When the people of Babylon came too close to God in heaven with the tower they were building, the Lord used a trick to put a stop to the bustle on the construction site: Henceforth, the heaven-sent confusion of tongues prevented proper communication and the project ground to a halt. At least, that’s what it says in the Old Testament.

Today, a similar confusion of tongues prevails all too often in the data worlds of companies. Differences between or even a total lack of standards and semantics in data exchanges lead to inefficiencies in processes and cause value chains to get out of step. The disruptive events in recent years have revealed those vulnerabilities in particularly painful ways. Value chains broke down and manufacturing activities were suspended. Downtimes that manufacturers in view of the growing competitive and transformation pressures in the automotive industry really cannot afford. But that’s not all: New regulatory requirements regarding various sustainability aspects such as the new Supply Chain Due Diligence Act or the EU Green Deal to reduce the carbon footprint can hardly be implemented without smooth and transparent data exchange.

That’s where Catena-X as a cross-organizational data ecosystem comes into play. The alliance of currently more than 170 companies, which is organized as an association, is creating the first open and collaborative data room for the automotive industry. The association consists not only of automotive OEMs and direct suppliers but also of IT developers, business consultants, disposal companies, other associations, and academic institutions. Schaeffler is one of the founding partners of Catena-X, an alliance whose breadth and depth is arguably unique so far – which underscores the importance of the project. 

Radical collaboration, modular kit

Collaborative: That attribute applies not only to the use but also to the structure of the system. ­Catena-X is designed as an open-source project and, according to the association, emphasizes “radical collaboration.” Extensively defined standards ensuring high levels of interoperability as well as maximum data sovereignty form the foundation of this collaboration because even with the best will in the world to collaborate, companies would like to keep at least some of their cards close to their chest.

Building on that foundation, a modular application kit is planned to be created in areas such as quality management, circular economy, supply processes, requirements and capacity management, or digital twins. Corresponding applications are supposed to be implemented by providers that Catena-X has certified.

“Transformation only with secure data exchange” 

Schaeffler has assumed a leading role in that regard as well because the motion technology company is part of the Cofinity-X joint venture that as the first provider to do so is planning to develop an open marketplace for Catena-X applications. Klaus Rosenfeld, Schaeffler AG’s CEO, says, “Sustainability and digitalization are driving the transformation of today’s automotive industry. That transformation can only be successful with trustworthy and secure data exchange along the entire value chain calling for the highest standards and thus collaboration among strong partners. As one of the founding members of Cofinity-X, ­Schaeffler is proud of making its contribution to achieving this important goal.” The other pioneers of this joint venture are Mercedes-Benz, BASF, BMW, ­Henkel, SAP, Siemens, T-Systems, Volkswagen, and ZF.

Going forward, customers of Cofinity-X are supposed to be able to benefit not only from intelligent management of sorted, analyzed, adjusted, and enriched business partner data. The joint venture is focused primarily on solutions in the automotive value chain for decarbonization, traceability, and circular economy (see information box).

Consistent data chains are the basis for solutions like these. They can only be created if all the parties involved are willing to collaborate. Many companies in the automotive industry are small and medium-sized enterprises. That’s why Cofinity-X has set itself the objective to create easy and fast entry opportunities into the Catena-X data ecosystem for these important actors. 

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“We’re going to be an important part of a quickly scalable ecosystem in which all companies in the automotive value chain can equally participate.”

“The growing requirements for traceability of all materials across the entire value chains are one of the key factors for Cofinity-X. We’re going to be an important part of a quickly scalable ecosystem in which all companies in the automotive value chain can equally participate. That’s why our product offering will initiate consistent data chains and generate value for all participants,” said Alexander Schleicher, founding CEO of Cofinity-X.

When Schleicher talked about a quickly scalable ecosystem he pushed at an open door with the doers at Catena-X because the managers there are already looking beyond industry boundaries and national borders: A passage in a whitepaper says that, potentially, representatives of other industries such as mechanical engineering and the chemical sector might be able to use the ecosystem as well. In addition, the open platform permits its worldwide use. Welcome to a new data world.