Blog
Supply chains and the race for resiliency
Flex is committed to increasing our customers’ competitiveness by building faster and more cost-efficient supply chains. To this end, we’ve launched a global initiative aimed at increasing supply chain visibility and collaboration with all of our partners.
Our goal is to fully automate and integrate procure-to-pay transactions: forecasts, purchase orders, acknowledgments, shipment notifications, and invoices. This will create a more competitive environment for our customers in areas of cost, risk, and speed. Flex and our supplier partners will also benefit from greater responsiveness, fewer errors and greater visibility through the sharing of real-time supply chain information. To date, more than 1,500 key suppliers are fully automated.
We understand that each of our partners has different capabilities; therefore, Flex offers several ecommerce solutions, ranging from direct B2B to SaaS B2B with certified third-party service providers. To learn more about our ecommerce solutions, please read through this section of our website.
We look forward to your company’s support in becoming compliant with our global ecommerce initiative, and to the continued strengthening of our partnership as we move forward with this, and other initiatives.
We strive to make working with Flex as simple and valuable as possible for our suppliers. Because the better we collaborate, the more effectively we can serve our mutual customers. Find the tools and resources you need and learn more about our solutions.
Business-to-business integration, more commonly known as EDI (electronic data interchange), can be credited with dramatically improving efficiency and slashing error rates across all data exchanges that exist among supply chain partners.
Flex supports the United Nations rules for Electronic Data Interchange for Administration, Commerce and Transport (UN/EDIFACT) the international EDI standards developed under the United Nations and ANSI X12, US national standard developed by the Accredited Standards Committee of the American National Standards Institute.
E-sourcing uses Flex e-Auction software to provide an online collaborative forum for Flex and our suppliers. Our Global Commodity Management team uses this tool for the selection of the most competitive prices through electronic auctions.
E-sourcing facilitates both indirect and direct materials purchases and offers many advantages and opportunities for the current supply base, as well as opportunities for competitive companies to become suppliers to Flex.
Business-to-business integration, more commonly known as EDI (electronic data interchange), can be credited with dramatically improving efficiency and slashing error rates across all data exchanges that exist among supply chain partners.
The EDI vendor selection process can be complex, and is complicated further by the fact that there are over 250 vendors operating in North America alone. Unlike other supplier enablement programs, Flex’s EDI program does not mandate a one-size fits all approach. Instead, it but supports suppliers’ decision processes by showcasing multi-tier, multi-platform, and multi-vendor solutions, enabling suppliers to choose the right solution for their organization.
Integrated and automated business transactions are a top priority for Flex, but why stop there? Our supply chain is complex and our mission to make our OEM customers more competitive. In order to accomplish this, we have to keep our operations up to date with the latest technology and supply chain innovations, and we hope that our suppliers think and operate the same way.
Flex counts with over 1,500 key suppliers that are fully automated.
EDI is used to exchange business data or electronic documents, in a structured manner, between trading partners.
Flex supports the United Nations rules for Electronic Data Interchange for Administration, Commerce and Transport (UN/EDIFACT) the international EDI standards developed under the United Nations.
Visit the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe website
ANSI X12 is a US national standard developed by the Accredited Standards Committee of the American National Standards Institute. Although available globally, ANSI X12 is primarily used in North America and Asia.
Visit the American National Standards Institute website
Visit the Accredited Standards Committee website
Partners capable of EDI, please contact ecommerce@flex.com.
Please review our EDI Guidelines for a list of the EDI messages supported by Flex.
Applicability Statement 2 (AS2) is a specification for transporting data securely and reliably over the Internet. Security is achieved by using digital certificates and encryption. This is the preferred method for exchanging EDI documents.
Value-Added Network (VAN) is a hosted service offering that acts as an intermediary between business partners sharing standards-based or proprietary data via shared business processes. The offered service is referred to as “Value-Added Network Service”.
Learn more about Electronic invoice.
This is your resource center for information on doing business with flex and on requirements and training to provide products and services.
Flex offers an Electronic Data Interchange Invoicing solution to fully automate and integrate Procure-to-Pay transactions: forecast, purchase orders, shipment notifications and invoices. This will create a more competitive environment for our partners in areas of cost, risk and speed. Flex and partners will benefit from greater responsiveness, fewer errors and better visibility by sharing the real-time supply chain information.
Partners capable of EDI, please contact ecommerce@flex.com for Invoice EDI implementation.
It is an Internet based Web application for Suppliers to upload their invoices, track its status, download reports and many more features; it can be accessible from any external network by using an User Id and Password for logging. Portal is compatible with all commonly used browsers (IE, Chrome, Firefox & Safari)
