Individual and automatic message exchange with the help of EDI

Sustainable, efficient and flexible: With the help of EDI, paper-based processes are replaced by digital processes. EDI stands for Electronic Data Interchange and enables the transfer of business documents between two companies. The advantage of this is that processes, such as the placement of orders or invoices, which before the EDI solution had to be sent to customers or suppliers in paper or mail format and manually entered into the system, can now be individualized and automatically processed within a few seconds. This saves time and offers flexibility.

"With the help of EDI, we can respond flexibly to specific customer and supplier requirements. For example, we can redesign our tools and platforms, some of which are already in place, to suit the specific solutions of customers or suppliers and thus also customize messages," says Tunahan Coban from the Processes, Solutions & Services team at thyssenkrupp Materials Services. The advantage: The relationship with the customer and supplier is intensified.  

In addition, the error rate is drastically reduced: Due to the electronic dispatch of messages, data entry errors are reduced to almost zero. The dark booking rate, meaning the rate of bookings that are completely automated, is currently over 98% - with a message volume of over one million electronic messages per year at thyssenkrupp Materials Services, this ensures significant efficiency and thus speed and accuracy in the supply chain.

Shutting down paper-based processes

To replace the paper-based processes, the Processes, Solutions and Services team checks the details of the technical connection together with the customers or suppliers and then coordinates further communication and the requirements of the message formats. Due to the high number of requirements, this is no easy task, because serving all needs is complex. "Implementation is followed by the first test messages. Once this is successfully completed, we can switch off the paper-based process and switch to the EDI solution," says Tunahan Coban.

EDI at thyssenkrupp Materials Services

EDI has been in use at thyssenkrupp Materials Services for a long time - over 20 years to be precise. Nevertheless, the solution continues to evolve and become more accurate as well as more efficient. In Europe alone, a total of eight companies at the materials trader and service provider rely on the solution and have connected over 1500 customers. "We can see from this that the solution is extremely important for our business," says Tunahan Coban.