How EDI builds an electric car

Day 1 · 06:40

It starts with demand, arriving three different ways. Summit Rental orders 500 crossovers with an X12 850 over AS2. A shopper in Dallas configures one car online, in Comparatio Navy, and the order arrives as JSON over the API. A utility emails a PDF purchase order, and Comparatio PDF Import reads it into an 850 as well. The ERP gets three clean sales orders and nobody re-keys anything.

Day 1 · MRP run

The ERP explodes the orders into a bill of materials and sends every supplier a rolling 26-week forecast. It is the same schedule in three formats over five protocols: X12 830 over AS2, VAN and SFTP, JSON over the API for Novachip, and EDIFACT DELFOR over OFTP2 for the drive-unit maker in Stuttgart. Comparatio translates every one. And Bayside Fasteners, which has no EDI at all, answers with a PDF that becomes an 855.

Week 2 · Busan → Houston

Battery cells are the longest lead item. Hanseong books container space with an ocean 300, the carrier confirms with a 301, and every container move is reported back as a 315: loaded, sailed, arrived. Before the ship docks, the 856 advance ship notice has already told the plant which cell lots are in which container.

Week 4 · The line starts

The line starts with the skateboard. The gigacasting cell casts the front and rear underbody from alloy that came in by rail on a 404 bill of lading. The 3PL releases cells to the pack line on a 940 and confirms with a 945. Bayside’s emailed PDF packing slip arrives as an 856. Each pallet received posts an 861, and that receipt is what pays the supplier later.

Week 5 · Stuttgart → Austin

Rheinwerk in Stuttgart works in EDIFACT over OFTP2, the European automotive standard. It sends a DESADV despatch advice. Comparatio translates it into the X12 856 the ERP expects, and returns an EDIFACT CONTRL acknowledgment in Rheinwerk’s own format. Neither side changes a thing.

Week 6 · Day 3 · Just in sequence

Seats arrive in sequence. Every few minutes the plant sends Corvan an 866 listing which seat set goes on which VIN, in build order. Corvan’s next 856 names a sequence that isn’t in today’s 866. Comparatio rejects it before the truck leaves, sends an 824 application advice, and the corrected ASN follows four minutes later. The line never stops.

Week 6 · Day 3 · Final assembly

Final assembly runs on just-in-time call-offs. The plant sends 862 shipping schedules for glass and for sequenced tire-and-wheel sets, and Novachip pushes its ship notice through the API. Every installation backflushes inventory in the ERP. Every part on this car traces back to the documents that ordered it, shipped it and received it.

Week 6 · Day 3 · 14:52

At the last station the car powers up for the first time. Automated checks run on lights, cameras, high-voltage isolation and the drive units. The VIN is confirmed and the car rolls to the yard. The ERP marks web order WEB-88213 as built, and an order-status update goes to the web store over the API.

Week 7 · Austin → Denver & Dallas

Outbound runs on EDI too. The plant tenders the load to Interstate Autohaul with a 204 and gets a 990 back. Summit Rental receives an 856 listing every VIN on the truck, and 214 status messages follow the carrier to the door. The navy car goes to Dallas for its owner.

Week 11 · Settlement

Money moves on EDI as well. Veyra invoices Summit Rental with an 810, and Summit pays through its bank with an 820 remittance that names every invoice. Most suppliers don’t invoice at all. Under evaluated receipt settlement, the plant pays from its own 861 receipts and sends each supplier an 820. Bayside’s PDF invoice becomes an 810 and is matched like any other.