Digitalization brings added value in many parts of the seed sector. In the supply chain workflow, it consists in dematerializing the physical exchange of documents between companies (orders, invoices, delivery notes etc.) by electronic data interchange (EDI), according to a standardized format, between computers connected by specialized links. The data is structured according to international technical standards of reference.
In our company Euralis Seeds, we started a long time ago with EDI. In fact, it is a reflection that started from the years 2003/2004 with the aim of supporting the expectations of our customers and providing the best quality of service. I am happy to say that EDI is now structurally integrated into a continuous improvement process with our information systems teams.
We exchange various types of data with our distributors. First of all, we exchange commercial EDI messages, with the order and the confirmation of the order, followed by delivery and invoicing information. Secondly, we also interact with our customers and with our logistics provider to exchange information on Logistics EDI. This provides physical traceability of seed pallets by an automated reading of Serial Shipment Container Code (SSCC), which is printed on pallet labels.
EDI can be used in any company, but involves either:
- to call on a specialized service provider that can intervene in different ways, e.g. integrated or hosted mode.
- or, to develop functionalities in the company’s own information system.
In both cases, the company must have a significant budget to ensure the implementation of EDI.
As our company keeps growing, it becomes essential to work with a growing number of customers and in particular, customers which are organized in centralized structures which aim to optimize their administrative and logistic flows and make them more reliable. This is one of the main reasons why digitalization is becoming more and more important. And from experience I can tell that the use of EDI always has a win-win advantage.
We see that EDI contributes to satisfying our customer expectations, especially the largest structures organized in central offices and reducing the burden of administrative tasks. Thanks to digital, we significantly improve the quality of customer service with greater responsiveness, accuracy and reliability.
