EDI 940

What are the Essential Components of EDI 940?

Warehouse Shipping Orders need to have all the relevant details about an order, as well as specific shipping details. Key components of EDI 940 include:

• Purchase Order number 
• Warehouse order details, such as products, product quantity units of measure, expected shipping date, and item identification
• Ship-to address
• Receiver contact information
• Shipping instructions
• Special equipment requirements (such as refrigerated freight needs)

How do I Use EDI 940?

EDI 940 documents are primarily used by manufacturers, suppliers and other sellers to ship goods from a remote warehouse to a buyer’s location. The document lays out all the information a 3PL needs in order to fulfill the order. Sellers can also send additional EDI 940 transactions to modify or cancel an existing Warehouse Shipping Order.

When the 3PL receives EDI 940, they’ll send back an EDI 997 Functional Acknowledgement automatically. After processing the shipment, the warehouse will also send an EDI 945 Warehouse Shipping Advice, which details the pending shipment and includes delivery date/time estimates.

What are the Benefits of EDI 940?

Sellers can use EDI 940 to streamline communications with their remote warehouses and 3PLs. Because this document can be fully automated, an EDI 940 can quickly be created and sent as soon as an order is entered in the business system for inventory that is stored at a 3PL. This helps save time by eliminating the need to manually create an individual shipment request for each order. Because EDI 940 pulls data directly from EDI 850 and other order data in the business system, it helps to prevent errors that can lead to inaccurate deliveries, missed shipments, and damage trading partner relations.

EDI 940 Warehouse Shipping Orders are also more secure than paper, emailed or faxed shipping orders, making it easier for businesses to protect important information. For example, an EDI document may undergo at-rest or in-transit encryption, and your EDI software may require two-factor user authentication to view the transaction.