什么是 ANSI X12 EDI 846报文?

An ANSI X12 EDI 846 (Inventory Inquiry/Advice) message is used to send inventory information between customers and suppliers, and replaces the historical paper based version of this document. This is used by customers to inform their suppliers of their held inventory and stock levels. They are used to describe the current availability of stock or goods and can be used to inform about initial stock, final stock, and the movement of goods between warehouses for a specific period.

供应商可以使用 ANSI X12 846 库存查询来给客户更新现有库存量和进行未来库存预测。客户也可以根据这些信息更好地规划未来订单，而供应商也可以在货物生产或到达前便提前将货物售出。此外，这类报文还可以用来通知客户当前商品缺货情况，并告知未来将补充的库存商品。

客户则使用ANSI X12 846 库存查询报文来让供应商知晓他们订购的商品的当前库存情况。如果双方签订了自动补货协议，846 报文还可以触发即时物料发货。

在某些行业的业务模式中，如供应商管理库存（VMI）和零售商直接发货（Retail Drop Shipping），EDI 846报文是强制性的报文类型。尽管在其它行业中，它并不是必不可少的，但使用范围仍旧十分广泛。

An Inventory Inquiry / Advice can contain a range of information that details either the customers or suppliers stock levels. The message is sent, received, and processed by an EDI Solution, which could either be an online EDI Cloud Service or an in-house EDI software solution.

A typical ANSI X12 EDI 846 message contains:

• Name and address of both the supplier and customer
• Item reference numbers and descriptions
• Quantity or goods (both on hand and in float)
• Current ordered quantity and future order commitments
• Warehousing and delivery location
• Returns

Once a Supplier receives a new 846 EDI message, their EDI solution can process this information and convert it to their own in house ERP format. Once in this recognized format, this information can be imported into the ERP system and update the customer’s current and future stock levels to aid future orders from them. This can also trigger an automatic replenishment of goods, if an agreement to this has been agreed, prior to the receipt of the document.

In a Retail workflow, the role of an ANSI X12 EDI 846 message shows up mid-way though the exchange sequence and could be sent many times throughout:

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The equivalent of an ANSI X12 846 Inventory Inquiry / Advice document within the EDIFACT format would be both INVRPT (INVentory REPort) as well as EDIFACT RECADV (Receiving advice message). In some scenarios EDIFACT messages are very common with Europe and Asia.

VDA messages are commonly used in the automotive industry, and the VDA 4990 Global Inventory report would be the equivalent message sent if using the VDA standard of messages.