The Axion purchasing process requires that all products shipped be communicated via an advanced shipping notice.
Shipment Notification
The inbound Shipment Notification from an EDI supplier serves the following purposes:
- To advise that goods on order in one or more purchase order is in transit;
- To advise the total number and types of packages that will be in the shipment;
- To provide the bill of lading number, packing slip number, way bill or probill number;
- To provide a reference number for payment;
- To provide any receiving message;
- To advise of the line item on order and its details in a purchase order
- Dow’s material item
- item description
- quantity shipped
- unit of measure
- required on site date
- To allow Axion Logistics Ltd. To validate the shipment details against purchase orders before the shipment arrives;
- To trigger the purchase order receipt process upon receipt of goods.
Since the shipment details are to be validated against purchase orders and the receiving transaction is triggered by and posted based on a Shipment Notification, ANSI.X12 SN856 transaction is a critical piece of data in the process and must be received by Axion Logistics Ltd. PRIOR to the physical arrival of the shipment. The ANSI.X12 SN856 is therefore referenced as Advance Shipment Notification or ASN.
All ASN’s will be monitored daily to ensure that they will be processed timely. The timeliness of the ASN is a key vendor performance indicator.
If there is any sign of tampering, damage, or discrepancy, the Receiver will take appropriate actions including contacting the site Buyer for resolution. The site Buyer will contact the Supplier.
Data Errors
The inbound ANSI.X12 SN856 transaction will be picked up from the mailbox in the VAN eight times daily. The data will be validated prior to loading into Axion Logistics Ltd.’s systems.
Since the process for receiving goods and payment will stop if there is any critical error and it is extremely costly to resolve and resend the data, disciplined procedures must be in place throughout the full acquisition cycle to ensure the critical data is accurate.
Any error messages will be spooled to the Buyer’s printers or via an electronic mail system. The EDI supplier is required to provide a focal contact for data errors, who must promptly resolve any data problem.
Non-Critical Errors
The following non-critical errors will be listed:
- The unit of measure does not match the unit of measure on the Purchase Order.
For any one of the above non-critical errors, receiving of goods is allowed but the site Buyer will still contact the Supplier for the error resolution.
Critical Errors (see pages 4-6 and 4-7)
In validating the data, any of the following critical errors will be listed for the Receiver to review and the site Buyer to take appropriate actions:
- A line item of a purchase order does not exist.
- The purchase order number does not exist.
- Dow material code does not match Purchase Order.
- The price of a line item is not correct.
- There is no payment reference number.
- Goods on order have been received, and
- The quantity of a line item shipped exceeds the quantity on order.
- Vendor ID or plant information does not match Purchase Order.
- Pricing quantity.
For any one of the above critical errors, receiving of goods is not allowed. The site Buyer will take appropriate corrective actions to resolve any. Actions may include rejecting the shipment or contacting the EDI Supplier for the correct data.
Quantity Errors
Quantity of an item shipped should be exactly as what is specified in the purchase order since any discrepancy in order quantity for any specific items on any specific delivery date should have been resolved and agreed to during the purchase order change proposal. An exception will be made for those items that cannot be specified prior to shipping (i.e. bulk chemical, pipe in random length, etc.).
Error Reports
Errors detected in an ASN are usually due to an incomplete Purchase Order process or the inability of the Vendor to deliver as per the Purchase Order. There are exceptions and extra costs in completing the receiving business transaction. A report will be generated monthly listing all the ASN errors for review. This report is available to the Buyer and Agreement Advisor, the Vendors and Axion Logistics Ltd. Management. It will identify:
- Continuous improvement opportunities for the Vendors.
- Continuous improvement opportunities for Axion Logistics Ltd.
Effort from Axion Logistics Ltd. and its trading partners to reduce the number of ASN errors is expected and improvements will be measured.
Since the shipment details are validated against the purchase orders, ANSI.X12 SN856 transaction is a critical piece of data in the process and must be received by Axion Logistics Ltd. PRIOR to the physical arrival of the shipment. The ANSI.X12 SN856 is therefore referenced as Advance Shipment Notification or ASN.