What is an Advanced Shipping Notice and Why Your Customers require it?

Most major retailers and many industrial customers require advance ship notices (ASNs). This post will cover a brief overview of ASNs and then cover the substantial benefits of ASN’s for your customers and consequently why they require them.

ASN Overview

An Advance Ship Notice (ASN) tells your customer in advance that your shipment is on the way and it tells them how your cartons are packed. It is an ANSI X-12 EDI 856 transaction type. The EDIFACT equivalent is the DESADV (Dispatch Advice) message.

The ASN is basically an electronic packing slip with some of the Bill of Lading information added to it. The ASN is usually sent to your customer when your goods leave your loading dock so that your customer receives the ASN well before they receive your goods. Each carton has a unique GS1-128 barcode label on the outside of the carton. The bar code number is also in the ASN so that the customer’s receiving dock personnel can scan the label and reference the ASN you sent.

Advance Ship Notice Key Data

• Purchase Order (EDI 850) information.
• Delivery Date and Time
• Location Information
• Pallet Information
• Item Details
• Shipment Moving Information (ship to, ship from)
• Shipment Tracking Information
• Shipping Package information such as carton barcodes printed

AThe Benefits of ASNs for Your Customers

Electronic ASNs sent through EDI reduce or abolish manual processes, eliminate paper documents and facilitate systems interfacing automatically.

Because the supplier sends ASNs before shipments arrive, the ASNs help your customer in planning the logistics of receipt and distribution. The receiver can more efficiently schedule unloading labour and receiving docks usage by knowing that shipments are on the way. Your customer will know whether all of the goods requested on the purchase order are being shipped and can plan accordingly.

The barcode labels and associated ASNs speed up receiving at the loading dock. The bar codes can be scanned and the cartons can be routed within the distribution centre without having to open the cartons.

Some distribution centres have conveyor belt systems that can automatically route cartons to the correct location within the warehouse or to the correct loading dock for shipment to the final destination. This speeds up the cross docking process dramatically. Read a blog post about cross docking here Cross dock explanation

Your customer will review the ASN and your shipment and then have it automatically update their systems. This saves them the time needed for manual entry of the ASN information and eliminates keying errors.

Because the ASN information is in your customer’s systems, it improves the payment cycle by automating the match between receipt of goods and the invoices you submit.

The ASN process improves the accuracy and speed of communication of what the supplier says they shipped and what the customer says they received, saving both parties time and money.

The ASN process improves the accuracy and speed of communication of what the supplier says they shipped and what the customer says they received, saving both parties time and money.

To learn more about how Infocon Systems can take care of your EDI needs for Advance Ship Notice, please don’t hesitate to give us a call at +1 888-339-0722 or email sales@infoconn.com. We’d love to hear from you.