Webinar recap: How Dräxlmaier mastered Traceability with Catena-X

‍Who is DRÄXLMAIER?

DRÄXLMAIER, a global leader in the automotive industry, combines innovation with sustainability. With over 70,000 employees across 60 locations in 20 countries, the company supplies premium automotive brands like Audi, BMW, and Jaguar. Known for innovative solutions in interiors, electrics and battery systems.

The Challenge: Traceability in a decentralized Ecosystem

Traceability is a regulatory and operational necessity, especially in high-stakes areas like battery systems. Dräxlmaier needed a solution to ensure seamless traceability across its supply chain, particularly to meet requirements for battery imports, such as managing GPT codes (Global Product Traceability codes). Their existing solution worked but lacked standardization, limiting scalability and interoperability.

The Solution: Catena-X Implementation

Why Catena-X?
Catena-X offers a standardized platform for secure and collaborative data exchange. For Dräxlmaier, this meant moving away from proprietary interfaces to a unified approach. Standardization not only simplifies integration but also future-proofs processes against upcoming regulations, like the EU Digital Product Passport.

The Traceability Use Case
Dräxlmaier’s first Catena-X use case centered on high-voltage batteries. Each battery is composed of multiple cells, modules, and packs, all of which require unique GPT codes. The company established a data flow system where every component's digital twin was registered on Catena-X, ensuring traceability across the entire production chain.

This robust system allowed Dräxlmaier to:

• Register 20,000–40,000 digital twins monthly.
• Conduct 100 daily data exchanges in near real-time (2–3 minutes per transaction).
• Guarantee product delivery only after successful data verification by customers.
  ‍

Standardized Integration
Using Catena-X’s Eclipse Data Space Connector and Digital Twin Registry, Dräxlmaier developed a platform seamlessly integrating into their existing architecture. By leveraging Amazon Web Services (AWS) for hosting, they ensured scalability and reliability while maintaining control over customizations.

Collaboration and Open Source
A key takeaway for Dräxlmaier was the strength of collaboration within the Catena-X ecosystem. Open-source components allowed them to adapt the platform to their unique needs while aligning with industry standards.

The Impact: Pioneering Success

This project demonstrated the viability of Catena-X. Dräxlmaier’s success paves the way for broader adoption of standardized solutions, reducing complexity and fostering stronger partnerships across the automotive supply chain.

Key benefits include:

• Regulatory Compliance: Meeting global traceability requirements seamlessly.
• Scalability: A unified platform ready for additional use cases.
• Resilience: Backup systems ensured zero production disruptions during implementation.

Looking Ahead: The Future of Data Ecosystems

Both Dräxlmaier and Catena-X envision a future where interoperability between data ecosystems becomes the norm. Collaborative platforms like Catena-X will expand to include more industries and geographies, setting global standards for data sharing.

As regulations and sustainability challenges grow, Dräxlmaier remains committed to innovation, with the Digital Product Passport as their next focus. Their journey exemplifies how companies can leverage collaboration to drive meaningful change.

Are you ready to harness the power of Catena-X? The journey might be complex, but as Dräxlmaier’s experience shows, the results are transformational.

Check out the full video here.