An ASN (Advance Shipping Notice) is the electronic dispatch note that arrives at the receiver before the physical shipment. In EDI terms it is the DESADV message (EDIFACT) or Despatch Advice (UBL). It may sound like „just another document“, but ASN is one of the biggest operational improvements in retail, logistics and manufacturing.
This article explains how ASN works technically, the role of the SSCC barcode, how the scan-pack-ship workflow runs, and why retail chains increasingly require ASN as a precondition for doing business with suppliers.
What an ASN contains
An ASN is not simply a „list of goods“. A well-structured DESADV carries three levels of data: shipment level (dispatch note number, ship date, expected delivery date, carrier), packing-unit level (pallet or carton, identified by an SSCC barcode — Serial Shipping Container Code, 18 digits, GS1 standard) and item level inside each packing unit (GTIN, code, quantity, serial/lot number, best-before date).
In other words, from a single document the receiver knows not only „what is coming“ but also „what is in which carton and in which unload order“. That is a step change from a classic paper dispatch note that only lists total quantity per article.
SSCC and scan-pack-ship
The SSCC barcode (GS1-128 symbology) is the key that links the physical pallet to the data in the ASN. The supplier puts an SSCC label on the pallet, a scanner in the dispatch warehouse „packs“ the pallet and sends the ASN. When the pallet arrives, the receiver scans the SSCC and instantly pulls up the full content — no shrink-wrap to cut, no manual count.
The „scan-pack-ship“ workflow means the ASN is generated automatically out of the WMS (Warehouse Management System) the moment the operator scans the last item onto the pallet and closes it. Manual work around dispatch notes nearly disappears — the ASN becomes a side-effect of packing, not an extra task.
Operational impact
- Unload time: typically drops by 40–60 % because the warehouse knows what is coming and can pre-allocate a slot, people and equipment.
- Cross-docking: becomes feasible — a shipment that does not enter stock but is forwarded directly to another truck can be turned around within hours.
- Inventory accuracy: jumps from ~95 % to 99 %+ because stock entries are done by scanning the SSCC rather than keying.
- Disputes: down 50–70 %, because discrepancies surface at unload time rather than at a later inventory count.
Who requires ASN
In Croatia and the wider region, ASN is a standard requirement at large retail chains (Konzum, Lidl, Kaufland, Spar, Plodine, KTC) and at industrial buyers in automotive (VW Group, Stellantis) and pharma. A supplier that cannot send ASN is increasingly losing shelf space in central warehouses.
GS1 Croatia maintains local implementation guides (EANCOM 2002, GS1 SMART), and REDOK supports all relevant DESADV sub-versions and automatically converts between them when sender and receiver use different variants.
How to get started
A typical ASN rollout for a supplier that already has EDI in place takes 2–4 weeks and covers: format definition with the key trading partner, WMS changes to generate SSCC labels, a pilot on 2–3 locations and go-live. If EDI infrastructure is not yet in place, add 4–6 weeks for the underlying EDI project.
REDOK has ASN implementation references with most major Croatian retail chains — get in touch and we will draft a plan for your specific customer base.