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What is a VDA 4984 Message?

The VDA 4984 message is an electronic representation of a planning schedule sent to a supplier from a customer. It follows the VDA (German Association of the Automotive Industry or in German Verband der Automobilindustrie e. V.) standards and is an essential document for electronic purchasing processes in the manufacturing and automotive industry. As the base format for the VDA 4984 message, the VDA has chosen the EDIFACT DELFOR format (specifically DELFOR D.04). The new VDA 4984 message replaces the legacy VDA 4905 message.

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The use of the VDA 4984 Message

Manufacturing companies use the VDA 4984 format to notify their suppliers of expected future demands. The message represents a forecast that consists of multiple lines containing data and quantity information for the requested materials. Furthermore, a VDA 4984 message can be used to also inform about last receipt goods, production, and material releases.

Typically the forecasts are prepared in the ERP system by a planning routine (disposition) and exported from there into an ERP-specific data format. With an EDI software, this format is converted into the VDA 4984 messages and sent to the suppliers. When suppliers receive the VDA 4984 message, it will create or update planning schedules and populate the information of possible order releases. Furthermore, it is specified that a new VDA 4984 message will always replace the plan of the former VDA message.

Benefits using EDI and the VDA 4984 Message

The benefits exchanging planning via VDA 4984 for customer and the supplier

Reduces employee workload

as data has not to be typed in manually

Preventing errors

as data is generated automatically by the system w/o human interaction

The entire data exchange becomes paperless

reducing administrational overhead

Time savings allow companies a better focus on strategic tasks
Delivery planning is done quicker and less prone to errors

This is important for supplier ratings, common in the automotive industry using Just-in-time (JIT) and Just-in-Sequence (JIS) production

Wrong or missed deliveries because of human errors are avoided

meaning better supplier ratings

Automatic integration of delivery schedule saves time and reduces costs
Less interaction with the supplier is necessary

as typing errors are avoided

Update to planning can be communicated quicker,

so out-of-stock or over delivery scenarios are less likely

Automate the VDA 4984 Planning Schedule Message with flexible operating models

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