development and production process. VMI will now be able to model each of its manufacturing facilities throughout the world, including site specific material stock types, pricing, machine types and operating attributes, intelligent process routings, labor and overhead costs, and more. The aPriori system will then automatically produce highly-detailed cost assessments for VMI's products in just seconds, allowing VMI Group to respond to more customer RFQs with greater accuracy and detail than ever before, driving higher revenues.

Gerrit van Dijk, VMI Group's manager of cost engineering, said: "It is vital that we are able to consistently calculate the cost of customized machine dsigns as early and as accurately as possible so that we can turn around higher volumes of more detailed quotes in less time to maximize our revenue opportunities. Furthermore, after a quote is accepted, VMI purchases many components to build these machines. By adopting the aPriori product cost management platform, we will gain greater understanding of what parts 'should cost,' thus allowing us to negotiate better pricing with our suppliers for purchased parts."

Arnaud Walburger, aPriori's director of EMEA, said: "aPriori will help VMI Group maximize revenues, responding quickly and more accurately to RFQs by transforming its existing SolidWorks 2012 CAD models into highly detailed and accurate quote responses. Calculating the cost of customized machine designs as early and precisely as possible will immediately help VMI Group to respond to a higher volume of proposals, as well as putting the business on a far stronger footing when negotiating with vendors of raw materials and custom engineered purchased parts used in those products. aPriori will also provide VMI with consistency in quoting over time, whichever individual is responding to RFQs, providing far greater credibility in the eyes of customers when compared to inconsistent manual quotes."

By leveraging aPriori across its business, VMI Group will now be able to turn around RFQs for standard and complex custom parts in minutes, enabling its highly-experienced R&D tire department, work preparation department, purchasing and estimating departments to focus on core processes and overall production strategy.

About VMI Group

VMI Group is the world's leading supplier of machinery and services to manufacturers of radial passenger, light truck, all steel radial truck, bus and off-the-road (OTR) tires. It specialises in the technical rubber, tire and tire re-treading industry sectors. Part of the TKH Group NV, which is listed as TKH at the Stock Exchange Euronext Amsterdam, VMI offers services in sales, service and tire production machinery from three individual bases in The Netherlands, China and America and has a total of 750 employees. www.vmi-group.com

About aPriori

aPriori software and services generate hard-cash product cost savings for discrete manufacturing and product innovation companies. Using aPriori's real-time product cost assessments, employees in engineering, sourcing and manufacturing make more-informed decisions that drive costs out of products pre- and post-production. With aPriori, manufacturers launch products at cost targets, maximize savings in re-work projects and never overpay for sourced parts. To see an overview demonstration of aPriori, click here. To learn more about aPriori and its product cost management solutions and services, visit www.apriori.com.

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