Scribd
Upload
81 views6 pages

Realizing Automotive EDI Processes

The document discusses electronic data interchange (EDI) processes in automotive supply chains. It examines common EDI document types exchanged between automotive manufacturers (OEMs), tier 1 suppliers, and lower-tier suppliers. These include forecasts, shipping notices, receipts, and invoices. It also outlines common EDI standards used, such as UN/EDIFACT, ANSI X12, VDA, and Odette. Finally, it provides a table mapping EDI document types and standards to relevant IDoc types that can be used for importing and exporting data in SAP ERP systems.

Uploaded by

Seenu Hk
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
81 views6 pages

Realizing Automotive EDI Processes

The document discusses electronic data interchange (EDI) processes in automotive supply chains. It examines common EDI document types exchanged between automotive manufacturers (OEMs), tier 1 suppliers, and lower-tier suppliers. These include forecasts, shipping notices, receipts, and invoices. It also outlines common EDI standards used, such as UN/EDIFACT, ANSI X12, VDA, and Odette. Finally, it provides a table mapping EDI document types and standards to relevant IDoc types that can be used for importing and exporting data in SAP ERP systems.

Uploaded by

Seenu Hk
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 6

German version

If you prefer to read this article in German, you may find a translated version under this link.

Introduction
The supply chains of automotive companies are usually fully automated. Instead of using paper-
based processes, OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) and their suppliers communicate using
electronic data interchange (EDI). Thereby, messages are sent from one IT system to another IT
system without any human intervention.

In the following article we examine the most important EDI processes in an automotive supply chain.
We show which EDI document standards may be used and which IDoc types may be chosen in
order to import and export the relevant information to and from an SAP ERP system.

Overview of automotive processes


The following Figure gives a brief overview of document types, which are being exchanged between
an OEM, its tier 1 suppliers and the tier 2 suppliers. The process automation may of course also
include tier 3 suppliers, tier 4 suppliers, etc.
Click here for a high resolution version of the image.
Using a forecast message an OEM communicates the demand for a specific part to the supplier.
Thereby, a forecast message usually contains the weekly demand for up to 52 weeks. The further in
the future, the less exact are the forecasted values. Nevertheless, the forecast gives the supplier a
good decision basis to calculate his own demands.
In addition to a forecast, an OEM issues JIT forecasts, which define finer grained demands for a
specific part. Oftentimes the JIT forecast also contains additional information such as the exact
unloading point, where the goods shall be shipped to or delivery timeframes in which the goods must
be delivered to the OEM.
In case just-in-sequence (JIS) processes are employed, an OEM may issue JIS forecasts. These
forecasts are used to communicate the exact sequence in which certain parts must be delivered to
the OEM.
After a supplier has dispatched the goods from his production site, he must issue an ASN
(advanced shipping notice) message. Using the ASN message the supplier pre-informs the OEM
about an upcoming delivery. Usually, the ASN contains information about pallets, the number of
used boxes, the used serial numbers for pallets and boxes and so on. The serial numbers are also
attached as labels to the pallets and boxes. Upon arrival of the goods at the OEM, the OEM may
quickly scan the labels and compare the scanned information with the information contained in the
ASN.  Thereby, any deviations in the delivered goods may easily be recognized and the necessary
actions may be taken.
Using a functional acknowledgement an OEM may confirm the receipt of an ASN to the supplier.
Depending on whether the ASN could be successfully processed by the OEM or not, the supplier
receives a positive or a negative acknowledgement.
As soon as the shipped goods are collected and processed at the OEM’s site, a confirmation
message may be issued. Using a receipt advice, the OEM communicates back to the supplier how
many delivered goods were received.
Finally, the payment details are communicated either using a credit note or an invoice message.

EDI standard families


In contrast to for instance GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications – the worldwide
standard for mobile telephone communication), there is no single global EDI standard. Instead there
are different standardization organizations, issuing different standard versions. In the following we
dwell on the most important ones.

UN/EDIFACT
UN/EDIFACT is an international standard for electronic data interchange, developed by the United
Nations. The standardization work takes place within UN/CEFACT. UN/EDIFACT is one of the most
successful EDI standards and is used in various industries worldwide. The standard per se is quite
verbose and almost never used in its plain version. Instead different industries and companies have
defined their own subsets of the generic standard.
ANSI ASC X12
ANSI ASC X12 is an EDI standard, which is developed by the American National Standards
Institute. The subcommittees of ANSI develop EDI standards for various industries and domains
such as finance, transportation, insurance, supply chain, etc. Today, ANSI ASC X12 plays an
important role in EDI processes in North America, where it is the standard of choice for most
industries, including the automotive industry.
VDA
VDA is the acronym for “Verband der deutschen Automobilindustrie” (association of the German
automotive industry). Among other activities VDA issues a set of EDI standards, which are used for
the exchange of business documents along the automotive supply chain. VDA is widely used among
German car manufacturers and their suppliers.
Odette
Odette International Ltd. is a not-for-profit organization and a pan-European collaboration and
services platform for the automotive industry. Among its members are various national automotive
associations such as VDA (Germany), GALIA (France), etc. The goal of Odette is to achieve
consensus solutions for the various challenges in the automotive industry, thus, ensuring maximum
efficiency of supply chain processes. As part of its standardization work, Odette develops the Odette
EDI standards.

Mapping to IDoc types


In the following we provide a comparison table, showing the different EDI message formats and
types, which may be employed for the processes in the automotive supply chain. The two rightmost
columns show the IDoc basic types and IDoc message types, which may be used in order to import
and export the relevant information in/from an SAP ERP system.
Click here for a high resolution version of the image.
Note, that the basic type and the message type of an IDoc may be different, depending on the used
SAP version and the application scenario.
Although the newer, EDIFACT-based VDA standards are becoming increasingly important, one may
still find the old fixed-length VDA standards in various automotive supply chains (e.g., VDA 4905).

Summary
EDI standards play an important role in today’s automotive supply chains. Depending on the
business partner and the global location, one may encounter a multitude of different EDI standards
and standard versions.

In order to cope with the different standards and to allow for an easy integration of these EDI
standards in an SAP system, an EDI converter solution must be employed. The EDI converter
solution may either run locally (e.g., as part of SAP PI) or may be outsourced to an external service
provider.

You might also like