One of BMW's major suppliers is engaged in the research, development, design, manufacture, and distribution of automobile lamp products. The company primarily provides automobile head lamps, tail lamp sets, fog lamps, brake lamps, and steering lamps, among others. Its products are applied in various automobiles, including JETTA III, COROLLA EX, TIGUAN, BORA GP, PASSAT, AUDI A6, EXCELLE, and others.

As a component supplier for BMW, the automobile lamp supplier required integration of electronic order processing and fulfillment processing with BMW's EDI system. This same supplier chose ArcESB to implement a simple SCM EDI process that could easily be managed through Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. ArcESB enabled the supplier to leverage its current IT assets to bypass the time and expense involved of implementing a full-blown ERP system or processing through a third-party provider.

Integration with BMW

This core BMW supplier uses ArcESB for secure file transfer (via OFTP), EDI messaging, and spreadsheet integration. The following diagram provides a high-level overview of how ArcESB is used for processing:

Secure File Transfer

BWM requires that its suppliers communicate via OFTP2, which is the most widely used protocol for the exchange of mission-critical automotive data. The ArcESB OFTP Connector is configured to securely send and receive documents directly with BMW's EDI system.

EDI Messaging

For order processing and fulfillment, BMW requires its suppliers to communicate through a number of standard EDI messages. To do this, the auto lamp supplier uses the ANSI X12 Connector of ArcESB to transform data between spreadsheet values and EDI standards, including:

• 830 (DELFOR - Planning Schedule/Material Release)
• 856 (DESADV - Advanced Shipping Notices)

ArcESB provides the BMW supplier with an easy way to pipe EDIFACT messages to Microsoft Excel. Excel templates are used to transform EDI messages into human-readable Excel documents. In addition, EDI message data is flattened and pushed into Excel-based reports.

To communicate updates to BMW, the supplier manages an Excel spreadsheet with product information. ArcESB monitors the Excel files for changes, and any updates trigger ArcESB to both convert this data to EDIFACT and pass the EDI documents to BMW through the included OFTP Connector.

The supplier selected KA Software, which is one of ArcESB's featured technology partners, to assist with mapping, translating, and configuring OFTP. Working with KA Software allowed the supplier to rapidly accelerate its integration with BMW and provided it with a local resource for future expansion.

The Result

The auto lamp supplier uses the secure MFT features of ArcESB, along with ArcESB's powerful mapping, translating, and transforming capabilities, to rapidly enable secure and reliable B2B messaging with BMW.

Using ArcESB, the supplier quickly fused its ad-hoc product management processes with BMW's EDI systems and transformed its existing Excel spreadsheets into an interface for direct, bidirectional communication with BMW. This was accomplished without in-house development or third-party management.