Global economic growth has shaken up value chains and poses major challenges for companies. Market volatility, sustainability requirements and geopolitical tensions add to this complexity. Sovereign data exchange, which is based on the work of IDSA, helps industry to master the challenges and opportunities of digital transformation. It improves competitiveness, efficiency and process acceleration. One such data exchange service is the Predictive Unit Real-Time Information Service (PURIS), which was developed as part of Catena-X‘s global supply chain ecosystem.
Especially in crisis situations, companies often opt for expensive, temporary solutions that require time-consuming discussions between partners who may not be willing to share relevant information. The longer it takes to find a solution, the fewer viable options are available. PURIS supports organisations’ resilience strategies by enabling better data sharing and providing key information on demand at an early stage. This enables users to identify and address supply chain issues with greater accuracy.
Unified standard for the entire automotive value chain
PURIS is one of many use cases within Catena-X, a project that aims to create a uniform standard for data exchange across the automotive value chain. The technical core of this initiative is the IDS Reference Architecture, which serves as a blueprint for secure and sovereign data exchange through a federated design. This architecture ensures a level playing field for all participants and promotes trust within the ecosystem.
With IDS as the basic infrastructure, Catena-X has developed into an expandable ecosystem. It allows car manufacturers, suppliers, dealer associations, equipment suppliers and providers of applications, platforms and infrastructure to participate on an equal footing. This inclusion supports a collaborative environment where all participants can benefit from streamlined and trustworthy data exchange.
Application of the IDS standard
Resilience in supply chains is achieved by applying the IDS standard in two ways. There is a defensive and an offensive aspect. The defensive aspect comes from the ability to verify partners and hold them to a high standard before they can even participate in data exchange. The offensive aspect comes from the ability to respond flexibly to problems or crises along the entire value chain. If a partner is temporarily out of action due to e.g. a cyber-attack or some other unforeseen circumstance, it can be quickly replaced by a proven alternative that has immediate access to all the information required.
The bi-directional, demand-driven exchange of key information provided by PURIS helps different services and systems to analyse data and identify potential bottlenecks at an early stage. Increased collaboration between manufacturers and suppliers through PURIS could mitigate or even prevent the negative effects of calamities on production.
Proactive supply chain management
Built on a solid foundation, PURIS enables users to proactively manage their supply chains, using data-driven insights to make informed decisions at short notice. This ensures continuity of supplies and production at a reasonable cost and effort. PURIS delivers on demand high quality, standardised information, 24/7. This enables users to make immediate decisions to keep the value chain running, reduce costs and meet given commitments.
The shift to a data-driven industry has increased complexity. This even affects development cycles, assembly processes and modern supply chains. In this global and volatile environment, PURIS shows its full potential by providing transparency, predictability and efficiency.
