Gentherm VDA - EDI Project Guidebook
EDI Transmission Protocol: OFTP2
Message Standard: VDA
Message Types: 4905 (Delivery Schedule - Receive), 4913 (Despatch Advice - Send)
Message Version: 03
Implementation Solution: WEB EDI Solution
WEB EDI operation
There are two main types of messages processed this time: 4913 Despatch Advice and 4905 Delivery Schedule. Among them, we focus on the message type 4913.
The 4905 message was sent by Gentherm,and the data integration platform is responsible for receiving and processing it,and automatically sends a notification email to the designated mailbox.WEB EDI systems can be used to display relevant information received.
The 4913 message is filled in and generated by us in the WEB EDI system. After the user clicks send, it is sent to the partner by the data integration platform to ensure accurate transmission and timely processing of information.
The WEB EDI system interface includes two interfaces: Order Information(Gentherm send us Order) and Delivery Information(We send shipping notifications to Gentherm)
- Order Information：Split the order by material number to display the content of the received 4905 predicted message. Customers can view the details of the delivery plan.
- Delivery Information：After the customer uploads the shipping information with Excel, the system will generate the corresponding EDI message and submit it to Gentherm.
Receive Order Information and Email Notification
Whenever Gentherm sends us an Order Forcast, the details of all orders will be displayed simultaneously on WEB EDI (each Order/Item Number is a row)
Email Notification
In addition to being displayed on WEB EDI, all orders can also be sent to customers' mailboxes by email.(One email containing all orders / Item Number)
Note: This email is Chinlink's internal email. If the email for receiving reports needs to be modified or added, please contact us.
The following customers focus on data:
PO Number：Gentherm's order number, one order number corresponds to an item number
Buyer Item Number：Gentherm's Item Number
Supplier Item Number：Supplier's Item Number(This may be empty)
Descrete Quantity：Requested Delivery Quantity
Quantity Unit：Quantity Unit,The following are possible values
ST = piece of (Not PCS / PCE)
M = meters of
M2 = square meters of
M3 = cubic meters of
L = litre of
T = ton of
KG = kilogram
Request Delivery Date：Buyer Requiers Delivery Date（Note: There are several formats for this date）
YYMMDD 250913 September 13,2025 Normal date
YYWWWW 253538 2025 year 35-38 week x weeks - y weeks
YY00WW 250038 38th week of 2025 No.xx week
YYMM00 250900 September 2025 No.xx month
Plant Code： Customer’s Plant Code(Different codes represent different Gentherm factories,This needs to be backfilled when sending a shipping notice to the designated factory.)
312 - Tianjin
280 - North America
379 - Vietnam
311 - China
250 - United States
114 - Hungary
351 - Shenzhen
Send VDA4913
Mainly sends 4913 despatch advice. Before sending messages, you need to prepare actual shipping information, pallet/packaging information, material information, etc., for interface parameter input.
Fill in Delivery Note Information
Shipping Information
Despatch Time, Estimated Arrival Time, Carrier Handover Time: Fill in the corresponding times.
Delivery Note Number: Required, identification number assigned by the supplier to the delivery note, right-aligned, padded with zeros, must not be repeated within the current calendar year (January to December), maximum 8 digits.
Bill of Lading Number (Number or name of the forwarder): Conditional, supplier number of the freight forwarder picking up goods at the supplier. Format: maximum 14 digits.
Purchase Order Number: Conditional, order number in the delivery instruction, should fill in the PO Number from Excel (e.g., 0008011655).
Location Information
SF, ST, SU, and other information generally will not be changed. They are preset by users in advance in address management and default values are set. Just select them here.
Customer Plant: Required, provide the code corresponding to the plant (e.g., 114, 311).
Buyer Reference Number: Conditional, should fill in the Buyer Reference from Excel (e.g., 962).
Material Information
Gross Weight (Gross shipment weight): Conditional, quantity unit (kilograms), no digits after the decimal point.
Net Weight (Net shipment weight): Conditional, quantity unit (kilograms), no digits after the decimal point.
Number of Packages: Optional, number of packages. Right-aligned numbers, padded with zeros, no decimal places, set to 0000 if none.
Carrier Information
Transport Mode Type: Required, transportation method code, generally 2 digits, can also use 00 as placeholder (optional values [01: Truck 02: Logistics number 09: Postal parcel 10: Air 11: Sea]).
Shipment Type: Required, generally 2 digits (optional values [01: Supplier truck 03: Customer truck 10: Air 11: Sea 20: Private parcel service]).
Shipment Load Reference Number: Required, shipment reference number, fill in if available, otherwise set default value 00000000 (e.g., 00000793, 00000000).
Conditional: May need to be filled in (Conditional)
Required: Must be filled in (Mandatory)
Fill in Detailed Material Information
Before filling in materials, you need to select the corresponding packaging information. There are two types of packaging: returnable packaging and non-returnable packaging (default packaging - V400400).
Returnable Packaging
Note: If there is no returnable packaging, skip this section.
When filling in packaging information for returnable packaging, you need to select BOX as the package type and fill in the number of packages and quantity per package. In addition, there can only be one type of material under each package. If this delivery note has multiple materials, multiple packages are needed.
Default Packaging
Default packaging V400400 does not require filling in the above number of packages and quantity per package. Just confirm and add materials to it. One package can contain multiple different materials.
Material Information
Customer Reference Number: Required, customer's material reference number.
Supplier Reference Number: Optional, supplier's material reference number. If it is the same as the customer's material reference number, you can fill in the same value.
Delivery Quantity: Required, delivery quantity.
Unit of Quantity: Required, unit of material quantity (e.g., ST, PCE, KG, etc.).
Batch Number: Optional, batch number of this batch of materials, can also be left blank when sending to the partner (e.g., P104518712, P104518713).
Material Description: Optional, text information, limited to 40 characters.
Country of Origin: Required, select the country of origin of the material.
Send Despatch Advice
After filling in and saving shipping information, a record with Unprocessed status will be generated.
Click "Despatch Advice", and the message will be pushed to the customer in real-time through the data integration platform.
Unprocessed shipping information can be modified;
Processed shipping information cannot be modified and cannot be resent;
Failed shipping information can be modified and resent.
View Delivery Note Information
Processed shipping information indicates that the despatch advice has been successfully sent to the customer. Click the Serial Number on the interface to query specific delivery note information and material information.
Send VDA4913 (Upload Excel File)
Send Shipping Notifications/Delivery Note
We will provide an Excel template for uploading shipping Notifications.
Here is the explanation for each cell:
Despatch Datetime: Delivery time, fill in after delivery(Format：yyyyMMdd, For Example：20251125)
Estimated Arrival Date: Estimated arrival date of goods(If we ship to the Vietnam factory in about 3 days, and the date here is Despatch Datetime +3 days. Format：yyyyMMdd，For Example：20251128)
Carrier Handover Datetime: Carrier handover Date（The date the goods leave the port/hand over to the carrier. Fromat：yyyyMMddFor, Example：20251125, Optional）
Despatch Note Number: Identification number that the supplier assigns to this delivery note.（Length limit: 8 characters, For Example：HT251226 or 25120601）
Bill Of Lading: Number or name of the forwarder (Length limit: 14 characters, Optional)
Purchase Order Number: Purchase Order Number. (Length limit: 12 characters, Note：A buyer item number will correspond to an order number, if there are multiple item numbers, you can fill in one of the order numbers here.)
Supplier Party ID: The supplier number. The number assigned to us by Gentherm. (If we only have this one number, then this value can be fixed. For Example：001234567)
Customer Plant Code: Gentherm Plant Code(For Example：311)
312 - Tianjin
280 - North America
379 - Vietnam
311 - China
250 - United States
114 - Hungary
351 - Shenzhen
Customer Store Code: Gentherm Store/Warehouse location
0312 - Tianjin
0280 - North America
0379 - Vietnam
0311 - China
0250 - United States
0114 - Hungary
0351 - Shenzhen
Buyer Reference: Customer Reference Number (Optional)
Shipment Gross Weight: Gross weight of shipment (Length:MAX 7 digits, For Example: 398. Note: The weight with the packing, the unit is KG by default, just fill in the number here)
Shipment Net Weight: Net weight of shipment (Length: MAX 7 digits, For Example: 300. Note: The weight without packing, the unit is KG by default, just fill in the number here)
Quantity Of Pack: Number of packaging.(Length: MAX 4 digits，For Example: 1020，Note：no decimal place)
Transport Type: Transport identification（For Example: 10）
01 - Truck/trailer(KFZ-Kennzeichen)
02 - Border/customs declaration(Bordero-Nummer)
06 - Bulk cargo(Stückgut-Nummer)
07 - Express(Expreßgut-Nummer)
08 - train(Waggon-Nummer)
09 - Postal parcel(Postpaket)
10 - By air(Air)
11 - Sea freight(Ship)
Dispatch Type: Shipping method(Optional)
01 - Subcontractor trucks [LKW Unterlieferant]
02 - Customer Truck [LKW Kunde]
03 - Carrier truck [LKW Spedition]
04 - Truck + Rail [LKW Bahn]
05 - Supplier truck [LKW eigen (Lieferant)]
06 - Rail freight [Bahn Fracht]
07 - Express train [Bahn Expreß]
08 - train [Bahn Waggon]
09 - Postal transport [Postsendung]
10 - By air [Luftfracht]
11 - Sea freight [Seefracht]
20 - Private parcel service [Privater Paketdienst]
Below is Material information：
Package Type： Fixed V400400.
Buyer Item Number： Gentherm's material number (length 22 characters)
Supplier Item Number: The supplier's material number (the length is 22 characters)
**Quantity:**Quantity, if the following unit is KM equivalent, it can be kept to 3 decimal places.(For Example: 2500)
**Quantity Unit:**Quantity Unit,Length limit 2 digits. If it is a piece, ST can be used instead of PCS/PCE, and it also includes M, KM, etc
Commonly used：
ST Stück piece(PCS/PCE)
KM Kilometer kilometer
G Gramm gram
L Liter liter
M Meter meter
M2 Quadratmeter
M3 Kubikmeter
MM Millimeter
PA Paar
......
Item Description: A short English description of the material. You can leave it blank. (limited to 40 characters)
**Country Origin:**Country of Origin
KR stands for South Korea(Republik Korea)
US stands for United States(Vereinigte Staaten )
DE stands for Germany(Deutschland)
CN stands for China(China)
TH stands for Thailand(Thailand)
JP stands for Japan(Japan)
......
Here is an Excel example:
