CIDX / Chem eStandards — chemical-industry EDI
CIDX (Chemical Industry Data Exchange) is the body that gave the chemical industry its B2B standard: the Chem eStandards, XML messages covering the order-delivery-invoice cycle with the sector's own constraints — hazardous goods, bulk logistics, regulatory compliance.
What is CIDX?
Chemistry sells molecules by tanker truck, railcar and container — not parcels. Its B2B exchanges must carry batches, certificates of analysis, hazard classifications and specific transport instructions. CIDX was created to standardise these flows between producers (BASF, Dow, DuPont…), distributors and industrial customers — first in classic EDI, then in XML with the Chem eStandards around 2000, one of the first verticals to shift to XML at scale.
The Chem eStandards
| Message | Role |
|---|---|
| OrderCreate / OrderResponse / OrderChange | The order cycle |
| ShipNotice | Despatch advice (DESADV counterpart, enriched for chemical transport) |
| Invoice / InvoiceResponse | Invoicing |
| DemandForecast / InventoryActual | Forecasts and stocks (VMI) |
| ProductCatalog / PriceList | Product and price masters |
The chemical specifics
- Hazardous materials — hazard classes, UN codes, packing instructions carried in the logistics messages.
- Bulk and batches — quantities in tonnes/m³, batch numbers and certificates of analysis (CoA) attached to deliveries.
- Regulatory — the context (REACH in Europe, SDS sheets) demands a documentary apparatus that horizontal standards do not model.
- VMI — vendor-managed replenishment (silos, tanks) is a core use, hence the forecast and inventory messages.
The OAGi takeover (2008)
In 2008 CIDX dissolved and transferred maintenance of the Chem eStandards to OAGi (the Open Applications Group). Existing implementations keep running — sector EDI lives long — and evolution happens within OAGi, with gradual convergence towards the OAGIS BODs. For a new chemical project the typical question is: stay on Chem eStandards (the installed base), or move to BODs / a horizontal standard.
CIDX in the sector landscape
- vs RosettaNet: the same generation of vertical XML consortia (high-tech for RosettaNet, chemicals for CIDX), with similar exchange philosophies.
- vs EDIFACT: many European chemical companies run both — EDIFACT with retail/distribution, Chem eStandards between sector peers.
- vs PIDX / papiNet: the archetypal trio of process-industry vertical standards.
Further reading
- OAGi — maintainer of the Chem eStandards.
- The successor body: OAGi (OAGIS).
- The vertical cousins: PIDX, papiNet.