Enhancing Automotive Processes through the Integration of APIs

In this article, we will be looking at how application programming interfaces (APIs) help to accelerate workflows, both within companies and along the automotive supply chain as a whole, creating competitive advantages through real-time data transparency.

At present, the European automotive industry is grappling with some mammoth challenges. These are forcing it to act, rethink, and set a new course for the future. The whole industry is under pressure to react quickly and agilely to issues such as supply bottlenecks, new customer requirements, and new market players, in order to stay afloat among global competition. The ability to react quickly, for example to secure scarce resources or to quickly link up substitute suppliers and trading partners, gives a company the competitive edge – and the ability to deliver.  To achieve this, it is essential that a company has transparency on the real-time data flowing through its company and the entire automotive supply chain.

If players in the European automotive industry follow a strategy of real-time communication in their supply chains, this will significantly secure the industry’s ability to remain competitive long term.  Once communication in the supply chain is in real time, this opens up a host of other advantages. Digital communication is then no longer a stumbling block to accelerating processes.

Using APIs to put digital messaging in the supply chain on the fast track.  

Digitalization is already a fact of life in the automotive industry, with electronic data interchange (EDI) long established. International industry standards are widely accepted in the industry network. These are being developed by associations such as Odette International, Galia and VDA. Now it is time to explore and use new technologies, integrating them into existing processes to further optimize existing digital infrastructures. At the first Odette International webcast, hosted by SEEBURGER, prominent representatives from Volkswagen Group Logistics, DRÄXLMAIER Group, Odette International and SEEBURGER gave real life examples of how modern API technology can be integrated into the automotive industry’s digital landscape and raise processes to new heights.

Using APIs for digital communication enables companies to transmit messages in real time, which significantly improves processes along the entire supply chain. However, it’s nobody’s intention to replace EDI with APIs. Instead, APIs coexisting alongside traditional EDI will enhance and accelerate existing workflows. An application programming interface merely opens up a fast track to enable real-time processes, which so far have been difficult to enable.

However, before APIs can be widely accepted and used in the automotive industry, there needs to be some standardization. This is where Odette International comes in.

Odette International

Odette International drives digitalization and standardization in the automotive industry by providing solutions for challenges in the supply chain. “As an industry-oriented, non-profit, pan-European cooperation platform, Odette International aims to develop standard instruments, recommendations and tools to improve the entire automotive supply chain and its processes,” says Jörg Walther, IT and security expert based in the Odette International central office. Odette International focuses on a wide range of functions. These include digital messaging for buying, shipping and payment;  transport management, cybersecurity, AIDC for track and trace, packaging management, vehicle distribution and supply chain management capability, and performance and risk. Odette International members include national organisations such as the VDA and Galia, technology partners such as SEEBURGER, and regional partners. The goal of Odette International’s API activities is global use and wide acceptance by all stakeholders. To this end, all recommendations are based on UN/CEFACT specifications using e.g. JSON.

The Odette International API expert group

“API technology lets you split a use case into micro services. This enables a fast, streamlined exchange of information, not tied to a specific time, customized and available whenever the process needs or would benefit from it,” explains Peter Höfner, head of IT solution sales at DRÄXLMAIER Group, and chairman of the Odette International API expert group.

Founded in September 2022, Odette International’s API expert group meets regularly to identify use cases which would gain in quality from API standardisation, yet the process is still missing necessary information to enable this. This may be a time-critical process which cannot be adequately supported by EDI, such as the real-time updates in inventory control. This may also be the situation where upstream or downstream EDI processes are not integrated in real time. The expert group is currently focusing on the use cases “commissioning a small load carrier”, “packaging instructions” and “price adjustments”. Objectives include increasing transparency in the automotive supply chain and simplifying the provision of master data for packaging, prices, etc. with standardised API-based processes.

The Odette International API expert group would be delighted to welcome further members. If you are interested in joining the group, contact them here.

A use case from Volkswagen Group Logistics:

Digitalization using a hybrid solution of APIs with traditional EDI

VW is using APIs to accelerate its processes, both in-house and beyond. “The effects of a number of crises mean that we at VW have to work with our partners even more flexibly and dynamically  to overcome these challenges,” explains Andrea Sümer, a supply chain expert at Volkswagen Group Logistics. “Our vision is to digitalize and network the entire supply chain in order to be able to act flexibly, immediately and with extensive information at our fingertips. This requires each and every partner involved in the process to have access to the same information.”

To this end, VW now supplements their classic EDI with API microservices. This lets them access various data sources to enable solutions such as track & trace and enjoy full transparency on where items currently are. VW uses APIs to connect various in-house systems, as well as for additional, external processes along the supply chain. APIs also supplement established EDIFACT messaging in areas where they need support. These micro services enable flexible integration, from connecting legacy systems to enabling ad-hoc services, as well as paving the way for future needs, such as geodata during transit.

As an expert in systems integration, and an Odette International technology partner, SEEBURGER is helping make the automotive supply chain more efficient. “As a member of numerous committees and associations, including the Odette International API expert and API security groups, SEEBURGER contributes comprehensive know-how in  networking business partners, in systems integration and in standardizing automotive processes to the Odette International community. In this way, we help to set the course for the future, and support the industry with cutting-edge solutions and practical recommendations for their future integration challenges,” says Gerd Rampelt, integration expert at SEEBURGER.

SEEBURGER’s strategy of solving all integration needs through one platform lets its customers use several generations of integration technology at once. Whether EDI, MFT or APIs, the integration platform can be deployed from the cloud, on-premises or in a hybrid model.