Looking Far into the Future: Continental to Focus on the Year 2030 at its Supplier Day

Berlin, Regensburg, July 26, 2018. The Automotive Group of technology corporation Continental has awarded prizes to its Suppliers of the Year for 2017. The awards ceremony took place during Supplier Day 2018, attended by 550 guests from across the world at the Estrel Congress Center, Berlin. The fact that a robot was in charge of handing out the cocktails at the evening’s prize gala was perfectly in keeping with the forward-looking approach of the supplier day. The slogan for the event, “Supplier of Choice 2030”, had been deliberately chosen to reflect a dual objective. Continental aims to strengthen and build on its position as the supplier of choice for automobile manufacturers. At the same time, challenges to be overcome collaboratively in the future were emphasized. 

Kurt Lehmann, Corporate Technology Officer at Continental AG, is in charge of the corporation's long-term technology strategy. In his “Vision 2030” presentation, he explained how the automotive industry’s underlying conditions are changing at present and how they will change in the future, and what challenges and opportunities will result from this. Global developments such as increasing urbanization or the growing percentage of the population represented by elderly people are changing the requirements that mobility solutions need to meet. At the same time, a worldwide change in user behavior is apparent, according to Lehmann. “People will increasingly rely on the support of artificial intelligence in personal matters. Secure connectivity is becoming ever more important, not just for people but also for vehicles. This may also necessitate a paradigm shift. The car is losing its position as a status symbol, because time is the new status symbol.” Continental sees itself as a trendsetter on the road to what is known as Society 5.0, which places human beings at the center of all technological progress.

With its three automotive divisions, Chassis & Safety, Powertrain and Interior, Continental covers the entire range of future mobility solutions. The technology company therefore aims to achieve leading market positions in automated driving, information management, drive electrification and mobility services by 2030, according to Lehmann. Experts from the three divisions then explained to the suppliers which specific new platforms and products Continental is working on. In addition, a separate event was held to deal with the interests of the Production Equipment & Engineering Services (PEES) division, which also awarded a special “Innovation Award” this year (see list of prize winners below).

Günter Fella, Head of Purchasing at Continental Automotive, summarizes the goal of this, the biggest supplier day to date, as follows: “In this challenging market, we need to raise the question of what we need to do in order to be the ‘Supplier of Choice’ in 2030 as well – and this affects both what we offer our customers as well as our relationship with our suppliers. Speed will be a crucial factor. We all need to learn to act more quickly and more flexibly while also improving our quality standards and financial conditions. Digitalization can help us with this by enabling data to be exchanged even more quickly and in even greater detail. We are operating in a highly volatile market with new market players, so we need to identify the areas of risks in our business environment and work quickly to define countermeasures before the risks occur,” says Fella. “By working closely together, we will continue to succeed in the future as well.”

The special prize known as the “Quality Award” has been awarded since 2011 in recognition of extraordinary achievements in the field of quality enhancement. This year, the award went to Shinko Nameplate. Fuji Machine Manufacturing received the Innovation Award in the Investment and Engineering category.