MSC Industrial EDI requirements for suppliers
Selling to MSC Industrial Supply by EDI means purchase orders in, and acknowledgments, ship notices, invoices, inventory and routing requests back in MSC’s format. Here is what our MSC map handles, how onboarding runs, and what our engineers do for you.
- MSC already in our map library
- 4–8 week go-live, paced by MSC
- Same-day map changes
MSC Industrial
- Received: 850 orders · 754 routing
- Sent: 855 · 856 · 810 · 846 · 753
Comparatio
Translates, checks and monitors your documents
Your ERP
- Sales orders
- Shipments
- Invoices
- 1,000+
- pre-built trading-partner maps
- Nearly 8,000
- partner connections
- 4–8 weeks
- typical new trading-partner go-live, paced by the partner
- 103 min
- median map change (90 days to 28 Oct 2026)
Documents
The EDI documents MSC Industrial trades with suppliers
MSC sends purchase orders and routing instructions; you send back an acknowledgment, a ship notice and an invoice, plus inventory advice and routing requests. Each outbound document is built from your ERP’s own records.
| Document | Direction | What it carries |
|---|---|---|
| 850 Purchase order | From MSC | Stocking and drop-ship orders, entered as sales orders in your ERP |
| 855 PO acknowledgment | To MSC | A status for every line: accepted, backordered, quantity or price changed, or rejected |
| 856 Advance ship notice | To MSC | GS1 SSCC carton IDs and carrier package numbers, with drop-ship orders handled separately |
| 810 Invoice | To MSC | Built from your invoice, with your MSC vendor number and the remit-to address |
| 846 Inventory advice | To MSC | Stock levels for your items, read from your ERP |
| 753 Routing request | To MSC | Asks for routing on shipments where MSC chooses the carrier |
| 754 Routing instructions | From MSC | The carrier and pickup details MSC sends back, matched to your routing request |
Our MSC map sends the order documents in X12 version 4010. Inbound X12 documents are acknowledged with a 997 as your partners require.
MSC Industrial specifics
What our MSC map takes care of
Routing, both ways
A 753 routing request goes out for shipments where MSC chooses the carrier, and MSC’s 754 routing instructions come back matched to that request.
Carton-level ship notices
The 856 carries each carton’s GS1 SSCC ID and the carrier’s package number. Drop-ship orders get their own ship-notice handling.
Inventory advice
The 846 sends stock levels for your items from your ERP, so MSC sees what you can ship.
MSC labels
On Prophet 21, our companion label printer has an MSC label layout, printed from your P21 pick tickets and packages.
Onboarding
Getting live with MSC Industrial
A new MSC Industrial connection typically goes live in 4–8 weeks, paced by MSC Industrial’s testing.
Check your partner list
Run your partner list through the trading partner lookup, or send it to us. MSC Industrial is already in our map library, so setup starts from a proven map.
Exchange IDs and connect
You and MSC Industrial exchange EDI IDs and connection details. We set up the connection, whether AS2, SFTP or a VAN, including certificates.
Connect the map to your ERP
We tie the map to your ERP: items and the partner’s part numbers, ship-from locations, ship-tos and terms. You confirm the business rules.
Test with MSC Industrial
Test documents go to MSC Industrial until its testing signs off. This step sets the pace of the project.
Go live
Production orders start flowing, and our monitoring watches every document from the first day.
Managed EDI
How Comparatio runs MSC Industrial EDI for you
Our engineers build and change the maps, run the partner testing, maintain the connection and act on monitoring alerts. Your team keeps the ERP records current and makes the business calls.
Monitored by engineers
Daily checks, set up per partner, flag a document MSC Industrial never acknowledged or an invoice with no matching ship notice, and our team opens the ticket. In the 90 days to 28 Oct 2026, 61% of our tickets were opened by our own monitoring.
Same-day map changes
When MSC Industrial changes a requirement, we change the map the same day, with no project queue: map changes took a median of 103 minutes in the 90 days to 28 October 2026.
Checked before it goes
Every outbound X12 document is checked against MSC Industrial’s rules and reported, and can be held per partner.
Acknowledged as required
Inbound X12 documents are acknowledged with a 997 as your partners require. The 997s MSC Industrial sends back are matched to the documents they answer.
Connections and certificates
We set up and maintain the AS2, SFTP or VAN connection to MSC Industrial, including certificates and renewals.
Named engineers on every ticket
Questions go to engineers who know your setup, with a median first response of 79 minutes (Oct 2025–Oct 2026).
Your other partners
Check the rest of your partner list
MSC Industrial is one of the partners in our library of 1,000+ pre-built maps. The trading partner lookup tells you which of your other partners already have a map.
FAQ
MSC Industrial EDI questions, answered
Which EDI documents does MSC Industrial require from suppliers?
The order cycle: MSC sends 850 purchase orders, and suppliers send back 855 acknowledgments, 856 ship notices and 810 invoices. Our MSC map also sends 846 inventory advice and 753 routing requests, and reads MSC’s 754 routing instructions. Inbound X12 documents are acknowledged with a 997 as your partners require.
How long does MSC EDI onboarding take?
Typically 4–8 weeks from start to go-live, paced by MSC’s testing. MSC is already in our map library, so setup starts from a proven map.
How do the 753 and 754 work with MSC?
For shipments where MSC chooses the carrier, we send a 753 routing request built from your pick ticket. MSC answers with a 754 routing instruction, which we read and match to that request.
Do you support MSC drop-ship orders?
Yes. Our MSC map covers stocking and drop-ship orders, and builds the ship notice for a drop-ship order the way MSC expects for that order type.
What happens when MSC changes its EDI requirements?
We change the map the same day, with no project queue: map changes took a median of 103 minutes in the 90 days to 28 October 2026.
Talk through your MSC Industrial EDI
Bring a sample MSC Industrial purchase order and your partner list, and we’ll walk through each document and what your onboarding looks like.