Importance and transmission process of Packing details

In the retail industry packaging plays a key role in the business transaction. Product gets packed in intricate packaging process to facilitate logistic and customers’ ease of operation. This has to be passed properly through EDI segments in various documents to transmit properly between the Trading Partners. A few technical jargons are used to handle the packaging scenario and also used in EDI transaction. A brief discussion is presented below.

Most commonly used terms are :
Pack: The purchased unit which contains a specified quantity.
Pack ID: A unique alpha numeric code provided by the Vendor to represent a unique Case Pack
Inner Pack: A packing unit inside a Pack.
Inner Pack ID: A unique number that represents the packing unit inside a Pack.

Pack and Inner Pack related data transmission:
The PO4 Segment is used to transmit information about the packaging of the product being ordered in the case or carton. Two level of packaging may be specified. The first level, specified using PO401(Pack) which is Data Element 365, may be actual items, e.g., consumer units or may be the number of smaller containers within the case. The second level , specified using PO414(Inner Pack) which is Data Element 810 , is the number of eaches in each inner container when Data Element 356 is the number of smaller containers within the case.

Variation of Data Element Definition:

As defined in 3070
Data Element 356 : Pack-Number of inner pack units per outer pack unit
Data Element 810 : Inner Pack- Number of units in each selling pack or inner item

As defined in 4010
Data Element 356 : Pack-Number of inner containers, or numbers of each if there are no inner containers, per outer container.
Data Element 810 : Inner Pack- Number of eaches per inner container. Data Elements 356 and 810 (Pack) may be used to specify the packaging of the items in the case or carton.

Example A: No inner pack , ordering quantities specified in the cases.
In the Purchase Order, the item U.P.C . is specified and the unit of measure is Case. Data Element 356 is used and Data Element 810 is not used. The absence of Data Elements 810 indicates that the inner packs are not used.

VICS EDI example
Data Element Value
PO102              20
PO103              CA
PO401              10
PO414             Not Used

The total number of cases ordered is 20. The total number of eaches ordered is 150, case quantity ordered multiplied by Pack quantity (20*10=200)

Example B: No inner pack, ordering quantities specifics are in Eaches:
In the Purchase Order, the item U.P.C . is specified and the unit of measure is Each. Data Element 356 is used and Data Element 810 is not used. The absence of Data Element 810 indicates that inner packs are not present.

VICS EDI example
Data Element Value
PO102              20
PO103              EA
PO401              10
PO414             Not Used
The total number of eaches ordered is 200. The total number of cases ordered is 10, eaches quantity ordered divided by Pack quantity (200/10=20).

Example C: Inner Packs, ordering quantities specified in Cases:
In the Purchase Order, the items U.P.C. is specified and the unit of measure is Case. Data Element 356 and 810 are both used. The presence of Data Element 810 indicates that the inner packs are used, i.e., each case contains 6 small containers and each smaller container contains 4 of the units specified by the item U.P.C.

VICS EDI example
Data Element Value
PO102              10
PO103              CA
PO401              6
PO414              4

The total number of cases ordered is 10. The total number of eaches ordered is 240, case quantity ordered multiplied by the product of Pack quantity and Inner Pack quantity (10*(6*4)=240).

Example D: Inner Packs, ordering quantities specified in Eaches:
In the Purchase Order, the items U.P.C. is specified and the unit of measure is Each. Data Element 356 and 810 are both used. The presence of Data Element 810 indicates that the inner packs are used, i.e., each case contains 6 small containers and each smaller container contains 4 of the units specified by the item U.P.C.

VICS EDI example
Data Element Value
PO102              240
PO103              EA
PO401              6
PO414              4

The total number of eaches ordered is 240.The total number of cases ordered is 10, eaches quantity ordered divided by the product of Pack quantity and Inner Pack quantity (240/(6*4)=10).

Live Scenarios of usage of Pack/Inner Pack

Example 1: No inner Pack
Household cleaning product is the item in the example, packed 12 to a case. The shipping container is marked with a case U.P.C. and the items is marked with the consumer U.P.C. The product size is 5 ounces

Example 2: Simple Inner Packs
Cosmetic is the item in this example. The product is shipped using inner containers. There are 2 inner containers per shipping container and each inner container holds 6 consumer units. The shipping container is marked with a case U.P.C., the inner containers are not marked with any U.P.C. marking, and the item is marked with the consumer U.P.C. The product size is 3 ounces.



Example 3: Complex Inner Packs
Canned Vegetable is the item in the example. The product is shipped using inner containers. There are 6 inner containers per shipping containers and each inner containers holds 4 consumer units. The shipping container is marked with a case U.P.C., the inner containers are marked with a consumer U.P.C.(U.P.C.1 → considered as saleable item), and the item is marked with the consumer U.P.C. .(U.P.C.2 → also considered as saleable item). The product size is 8 ounces.


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