Vendor-managed inventory (VMI) is a well-known and widely- used supply chain practice between a supplier and a customer (e.g., supplier–manufacturer or distributor–retailer), in which the supplier manages the inventory at the customer and decides when and how much to replenish. VMI started as a pilot program in the retail in- dustry between Wal-Mart and P&G (Proctor & Gamble) in the 1980s and has been adopted by many supply chains such as Campbell Soup Company, Barilla SpA, Intel, and Shell Chemical