“Initially innovations rarely are more than ‘almost right’. The necessary changes can be made only if the scale is small and the requirements for people and money fairly modest:” Think big, start small, scale fast — Peter F. Drucker (1963)
Takeaways
- Resilience challenge: “China speed” innovation and volatile supply-chain dynamics are outpacing rigid operating models
- Data ecosystem advantage: Catena-X replaces artisanal point-to-point integrations with reusable, standards-based infrastructure for sovereign data sharing
- Flex “genius” strategy: Start small, then scale through economies of scope, effectively delivering “buy one, get one free” reuse.
The challenge: Digital transformation in supply chains
The pace of change is exceeding the adaptive capacity of traditional operating models. Collapsing innovation cycles force automotive leaders to place high-stakes bets across a rapidly diversifying technology stack. Meanwhile, the volatile interconnectedness of byzantine supply chains amplifies exposure to geopolitical conflicts, tariffs, and disasters; regional shocks ripple globally, making resilience a prerequisite for survival.
The data ecosystem solution: Catena-X
To reduce this exposure, pioneers are adopting Catena-X (CX), the first collaborative data ecosystem for the automotive industry built on a three-layer technology stack:
- A Web3-oriented distributed network, the “internet for data”: Enables sovereign, peer-to-peer data transactions for sharing data assets while protecting intellectual property
- Standardized data products: Provide semantic consistency for shared data assest, such as digital twins, unlocking end-to-end supply-chain data for better AI and simulation
- Super-apps (e.g., CX certificate management – CCM,product carbon footprint, data driven quality management, traceability): Sit on top of these layers to deliver business value
Flex: The genius of starting with economies of scope
Flex followed Drucker’s advice: start small, move fast. It launched the world’s first CX data chain demo with a global OEM at CES 2024. The strategic move is what comes next: scaling via economies of scope. Without large-volume economies of scale, Flex designed first deployments for reuse across customers and use cases, effectively delivering “buy one, get one free” benefits:
- Multi-customer setup: Flex reuses the same CX stack with a CX connectivy and CCM solution by T-Systems (TSI’s Connect & Integrate) for major global OEMs
- Multi-use-case setup: Flex reuses the same CX connectivity to support both CCM (compliance) and ECU (electronic control unit; provided by TSI) data lifecycle management
Conclusion
Start small, then compound reuse and built digital infrastructure: architect once, reuse across OEMs and use cases. Pick an anchor use case and design for economies of scope from day one.
