Continental entered the race for the Supply Chain Management Award with its "Fast Forward 2030" supply chain vision for the Automotive Group. The aim is to make the complex supply chain with more than 100 production sites, 5,700 suppliers and 157 billion product components even faster and more transparent by developing Industry 4.0 capabilities. Initial cost savings have already been realized at the two pilot locations for smart factories in Regensburg and Zvolen in Slovakia. Continental develops technologies and services for the sustainable and connected mobility of people and their goods. Founded in 1871, the technology company offers solutions for vehicles, machines, traffic and transportation, generated sales of 44.4 billion euros in 2018 and currently employs more than 244,000 people in 60 countries and markets. "We are very proud to receive the Supply Chain Management Award 2019. Right now, the entire supply chain environment is changing, which has a major impact on our plants, suppliers and customers. How we respond to these changes and how we also deal with Industry 4.0 will strengthen our competitiveness and open up many new growth opportunities for us," says Jan Axt, Head of Automotive Supply Chain Management Strategy & Innovation, Continental Teves, Frankfurt am Main. "To this end, our interdisciplinary team is already working intensively on the transition from a traditional supply chain to an autonomous supply network."

Since 2006, the Supply Chain Management Award, which is presented by Strategy&, the strategy consultancy of PwC, and the trade magazine Logistik Heute, has recognized outstanding solutions in industrial value chains and thus the companies that optimize their supply chain in a consistent or unusual way. Convincing end-to-end supply chain solutions as well as outstanding implementations in sub-areas of the value chain are eligible for the award.

The jury, consisting of supply chain practitioners, renowned scientists, consultants and trade media representatives, selected the finalists after auditing: Bosch, Continental, Lufthansa Technik Logistik Services and Nokia for the Supply Chain Management Award and Magazino, Metrilus, parcelLab and shipcloud for the Smart Solution Award. These eight companies presented their concepts live during Exchain on November 26. The event participants were also invited to cast their votes. The results were incorporated into the subsequent jury meeting.