Data center
“Catena-X” is intended to enable a standardized exchange of data across the supply chains.
(Photo: dpa)
Munich The endeavors of the German auto industry to build up its own cloud are becoming more and more concrete. After BMW, SAP and Daimler, Volkswagen also announced on Monday that it would join the “Catena-X” project. The project, which was founded last December, is intended to enable cross-company data exchange and thus closely network manufacturers with suppliers. The first applications are scheduled to begin this year.
“Catena-X” will enable a standardized exchange of data across the supply chains. The industry wants to improve its quality management, optimize logistics and, in particular, ensure that sustainability goals are met. Daimler, Volkswagen and BMW have set themselves goals for reducing carbon dioxide emissions and want to reduce resource consumption in general. To do this, they hold the suppliers responsible.
In addition to the car manufacturers, Bosch, ZF Friedrichshaben as well as Henkel and Schaeffler have already joined the alliance. The project is funded by the federal government as part of the “Gaia-X” program, which aims to set up European cloud structures.
“Catena-X” is intended to create an industry standard throughout Germany and Europe, declared BMW boss Oliver Zipse and SAP boss Christian Klein when the company was founded in December. In addition to the heavyweights of the industry, small and medium-sized companies in particular are to be involved in order to be able to track the value chains seamlessly.
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With the accession of Volkswagen, the project is enormously upgraded. With its twelve brands, the Wolfsburg-based company produces four times as many cars as the BMW Group and is by far the most important customer of the supplier industry in Europe. This means that “Catena-X” should very quickly become the standard in the automotive industry.
BMW is a partner of Microsoft, VW of Amazon
The success of “Catena-X” is also important for politics. The German government and the EU are following the dominance of US cloud providers in European industry with concern. More and more companies are outsourcing their data – including German car manufacturers.
In 2019, BMW entered into a comprehensive partnership with Microsoft to create an “Open Manufacturing Platform” based on the Microsoft “Azure” platform. The OMP is intended to capture and optimize the entire production structure of BMW. The project aims to ensure, for example, that autonomously working robots function better coordinated. Starting from the Regensburg plant, all around 30 BMW plants worldwide are to be integrated into the OMP.
Volkswagen also primarily relies on US aid: In 2019, the Wolfsburg-based company launched the “Volkswagen Industrial Cloud” with Amazon. The aim is to bring all the processes of machines and factories together in one data room. This should enable the 122 plants around the world to work faster and more effectively.
For the automaker, these projects are vital. Both BMW and Volkswagen want to drastically increase their productivity in the coming years in order to be able to compensate for the high costs of introducing electric cars. Since only part of the additional costs can be passed on to the customer, the efficiency of the supply chains and the factories must be increased significantly, is the demand of BMW boss Oliver Zipse and VW boss Herbert Diess.
More: Why the European cloud project Gaia-X can still become a beacon of hope