As we approach the end of another amazing year, with a jam-packed 2024 programme ahead of us, it is fitting to reflect on 2023 and wrap-up in style. What better way to do this than recognising all those who have made our excellent results possible.
Odette and ECG have recently published Release 1.2 of their digital message standards for Finished Vehicle Logistics (FVL). The new release includes amendments and updates which take account of issues discovered during the practical implementation of the original messages by several European OEMs, including BMW, Volvo Cars and Volkswagen Group Logistics.
APIs, especially REST APIs, are being increasingly used to provide and access information in automotive supply and distribution processes. They are comparatively easy to install and deploy, allow an agile process management, and can be used with many different devices from mobile phones up to server systems.
However, APIs also bring new threats to system integrity and data security and may cause serious disruptions to supply chain processes if developed and deployed without the appropriate security features.
At the request of its members, Odette has called a meeting of automotive companies and packaging manufacturers on 22 November in Berlin to discuss the current challenges facing the suppliers and users of automotive packaging, and the possibility of taking a collaborative approach to meet those challenges.
NIO, a pioneer and a leading company in the premium smart electric vehicle market that designs and builds electric vehicles, has announced that it started to adopt the Supply Chain Management assessment tool developed by Odette and AIAG.
The automotive industry was in the vanguard of the einvoicing movement and has been exchanging invoices and other financial documents using structured digital messages for more than 40 years. But are our long-established procedures and standards now under threat from governments and tax administrations across the world looking to intervene in the einvoicing process in an attempt to reduce tax fraud and close the VAT gap?
Once again, the Odette Team has supported the Ford Supplier Day with an MMOG Awareness session. We presented the recently released version 6 of the assessment tool and the latest evolutions of the cloud platform which has been continuously improved since its initial launch in 2018.
The transportation of production parts may be compromised for many reasons, especially in long distance supply chains. The customer needs to know as quickly as possible what impact a delay in the transport chain could have on the current production plan but often the link between the contents of a shipment and the means of transport carrying that shipment is missing, especially in a 4 corner model where actors are not in an established relationship or use web portals to carry out activities such as, ad-hoc ordering and confirmation of transport capacity.
An increasing number of OEMs and Tier1 suppliers are requiring their suppliers to implement the GTL however not all suppliers have the appropriate back-end systems to produce these labels to the correct specification consistently.
MMOG/LE is a strategic tool helping automotive companies across the world to obtain greater visibility on the capability and efficiency of their supply chain. To ensure that it continues to address the latest challenges facing the supply chain, it is reviewed and revised every 3 years. Version 6 in English has just been released and suppliers should take action now to be able to meet the latest customer requirements in good time.
The automotive industry is increasingly moving to smaller pack quantities, for both deliveries and trackside storage, which has led to more and more tray and blister packaging being used. These very small packaging sizes pose particular challenges for labelling even with the small load container labels already specified by Odette. To meet these challenges, the Odette Technology Group has designed two even smaller labels which can carry the main data items of the Global Transport Label.
The OFTP2 Expert Group constantly reviews the OFTP2
protocol to ensure that it remain at the leading edge of file transfer
technology. The latest enhancement -“Partner Details Exchange using XML“ -
published in version 3 of the OFTP2 Implementation Guideline will bring about significant gains in time and
efficiency.
Digitalisation of the automotive supply chain continues apace and APIs appear to be the tool of choice to fill the gaps and supplement well established digital infrastructures. Odette has therefore set up an API Expert Group dedicated to developing rules for a standardised approach to API implementation and applying them to selected business cases.
The packaging of purchased parts is a key element of automotive supply chain management, however the diverse methods used to exchange information during the development and definition of part packaging solutions means that the process is not as efficient as it should be.
ECG and Odette have come together to develop a ground-breaking standard for VIN labels to help overcome inefficiencies in the process of delivering finished vehicles to its final destination. And it’s already under deployment by Volvo Cars worldwide.
AutoID technologies depend on the reading of standard codes called Data Identifiers. Those used in the Automotive Supply Chain have been compiled in a JAIF document to harmonise implementation worldwide and encourage correct usage.
Odette continues to support European vehicle manufacturers as they start to implement the standard digital messages developed by Odette, ECG and VDA to support communication across all Finished Vehicle Logistics processes.
BMW and VW are now well advanced in the introduction of the messages with their FV LSP partners
