As the automotive industry addresses
the twin challenge of digitalising supply chain operations, while transitioning
to fully electric powertrains, further obstacles appear in the form of increased
legislation and sustainability targets. In the face of increasing competition
from new entrants to the industry, the established players are facing up to a
true tsunami of regulations, emanating not only from the EU but from many other
jurisdictions around the world. Get the keys at Odette2025 to turn these challenges
into competitive advantages for your company.
Orange Business Services,
certified provider of European Network Exchange (ENX) services to many
companies in France, has announced that their service will shortly be discontinued.
This means that many users will be searching for an alternative solution in
good time to ensure that there is no disruption to their EDI exchanges. The
Odette file transfer protocol OFTP2 offers a cost effective and reliable
alternative solution tailored to the needs of automotive companies of all
sizes.
As the use of the MMOG SCM
capability assessment continues to expand with more than 25,000 users across
the globe, Odette continues to help supply chain practitioners to fully
understand and optimise their use of the tool. We will soon start a fresh round
of meetings with industry members to review the latest supply chain best
practice and regulatory challenges. We are also pleased to welcome a new MMOG trainer in Italy.
The deployment of standard
digital messages to support communication across all Finished Vehicle Logistics
processes continuesacross the industry
with more implementations planned. Odette and ECG are also planning the next
steps to help automotive companies and finished vehicle LSPs streamline their
invoicing processes and meet the upcoming ViDA regulatory requirements.
An increasing number of EU member
states are obliging their companies to be able to receive invoices in a
structured electronic format (often according to the EN16931 standard invoice).
Use the Odette Invoice Viewer
& Converter if you need to accept UBL and CII invoices from your business
partners but are not ready to process them. The tool is available free of
charge.
The European automotive industry fully recognises the benefits to be gained from eInvoicing. After all, we have been doing it for the past 40 years! We also recognise the desire of EU tax authorities to introduce a single eInvoicing standard in an attempt to close the so-called ‘VAT Gap’ but we must strive to ensure that current, well established automotive eInvoicing practices continue to be accepted. We are pleased to report that progress is being made on this front.
The European automotive industry
fully supports the introduction of more sustainable practices to minimise the
negative environmental impacts of non-optimised packaging and non-recyclable
packaging waste. At the moment, however, the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste
Regulations (PPWR) present the industry with an unclear roadmap which is
hampering our collaborative efforts to develop solutions which are both efficient
and legal. We therefore continue our attempts to influence the law makers to
modify aspects of the legislation to make it more readily applicable to
automotive packaging practices.
For various reasons, including
concerns about safety, quality and recyclability, Governmental Authorities,
Vehicle Manufacturers and Battery Suppliers all want to be able to uniquely identify
the individual components which make up a complete EV battery pack. To assist
in the collection of data, Odette has published a standard digital message for
Battery Data Exchange.
The next Forum AutomobilLogistik, FAL2025, will take place
on 18 & 19 February at the International Congress Centre, Dresden, the
centre of the German semiconductor industry. Visit the Odette Stand to learn
more about our latest Supply Chain collaboration initiatives.
AI mania has infected virtually everyone in the past 18 months and will surely continue to do so for the foreseeable future. It certainly has the potential to take over many of our administrative tasks but what will be its impact on supply chain operations? We have seen other technologies looking for a problem to solve, come and go, but this one seems here to stay and Odette has also embarked on the AI journey.
The EU ViDA legislation is fast approaching and the non-alignment of the proposed legislation with current automotive industry practices would undoubtedly generate significant costs for all actors of the automotive supply chain. Odette is therefore working with CEN (European Committee for Standardisation) to integrate automotive requirements in the legislation and to protect 40 years of successful experience with B2B invoicing via EDI.
The electronic Freight Transport Information (eFTI) Regulation is a significant contributor to the tsunami of regulations currently hitting or approaching the automotive supply chain. It is essential that automotive processes are taken into account in the implementation of the regulation in order to minimise disruption and avoid additional cost. Odette is on hand to ensure that the regulation can be implemented as smoothly as possible by our member companies.
Automotive Supply Chain operations are about to be significantly impacted by a tsunami of EU regulations and it will require action at senior management level to both prepare their companies for the new regulations and lobby for changes in the legislation to mitigate the most onerous effects.
Since we last reported on the PPWR in February, we have been working with our members to try to make sense of the upcoming challenges so that the industry can develop solutions in time to support the new regulations. At the same time we are attempting to influence the law makers to modify certain aspects of the current draft legislation to make it more easily applicable to automotive packaging practices.
In 2022, Odette and ECG (Association of European Vehicle Logistics) worked together with OEMs and Finished Vehicle LSPs, to establish a standard for the content, design, location and quality of vehicle distribution labels, aka VIN labels. Twelve months later, feedback from OEMs concerning their implementation plans has resulted in some revisions to the standard.
Odette is launching an Odette CEE Interest Group that will bring together a network of supply chain professionals and technology experts to contribute to the development of digital supply chain standards and to support their implementation in CEE countries.
Preparations for the 23rd Odette International Conference and Exhibition are now underway so make sure that you block 26/27 May 2025 in your calendar for this must-attend event in Bratislava.
Several large automotive customers set a deadline of 31 July for the annual submission of MMOG assessments and, as usual, the Odette Team is on hand to help you to meet the deadline.
The OFTP2 functionality – Partner Details Exchange via XML (PDX XML) – has been developed to simplify the management of partner master data. The feature has already been implemented in several OFTP2 solutions and is currently being deployed in the OFTP2 user community but in the meantime, Odette has developed the PDX XML Generator to help those whose OFTP2 solution does not yet support the feature or those who have not yet upgraded to the latest version.
After 40 years of successful experience with electronic invoicing via EDI (mainly using EDIFACT standards), the automotive industry in Europe is approaching a critical juncture with the advent of the EU ViDA Directive.
The Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulations (PPWR) currently being prepared by the EU are clearly aimed at consumer packaging, in terms of both reducing waste and reducing the amount of plastic content, but the legislation will also have a significant impact on automotive packaging and with deadlines fast approaching, companies in the automotive supply chain need to act now!
The urgency for more sustainable and environmentally conscious automotive logistics practices has led ECG and VDA to work together to develop an Emissions Calculation and Reporting Guideline for automotive supply chains.
