Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)

EDI is the communication of business information and transactions between two parties electronically. This type of communication benefits both sender and receiver by reducing the amount of human intervention and the possibility of errors.

Cooper B-Line supports the following EDI transactions:

• 810 - Invoicing (outbound)
• 850 - Purchase Order (inbound)
• 852 - Product Activity (inbound)
• 855 - Purchase Order Acknowledgement
• 856 - Advanced Ship Notice (outbound)
• 857 - Advanced Ship Notice with UCC-128 Shipment Feedback
• 861 - Receipt Notification

Questions regarding EDI should be directed to: blineus@CooperIndustries.com

Industry Data Warehouse (IDW)

Cooper B-Line is a member of the Industry Data Exchange Associates (IDEA) and it's first initiative - the IDW. We recognize the value of our partnership and the need to synchronize our data with yours.

Together we can both enjoy the benefits of electronic commerce - increased sales and reduced costs of doing business- if we take the time to do it right. The IDW database has been populated and we continue to see that the data provided is correct and up-to-date.

Cooper B-Line has also acheived and continues to maintain Data Audit Certification (DAC) status for its entire Cooper B-Line, Inc. listing.

For more information regarding B-Line's IDW capabilities, contact: blineus@CooperIndustries.com

Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI)

VMI is the process of a manufacturer replenishing a customer's normal stock inventory. This task is accomplished by the customer sending daily activity updates to the manufacturer. Then the manufacturer uses replenishment software in coordination with agreed upon service levels and desired turn levels to generate replenishment orders for the customer. With VMI, fill rates are maximized, total supply chain costs are reduced as errors and manual tasks are removed from the cycle, and inventory investments are minimized. 

B-Line is actively involved in creating VMI relationships between itself and its customer base.  B-Line features the Pan-Pro's VMI software, the premier provider of supply chain software.

www.pan-pro.com

For more information regarding B-Line's VMI capabilities, contact: blineus@CooperIndustries.com

Extensible Markup Language (XML)

In the real world, computer systems and databases contain data in incompatible formats. One of the most time consuming challenges for companies has been to exchange data between such systems over the Internet. Converting the data to XML can greatly reduce this complexity and create data that can be read by different types of systems and applications. XML is a W3C standard, endorsed by software industry market leaders. IBM, Sun, Microsoft, Netscape, SAP and many others have already announced support for XML.

Cooper B-Line is currently in development of various XML applications and services. In the future, these applications will allow businesses to integrate Cooper B-Line product data and service capabilities into distributed applications in a real-time environment.

To discuss integration with a custom XML application, or for questions regarding Cooper B-Line XML technology contact: blineus@CooperIndustries.com