On February 21, we organized an event on the use of Catena-X in manufacturing. Representatives from Catena-X, BMW, Magna, Ford and BASF were present. The association behind Catena-X has around 190 members at the moment. It is currently working on global expansion. There are already partnerships in the USA and China, and more are soon to follow in Asia.
The central components of Catena-X are summarized in this video:
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Status quo at companies
BMW continues to be a driving force behind Catena-X. Catena-X is of strategic importance for BMW: various problems, e.g. regarding the sustainability of products, can only be solved on a cross-company basis. A cross-company, central data lake is not an option for BMW. Since October 2024, BMW has established more than 100 connections to other companies via Catena-X. These include connections with Magna, Dräxlmaier, BASF and Bosch. A failure of Catena-X today would lead to production downtimes and serious compliance problems, as operations rely on the data ecosystem. For BMW, quality improvement via Catena-X is the financial basis for compliance with regulations – “Quality finances sustainability.”
As an automotive supplier, Magna is also currently rolling out Catena-X. The harmonization of various standards in the automotive industry, which takes place via Catena-X, is helpful for Magna. One goal is to move away from point-to-point connections and towards a standardized interface. The Eclipse Dataspace Components are a key element here. Magna is currently implementing the first use cases. The onboarding of partners requires a certain level of data maturity, which needs to be established.
Ford uses Catena-X operationally in various use cases. The product carbon footprint (PCF) is calculated across companies with WITTE and BASF as well as with Flex. Suppliers are already being integrated up to Tier 4 level. In the USA, there is both interest and concrete developments in connection with Catena-X at Ford. The next step for Ford will be to integrate the topic of traceability, with implementation scheduled for the first quarter of 2025.
Materials are the basis of production – BASF is concerned with their digital represenation. For BASF, uniform standards and formats for PCF calculation are a central element of Catena-X. The fact that the calculation is possible without a lock-in effect is an added value. BASF sees sustainability as a criterion that is establishing itself as an additional factor for customers alongside quality and quantity. Corresponding protocols and transparency are becoming increasingly important in order to increase customers’ willingness to pay. BASF is involved in other Manufacturing-X projects, as chemistry also forms the basis of manufacturing in many other industries.
Future outlook: further roll-out
In the future, Catena-X standards will be required by more and more partners. At Ford, Catena-X has been included in the contract terms for suppliers since July 2024, and at BMW as well. The move from voluntary to mandatory use is expected to take place at both car manufacturers over the course of this year.
We will continue to pursue this topic at the Austrian Platform Industry 4.0. If you would like to receive regular updates in our Check-Ins, you can register here. Membership of the platform safeguards our work and enables you to benefit from all our activities.
This event was also supported through the Twin City Future Innovation Manufacturing Hub (2CFIMH). 2CFIMH is an INTERREG Slovakia-Austria project co-funded by the European Union:
Photo by Edgar Chaparro on Unsplash
