What is a VDA 4905 Message?
1. Executive summary
The VDA 4905 message is a legacy EDI message type for sending planning schedule information sent from a customer to a supplier. It was a VDA (German Association of the Automotive Industry or in German Verband der Automobilindustrie e. V.) standard and an essential document for electronic purchasing processes in the automotive and manufacturing industries. The new VDA 4984 message replaces the legacy VDA 4905 message. Still today, a good number of automotive OEMs and Tier 1 automotive suppliers is using the VDA 4905 message, or at least offer it in parallel to the more modern VDA 4984 message type.
The different partners involved in the supply chain need to work in sync for an optimal use of the respective assembly lines. The effectiveness of communications in the supply chains is built on Electronic data interchange (EDI).
2. The use of the VDA 4905 message
Manufacturing companies use the VDA 4905 format to notify their suppliers of the predicted need. The message represents a forecast with data and quantity information for the required materials. A VDA 4905 message can also contain information about last goods receipt (delivery note, receipt date) and CRQ numbers. Production and material release information is not included in this legacy format.
White Paper3. How is the VDA 4905 format called in other EDI Message Standards?
The VDA standard is prevalent in the EU when exchanging EDI messages with automotive OEMs and the suppliers in their respective supply chain. VDA formats are defined by the German Automotive manufacturers association (“Verband der Automobilindustrie”). The EDIFACT DELFOR (DELivery FORecast) message and the ANSI X12 830 are used in particular for exchanging delivery schedule information.
The VDA 4905 message is the predecessor of the state-of-the-art VDA 4984 message for exchanging planning schedules.
4. Move from VDA 4905 to the VDA 4984 Planning Schedule Message
If you are still sending VDA 4905 messages to your suppliers, we recommend to review this and rather switch to the modern VDA 4984 format. Suppliers that still receive this VDA 4905 message type should check if their customers support the mentioned modern standards as well. If so, they should switch.
With SEEBURGER, you have all options for swift change to the new format and a stable operation:
- We can quickly convert the documents to the new data format with our canonical mapping approach just using a new partner mapping from our repository.
- The SEEBURGER BIS Platform can be used on-premises as an in-house EDI operation, or in a public cloud environments or as an EDI Cloud Service in the SEEBURGER Cloud.
