With Catena-X, the automotive industry has shown how sovereign data exchange works. Factory-X is now transferring these success principles to mechanical engineering-from the supply chain to the production level.

Europe is facing a decisive challenge: While the region was successful for decades with the principle of “Quality Over Cost”, other continents collect qualitatively and also rely on aggressive price strategies. “We have to keep the quality up, but at the same time reduce the costs and become even more flexible when it comes to the needs of our customers,” explains Georg Kube, Head of Industry Data Ecosystems at SAP SE.

The answer to this could be the data that has been collected in German factories and SAP systems for decades. “Europe’s major assets compared to America and Asia is our historical knowledge of how good processes and good products work,” said Kube. “This systemic knowledge-how is you machined, how do you put the right processes-how to put on the right processes-is typically in SAP systems for European companies.”

This data forms the basis for data -driven business models according to the “Data Fly Wheel” principle: The more data flow into the systems, the more new data is generated – a self -increasing effect that can provide European companies a decisive competitive advantage.

Manufacturing-X: The German answer to global challenges

Factory-X is part of a larger vision: Manufacturing X, an industry-wide initiative of the German government, which was launched as part of the Industry 4.0 platform. The aim is to promote digital ecosystems and to establish an international standard for data exchange.

Manufacturing-X is based on the basic principle of data sovereignty and addresses a classic dilemma: Companies need data from others for digitization, but want to protect their own sensitive information. The solution is a legally and technically secured framework in which data can be shared in a controlled manner without the owners losing their power of disposal.

The initiative includes various industry-specific projects: Catena-X for the automotive industry was the pioneer, followed by Factory-X for mechanical engineering, Chem-X for the chemical industry and Semiconductor-X for the semiconductor industry.

From the horizontal to vertical integration

While Catena-X, as a pioneer, revolutionized the horizontal supply chain processes in the automotive industry, Factory-X goes one step further. “Factory-X extends the proven Catena-X concepts to other industries and brings vertical integration to the production level,” says Nadine Kanja, Solution Head SAP Industry Network Automotive and Catena-X.

SAP shares the consortium management with Siemens at Factory-X and coordinates the work of 47 consorts. The special thing: While Catena-X considered the factory as a block, it is the focus of Factory-X. “The production level is the central topic for us, because there are machines with their own suppliers and maintenance requirements,” explains Nadine Kanja.

New applications for more flexibility in production

“The goal is to extend the flexibility of the supply chain to the production area,” says Nadine Kanja. “If technical problems arise or change customer needs, manufacturers have to be able to change quickly. However, factories are not exactly known for their flexibility – machines are firmly installed and hard -wired. To rebuild it all is enormous effort.”

This is exactly where Factory-X comes in: The initiative aims to bring flexibility directly into production through new concepts such as modular production, manufacturing as a service and on-demand production-not just in logistics. “This is an essential part of Factory-X: the flexibility and automation of the actual production processes,” explains Nadine Kanja.

The focus of Factory-X is therefore on applications that fall under the motto “Individualization and Customer Centricity”. This includes:

• Collaborative Information Logistics: Optimization of the information flows between partners
• Condition monitoring: Monitoring of the condition of systems and machines for proactive, data -based maintenance decisions
• Modular Production: Flexible production concepts for changing requirements
• Manufacturing as a Service: On-demand production as required via digital marketplaces

Concrete business advantages for companies

The Factory-X application cases promise measurable improvements for different business models. Condition monitoring, for example, enables proactive maintenance instead of reactive repairs-this not only reduces production costs and downtimes, but also opens up new digital service sales from your installed basis.

Manufacturing AS A Service revolutionizes capacity utilization: Production companies can automatically receive orders via digital marketplaces that fit their skills and available capacities – without extensive sales activities. Standardized data models even enable the economic production of individual pieces (lot size 1), which means individualization without cost disadvantages.

Another competitive advantage is accessed to new partners: With the open data ecosystem, companies can collaborate with supply chain partners without needing existing business relationships-standardized mechanisms make integration faster, safer and cost-effective.

Technological innovation: MX port as a key

Factory-X not only expands the Manufacturing X initiative thematically, but also technologically. In addition to the established data space protocols from Catena-X, Factory-X introduces the MX-Port concept, which is also based on the Asset Administration Shell (AAS) Framework and Open Platform Communications Unified Architecture (OPC-UA).

“The existing protocols have a relatively high technological overhead to negotiate who can see what every time,” explains Georg Kube. “There are many applications in mechanical engineering where this is not necessary. Therefore, we add a second that has similar characteristics, but with less overhead.”

This dual technology strategy enables companies that are active in both the automotive industry and mechanical engineering to flexibly use the appropriate technology.

The way to the future

Factory-X is created as a development project by mid-2026 and is then intended to move into a stable operating phase. The vision is ambitious: a digital ecosystem that strengthens the competitiveness of European industry and at the same time enables new, data -driven business models.

“What we build in Factory-X can also be scaled on the other data rooms of Manufacturing-X,” explains Nadine Kanja. Mechanical engineering thus becomes a test field for a comprehensive transformation of European industry.