Key takeaways
- A number of automotive corporations have piloted the Catena-X data-sharing ecosystem
- The system is designed to speed up data circulate by way of worth chains
- Catena-X might function the blueprint for related options in different industries
A instrument that permits for “radical collaboration” round sustainability information will develop from Europe to the U.S. within the subsequent few months.
Catena-X is a data-sharing ecosystem that automotive {industry} corporations use to trade product carbon footprints and different sustainability data. The system, developed by BMW and different European corporations, was piloted final 12 months. Now, the Automotive Trade Motion Group, a non-profit that promotes collaboration between {industry} companions within the U.S., is gearing as much as provide Catena-X to its virtually 5,000 member corporations.
The system is designed to easy the numerous factors of friction that automotive corporations encounter when sharing sustainability information — for instance, using completely different software program techniques. Equally, smaller corporations that usually sit deeper in provide chain discover it more durable to effectively measure and share information with bigger producers.
Frequent language
Catena-X creates a typical language for value-chain companions to make use of. Oliver Ganser, the BMW vp who chairs the Catena-X board, likened the system to e-mail protocols that permit customers of any related software program — Gmail or Outlook, for instance — to trade messages seamlessly. “Now SAP can discuss to IBM,” he stated, referring to 2 of the tech corporations that present sustainability software program to the automotive {industry}.
Along with BMW, the Catena-X board consists of representatives from Renault, Siemens, Mercedes and others.
The system additionally consists of “kits” that suppliers can use to calculate data they wish to share, such because the carbon footprint related to particular merchandise, in addition to guidelines that permit corporations to regulate which companions have entry to commercially delicate information.
Catena-X was piloted final 12 months after round three years of improvement. In a single take a look at, a group at BMW’s plant in Landshut, Germany used it to obtain information from Covestra, a associate that provides the kidney-shaped grilles that adorn the entrance of the corporate’s automobiles. The data included all emissions concerned in manufacturing of the grille, from the extraction of uncooked supplies by way of the manufacturing course of. After being transferred to BMW, the information was built-in with the Siemens software program the corporate makes use of to trace its personal emissions numbers.
In one other pilot, Witte Automotive, a provider of door handles and locks to BMW and others, used Catena-X to extra effectively calculate the carbon footprint of one among its merchandise. A 3rd take a look at concerned information trade between three corporations — Ford, semiconductor producer Micron and Flex, which designs and produces electronics. Not like BMW, the trio was not concerned within the improvement of Catena-X.
Increasing stateside
Greater than 140 corporations started to make use of the system after these pilots had been accomplished and registration opened final October, stated Ganser. U.S. corporations will quickly be invited to affix them. Kevin Piotrowski, chief transformation officer on the Automotive Trade Motion Group, stated that within the subsequent month or two he’ll announce a proper collaboration with Catena-X and invite his members to make use of it. “They wish to collaborate and share information, however they don’t wish to do it 5 alternative ways or 10 alternative ways,” he stated. “We’ve obtained to give you a regular method.”
Though designed for automotive corporations, the emergence of Catena-X raises the likelihood that a number of industries would possibly someday plug into a typical structure for sharing sustainability information. For instance, Catena-X incorporates core rules developed by the Partnership for Carbon Transparency, an industry-agnostic initiative from the World Enterprise Council for Sustainable Growth that has created a regular for sharing Scope 3 information.
“Catena-X is deliberately designed for the automotive sector, addressing its particular complexity, multi-tier provide chains and regulatory calls for,” stated Ganser. “Nonetheless, from the start it was developed as a blueprint for different industries going through related challenges.”
