Polish automotive EDIFACT

Poland is the 5th European automotive producer, with major plants in Poznań (Volkswagen), Tychy (Stellantis), Gliwice (Stellantis ex-Opel), Bielsko-Biała (FCA-Stellantis), Niepołomice (MAN Trucks) and Wałbrzych (Toyota). All operate on EDIFACT VDA + Galia + Odette over OFTP2/ENX.

Polish automotive landscape

Polish automotive cluster in 2024 (PZPM — Polski Związek Przemysłu Motoryzacyjnego estimate):

• Volkswagen Poznań. Volkswagen Caddy + Crafter plant, capacity ~250,000 units/year. EDI under VDA standard, EDIFACT D96A messages.
• Stellantis Tychy. Historic Fiat plant (until 2014), now Stellantis: produces Fiat 600, Jeep Avenger, Alfa Romeo Junior. Mixed VDA + Galia EDI.
• Stellantis Gliwice. Former Opel plant, now Stellantis. Produces Citroën Jumpy, Peugeot Expert, Opel Vivaro, Fiat Scudo vans. Galia + VDA EDI depending on platform.
• FCA-Stellantis Bielsko-Biała. Petrol and diesel engines plant (1.2L PureTech, 1.3L MultiJet). VDA EDI, strong interactions with Italian sites.
• MAN Trucks Niepołomice. MAN's main plant for Central Europe, heavy truck cabs and chassis. Strict VDA EDI, WebEDI Schenker + DHL for outbound logistics.
• Toyota Wałbrzych. Engines and gearboxes plant (1.5L hybrid, 1.8L hybrid, 6-speed). Toyota Production System EDI spec, EDIFACT D96A. Transmission via OFTP2 over ENX.
• Toyota Jelcz-Laskowice. Complementary site for hybrid and electric engines. Strict Toyota specifications.
• Solaris Bus & Coach. Polish bus manufacturer, acquired by CAF in 2018. Mixed VDA + internal standards EDI.

Plants and EDI standards

Key messages — DELFOR, DELJIT, INVOIC

The automotive ecosystem uses 8 to 12 EDIFACT messages in routine. The most strategic ones:

1. DELFOR (Delivery Forecast). Rolling 6 to 12-month delivery schedule, transmitted weekly by the OEM to the Tier 1 supplier. Contains forecast quantities decreasing in precision over the horizon.
2. DELJIT (Just In Time call-off). Firm JIT call-off for critical components (seats, dashboards, hybrid batteries). Typical execution lead time: 1 to 4 hours. Very high volume.
3. DESADV (Dispatch Advice). Detailed dispatch advice, with ASN (Advance Shipping Notice) and pallet SSCC identifier. Pre-condition to physical reception on the assembly line.
4. RECADV (Receipt Advice). OEM acknowledgment after quality check and inventory. Triggers supplier payment.
5. INVOIC (Invoice). EDIFACT invoice. Until KSeF mandate, it is the fiscal document. Beyond: informational duplicate.
6. REMADV (Remittance Advice). Payment advice sent by the OEM after settlement.
7. IFCSUM (Forwarding and Consolidation Summary). For truck logistics between supplier, cross-docking platform and plant.
8. CONTRL (Syntax and Service Report). Automatic technical acknowledgment for each message received.

OFTP2 transport over ENX

The canonical transport of European automotive, including Polish, is OFTP2 (Odette File Transfer Protocol 2.0, RFC 5024) over the ENX (European Network Exchange) network.

• ENX Association. Private interconnected network, based in Frankfurt, mutual ownership of OEMs (VDA + ACEA + CCFA). Creates a high-QoS intra-industry VPN.
• OFTP2 (RFC 5024). Automotive file transfer protocol: SSID/SFID/EFID/ESID, NERP (automatic rejection), restart on broken line, AES-256-CBC encryption, EERP/NERP signature and acknowledgment.
• X.509 certificates. Issued by ENX-PKI (Public Key Infrastructure ENX). Biennial renewal.
• Target volume. ENX capacity dimensioned for 5 Gbps peak across all European industry. Typical intra-EU latency 20-50 ms.
• AS2 alternative. For non-pure-automotive suppliers (e.g. EMS, specialty chemicals), AS2 (Drummond) remains accepted in complement.

Transition to KSeF 2026

As with retail, the KSeF mandate imposes a clean decoupling of logistics and fiscal flows:

• DELFOR / DELJIT / DESADV / RECADV intact. The entire logistics supply chain remains in EDIFACT VDA/Galia over OFTP2/ENX. These messages have no fiscal scope and are not affected by KSeF.
• INVOIC loses fiscal status. Since 1 April 2026, an EDIFACT INVOIC between a Tier 1 supplier and an OEM both domiciled in Poland is no longer sufficient to materialise VAT invoicing. FA(2) KSeF is required in duplicate.
• Intra-EU flows. For flows between Poland and other EU countries (Volkswagen Poznań → VW Wolfsburg HQ), EDIFACT INVOIC remains the primary channel; FA(2) KSeF only intervenes if the recipient is Polish or via a Polish fiscal representative.
• Contractual articulation. Several OEMs (Volkswagen, Stellantis, MAN) have announced a project to integrate KSeF pull in their finance systems by 2027, to stop requiring EDIFACT INVOIC on the Polish side.

Common pitfalls

• VDA vs Galia subset. A plant may impose VDA 4905 while another from the same OEM imposes Galia 003. EDIFACT libs on the ERP side must support both. Stellantis notoriously coexists both.
• Material coding. OEM article codes are never GTINs. They follow internal conventions (10 chars Volkswagen, 12 chars Stellantis, 8 chars Toyota). No inter-OEM portability.
• Short DELJIT lead time. For critical components (seats, dashboards), the delay between DELJIT and physical assembly line need can be < 90 minutes. EDIFACT libs must guarantee parsing/processing latency < 30 seconds.
• ENX test vs production. ENX has enxtest.com and enx.com environments. Confusing SSID/SFID triggers a NERP rejection on the peer side.
• VDA published in German. Some VDA specifications (in particular supplements 4915, 4925) are historically only published in German. An unofficial translation sometimes exists, but VDA requires the original version in case of dispute.

Cross-links

• Poland hub — full KSeF mandate
• KSeF mandatory 2026
• Polish EDIFACT — retail
• FA(2) — structured invoice format
• Polish VAT regimes
• EDIFACT — international reference
• OFTP2 — Odette File Transfer Protocol 2
• ENX Association — private automotive network
• VDA — Verband der Automobilindustrie