SANJAY RAVI: Thanks for joining
me On The Go,
where we take a look at what's
driving the future of mobility.
I'm Sanjay Ravi and I lead the Automotive,
Mobility and Transportation Industry at Microsoft.
This week I'm joined by Wolf Henning Scheider,
the CEO and Chairman of
the Board of Management for the ZF group.
Wolf thank you so much for joining us today and
for the amazing partnership we've had over the years.
We started our collaboration years ago
to expand the software capabilities and that
partnership has resulted in what I can call as
a world-class DevOps environment in action at ZF.
Could you talk a little bit more about
your perspective on our partnership?
WOLF HENNING SCHEIDER: Well,
thanks for having me Sanjay.
I also appreciate the longstanding partnership between
our two companies and
the advantages for ZF as a technology company are many.
Working with Microsoft leverages
obviously the Azure Cloud services and developer tools,
as well as your Microsoft
experiences in agile software development.
So the DevOps tools,
they enhance our collaboration across automation testing,
monitoring, and continuous delivery using agile methods.
The migration of our existing tool chain
to the DevOps ZF Cloud,
which is basically based on Azure,
that helped us to reduce
integration time by more than 40 percent.
As a result, we are faster,
we're more efficient in all our business processes
and the integrated Azure Cloud-enables also
new collaboration models with our customers and
value creation opportunities in
system and networking products.
So ZF is well on the way to becoming
a Cloud-native mobility group and to make that happen,
we invest billions of euros into
the digital transformation of the company and
significant sums into our collaboration with
Microsoft after really great discussions
in the course of the last years.
SANJAY RAVI: Thanks for
sharing that Wolf.
In fact, thanks to
the digital transformation that you are driving,
we can already see how quickly ZF is
able to move and innovate in the industry.
The work you're doing in
the manufacturing space is also a great example,
where the team was able to drive
significant innovations and now
able to roll this out to
more than 90 factories across the world.
A set of spans so many aspects of mobility.
For those who don't know,
could you talk a little bit about ZF and how
you're enabling the next generation of mobility.
WOLF HENNING SCHEIDER: Well,
the structural change in
the automotive industry is happening at
a super fast pace and people want constantly available,
also affordable and clean and safe mobility.
Unfortunately, reality looks a little different.
We all know the traffic jams and we know
the emission and a lacking mobility infrastructure.
With our ZF next-generation mobilities strategy
we are developing
comprehensive solutions for the challenges.
We are presenting ourselves as
an integrated system supplier that
will play a decisive role in shaping future mobility.
We are preparing for this by expanding
our digital service portfolio and linking
it to ZF's enhanced core competencies
also and mechatronics for example.
We are focusing on the core technologies
required for the software defined vehicle.
Including high-performance computers,
the software, the intelligence sensors
, and smart actuators.
ZF has set new standards for example with our ZF proAI
that is the most flexible and powerful central computer
for automotive applications.
We have already secured first major orders
for passenger cars and also commercial vehicles.
We will start with volume production in 2024.
But even powerful electronics
are limited without software,
which is why software lies in the heart of our game plan.
With Microsoft's Azure Cloud,
the data and machine learning capabilities,
they help us to optimize the data exchange
between a broad range of Cloud-connected components and
develop new products or business models using
artificial intelligence and thus
create the next generation of mobility.
SANJAY RAVI: It's great to see
how widely
you're adopting technologies like
Cloud and AI to address
different parts of the business processes at ZF.
Now, Wolf with the operation,
the size and scale of ZF,
every business process change has
a cascading impact across the organization.
Could you share a bit about how you're empowering
employees with new capabilities like the Power Platform?
WOLF HENNING SCHEIDER: Oh yes, definitely.
I mean, it all started that with the help of Microsoft,
we equipped approximately 110,000
front line and office workers with
Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams
and we did that with your help in just a few weeks.
That was really a breakthrough that helped
us to respond to the pandemic.
Today ZF employees utilize
Cloud-connected Microsoft tools to
work productively and safe,
for example from home or
production related work and environments as needed.
Microsoft Teams enabled employees to work
from any location and upload data in real time,
collaborating faster and more effectively.
You mentioned that the Power Platform that
enabled employees to take advantage of
low code development and to publish
new apps that automate
processes and analyze data within Teams.
We have in the meantime,
we have 10,000 of
these applications done by our employees.
They are really excited about that,
how much productivity that brings.
But we've also brought
the digital work to the shop floor.
All our 60,000 production employees,
they will receive their own digital ZF identity
and in practical terms,
this means employees can check their shift,
register their holiday plan,
or report errors from
the assembly line through an app and share
it in real time with
other connected Teams without using any paper.
We are concentrating on
an integrated holistic Cloud solution
with just one partner, Microsoft.
That is, I think,
unique in our industry.
It is a revolutionary initiatives that in
our company now everybody can
become digital hero with the help of that platform.
SANJAY RAVI: Thank you for sharing that Wolf.
It's amazing to see the breadth of
empowerment that you're driving
at setup with these technologies,
but employs across board,
including frontline workers and production and
Weinmans which is very impressive.
You touched on this a little bit earlier,
because when we talk about efficiencies
across a large organization like yourself,
we have to mention
the importance of data-driven insights,
which are important for mobility as well.
Could you share a little bit more about how you're using
data to support setups digital transformation?
WOLF HENNING: Yes, of course, data is
the important factor in that transformation.
We use it in the ZF Cloud internally,
but also in the meantime in cross-company projects.
Let me talk a little bit deeper about
our open data ecosystem Katina X.
That is the system where we exchange
uniform data in our industry.
It's about networking with
partners across the entire supply chain,
our suppliers to our customers.
We launched this initiative together
with world-famous companies like BMW,
Dodge Telecom, SAP, and Seamans,
and it is an open network for
the automotive industry and related sectors.
The focus is on secure,
cross-company standardized exchange
of information and data
along the entire automotive value chain
and not limited to Germany or Europe.
Katina X enables us to trace components and softwares,
starting with the raw materials supplier through parts,
component, system, and
module suppliers to the vehicle manufacturer.
SANJAY RAVI: Wolf,
thank you for sharing that
and the work that you highlighted with
Katina X is an amazing industry wide initiative.
We're so impressed with the work that is going on there.
We ourselves are engaged with you and others
and see the impact that can
drive for the entire ecosystem,
and also as you've mentioned,
a lot of the innovation has to happen
across different players in an open way.
So really appreciate the leading role
that Zed F is playing in that effort as well.
Now, we're also partnering between our two companies in
the area of self-driving vehicles
and autonomous shuttles.
Could you talk about the future of these areas?
How soon you think
self-driving vehicles will be a reality in major cities?
WOLF HENNING: Oh, that's a very good question.
How soon self-driving vehicles will become
a reality depends on a variety of political,
regulatory, and also technological frameworks.
But one thing is sure ZF will be
ready and we are working with several partners,
including Microsoft, in different advanced projects,
like our autonomous shuttle for people and goods.
We expect autonomous systems in commercial vehicles and,
let's say local public transport much
earlier than in personal cars because here
real business cases exists that
justify a significant investment in technology.
In the commercial vehicles space, first,
autonomous long-haul trucks on the interstates can be
spotted as prototypes right now and maybe in 4-5 years,
they will be real use cases
and the shuttles in cities, for example,
on little less complex roads,
they can also be in this timeframe on the road.
We see first business cases coming
up in this timeframe in the mid of this decade.
SANJAY RAVI: Very good.
More than I allow
the practical approach Zed F is
kicking around very focused areas like
autonomous shuttles and to your point in terms of having
the business case where these things can be rolled out
earlier in the time horizon.
Now, I know sustainability is
an important area of work for you as it is for Microsoft.
You have a concept called Mission Zero,
which has mobility with
zero accidents and zero emissions.
Would love to hear from you about the work you're
doing in the broader area of sustainability.
WOLF HENNING: Well, sustainability
obviously is as
important as profit and growth.
Today, electric mobility
is key and we expect that by 2040,
all new vehicles will be electric and already by 2030,
that 50 percent of all new vehicles
are equipped with a full electric battery,
electric engine.
This is obviously a huge contribution
for the climate change or mitigation of
climate change because these vehicles provide
it with the right power source
that play an important role.
Zed F made this transformation from components
for combustion engine cars to electric mobility.
In the last years we are under full steam that by 2030,
we may make much more revenue with
full sustainable CO_2 neutral power trains than we
ever made before with the traditional components.
Very important is,
that these vehicles will be connected so that we also
have a good view of the CO_2 usage in
the fields and being capable of
optimizing them also in their life-cycle.
Again, we are in the realm of the Zed F clouds and
the Zed F ocean data access to
our products that we are
building on Azure Cloud together with Microsoft.
SANJAY RAVI: It's great to see
the leadership you and Zed F are driving and
in what we call as once in
a generation transformation that
is going on and mobility.
Wolf before we go,
I want to congratulate you on a wonderful career.
I know you are retiring soon and knowing you,
I'm confident you're not the type who is
going to settle down and play golf every day.
How do you envision the next phase of your life?
WOLF HENNING: Well, first of all, Sanjay,
yes, it's correct.
After 35 years in the industry,
I will leave it at the end of the year, but until then,
every day I will commit my full energy to Zed F,
a company that I admire as many of my colleagues here.
Then I will move on and you can imagine that I will
not play golf or spend my time in leisure.
No. I want to enter a totally different sector of
industry in the financial world and running companies,
helping to run companies better,
and I'm pretty sure I will
use again Power Platform and low code,
no code software, because this is what transforms
couple of these and I'm looking forward to do
that in other business sectors
than the automotive industry.
SANJAY RAVI: Is great to hear evolve.
It's really happy to hear that you'll be
staying and driving
this transformation across multiple industries.
Thank you once again, Wolf Henning heading,
it's been a great pleasure to
collaborate and partner with you and your team
over the years and I really
appreciate you taking the time to joining us
today and share some of your thoughts in
terms of the transformation
that is happening with Zed F,
but also broadly it the industry.
WOLF HENNING: The pleasure is
absolutely on
my side and was also on my side and
the collaboration with your team
and the things we have accomplished.
I'm absolutely sure that you will be a strong asset for
many companies in their transformation and I
wish that Microsoft Automotive team
as success for your future.
SANJAY RAVI: Thank you so much Wolf.
With that, I thank all of you for
joining us for another episode of On-The-Go.
I'll be back soon with
more behind the scenes look in terms
of how companies are pushing
the boundaries of mobility. Thank you.