Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) facilitate the computer to computer exchange of data between supply chain partners to enable the essential business transactions with minimal human interaction.
Figure 6 shows the typical business transactions that can be managed by EDI:
Figure 6: EDI Transactions
The advantages of EDI include:
- Information only needs to be entered into the computer system once
- Minimal human intervention allowing Logistics personnel to focus on value-added activities
- High-speed transactions
- Reduction in costs and error rates.
- The Internet allows the user to connect to multiple users without the need for expensive hardware.