January 31, 2023 – With the foundation of Cofinity-X the shareholders Mercedes-Benz, BASF, BMW Group, Henkel, SAP, Schaeffler, Siemens, T-Systems, Volkswagen and ZF initiate the next step in Europe to foster the Catena-X initiative. Cofinity-X strives to be one of the first operating companies which aims to provide products and services for the secure exchange of data throughout the entire automotive value chain.
At Mercedes-Benz, we’re convinced that transparency, efficiency, and data sovereignty are the key levers for sustainable and data-driven value chains. Through the new Cofinity-X joint venture, we are bringing to life the Catena-X vision of an open ecosystem for secure and standardized data exchange along the entire value chain. The first solutions are almost ready and, thanks to Cofinity-X, every company in the automotive sector can shortly benefit from services and offers that use the results of Catena-X.
Markus Schäfer
Member of the Board of Management of Mercedes-Benz Group AG, Chief Technology Officer, Development & Procurement
Future customers will be able to access applications and services to implement use-cases in the automotive value chain such as CO₂ and ESG monitoring, Traceability, Circular Economy or Business Partner Data Management.
Carbon Footprint Tracking solutions enable concise, accurate calculation and reporting of CO₂ values along the value chain. This will allow Cofinity-X customers to stay ahead in Carbon Footprint transparency and derive potential sustainability improvements to play an active role in the global effort to reach net-zero.
Tracing parts and components at any time throughout the entire supply chain starting with raw material and closing the loop with recycled parts. Traceability applications can give the possibility to display the entire value chain and help to find ways to increase supply-chain resilience.
The recycling of materials is an ever-increasing topic of importance within the automotive industry. The information about the condition of components can be transparently displayed among suppliers and customers to properly re-use parts and components. By implementing circular economy, companies can improve the ratio of recyclable materials in their products and reduce waste.
Companies invest significant resources to keep customer and supplier data up to date. The BPDM services of Cofinity-X clean and enrich business partner data across the automotive industry. Customers of Cofinity-X thus can benefit from sorted, analyzed, uncluttered, and enriched partner data.
A product offering built to drive acceptance and adoption of small- and medium sized enterprises
End-to-end data chains can only be created if all parties are willing to collaborate. Most of the companies in the automotive value chain are small and medium-sized enterprises. Cofinity-X will offer an easy and fast onboarding for these key players. Cofinity-X will build a portfolio around four key product and service offerings. The first products and services will be available from the end of April 2023.
aspires to enable the efficient “matchmaking” of network participants by creating an optimal environment for business applications which customers can implement. All applications offered will be compliant with the Catena-X and GAIA-X data exchange principles.
between parties will be based on sovereign, secure and standardized principles without forcing a lock-in effect to certain solutions. Every partner will stay in full control of their own data.
will power the business applications offered on the marketplace and enable data exchange in an interoperable open-source approach ensuring added value for each customer.
will foster the adoption of the Catena-X ecosystem and accelerate the digital connection of automotive partners in every step of the value chain to the ecosystem.
Key automotive companies send out a strong signal and commitment
The investment in Cofinity-X underlines the commitment of the founding partners to establish the Catena-X ecosystem. Each shareholder holds an equal share in this joint venture.
About Cofinity-X
Cofinity-X GmbH is based in Cologne and was founded in 2023. It is a joint venture of Mercedes-Benz, BASF, BMW Group, Henkel, SAP, Schaeffler, Siemens, T-Systems, Volkswagen and ZF. The vision of Cofinity-X is to run an open marketplace for the provision of own and third-party business applications and further services that enable secured and standardized data transfer along the automotive value chain in accordance with the Gaia-X and Catena-X principles with initial focus on the European market. All necessary regulatory approvals have been obtained and Cofinity-X will develop its activities accordingly.
For more information, please go to: www.cofinity-x.com
