Mastering X12 EDI 940 Warehouse Shipping Orders

Last Updated on April 22, 2025 by Tatyana Vandich

The Electronic Document EDI 940 – Warehouse Shipping Order plays an important role in effective communication between third-party warehouses and their customers.

The use of electronic document exchange, and in particular EDI 940, improves communication between all participants in the supply chain and increases the efficiency of warehouse management.

We, as an EDI provider with more than 24 years of experience, in this blog will take a closer look at all the necessary information regarding this electronic document, which raises so many questions among goods suppliers who want to establish business cooperation with third-party warehouses or 3 PL providers.

What is EDI 940?

EDI 940 is an electronic document used by manufacturers and wholesalers of goods who use 3PL services or third-party warehouse.

When a manufacturer or seller whose goods are located in a third-party warehouse or distribution center receives a purchase order from a buyer (EDI 850), it generates EDI 940 in order to instruct the warehouse to ship the required goods. In EDI 940, the company indicates when, to whom and how many goods need to be shipped from the warehouse.

Key Components of EDI 940 Document

The goods owner generates EDI 940 document for the warehouse based on the received purchase order (EDI 850). The information in the EDI 940 document may vary depending on the specifics of the goods and the special requirements of the companies, but the following information is usually indicated:

Order details:

• Order ID (this can be an order number or a customer number).
• Quantity and description of goods to be shipped.
• Units of measurement (for example, pieces, boxes, pallets).
• Weight and volume of cargo

Information about delivery:

• Date and time of expected shipment.
• Delivery method (for example, truck, container, mail).
• Recipient’s address (including postal code).

In addition, the document may include special delivery instructions or additional details such as the number of the warehouse from which the shipment will be made, information about the transport company or logistics provider, and so on.

EDI 940 X12 Specification

Warehouse Shipping Order EDI 940 is an electronic document in the X12 standard.

This EDI document contains of the following segments:

Message Envelop / Group:

• ISA Interchange Control Header
• GS Functional Group Header

Heading:

• ST Transaction Set Header
• W05 Shipping Order Identification (N = Original Order)
• N1 Name (‘SF’ – Ship-from, ‘SF’ – Ship-from)
• N3 Address Information
• N4 Geographic Location
• G62 Date/Time (‘02’ – Requested Arrival ‘10’ – Pick-Up Date)
• NTE – Notes/Special Instructions (‘WHI’ Warehouse Instruction)
• W66 Warehouse Carrier Information

Detail (Begins detail loop):

• LX – Assigned Number
• W01 – Line Item Detail – Warehouse
• G69 Line Item Detail – Description
• N9 Reference Identification
• W20 – Line-Item Detail (Miscellaneous)
• AMT – Monetary Amount

Summary:

• W76 Total Shipping Order
• SE Transaction Set Trailer (the last segment of each transaction set)

Message Envelop / Group Footer:

• GE Functional Group Trailer
• IEA Interchange Control Trailer

EDI 940 Warehouse Shipping Order Workflow Process

Below we will look at one of the possible scenarios in which the EDI 940 document is involved.

• The buyer creates a purchase order (EDI 850) and sends it to the seller.
• The seller confirms the order using the EDI 855 document.
• Based on the received order, the supplier generates an EDI 940 document where he describes all the necessary details of the order and sends it to his third-party warehouse.
• To confirm shipment from the warehouse, the warehouse sends an EDI 945 document to the seller.
• Based on the received EDI 945 document, the seller creates an EDI 856 to notify the buyer of the upcoming delivery.
• The seller sends an invoice (EDI 810) to the buyer after receiving the goods.

How to Exchange EDI With a Trading Partner?

In order for the entire process of exchanging EDI documents between the seller and a third-party warehouse, seller and buyer to be possible, this exchange must first be configured. This usually involves an EDI provider who can offer several types of EDI solutions.

For example, an EDI provider such as EDI2XML offers the service as a Fully Managed EDI Service. In this case, the provider is fully responsible for the process of setting up and transferring EDI documents between business partners.

Another method is the EDI Web Service, it is suitable for companies that have technical specialists who can work with REST API (call and consume HTTP Rest Web services); this option is much more economical, in addition, EDI2XML specialists help you make the first settings, they provide everything to your developers to get started, a java client with its source code and instructions on how to work with it.

The advantages of this EDI service are that companies can connect and start exchanging EDI documents with their business partner within an hour. There are no contracts, and low cost per KC.

If you have questions regarding EDI document exchange, our specialists with over 24 years of experience in EDI integration will be happy to help you resolve your issues. They can suggest the most profitable EDI solution for you, and can also provide a free 15-day trial period of our EDI web service.

Just book a time convenient for you in our calendar.

Tatyana Vandich Marketing Manager

Tatyana Vandich is a marketing and business technology expert specializing in EDI, B2B integration, and digital transformation. She helps companies automate supply chain operations and achieve seamless data exchange through practical, experience-based insights.

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Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) EDI X12 Standard EDIFACT Standard B2B Integration Digital Transformation in Business Supply Chain Automation