Quo vadis vehicle mobility? Exhibitors at the 11th International Suppliers Fair (IZB) in Wolfsburg will be showing the answer until tomorrow. The focus of the three-day event is on the increasing number of digital solutions for the vehicle as well as for the development, production and logistics processes. On the first day of the trade fair, numerous visitors from Germany and abroad, as well as representatives from business, politics and associations, were impressed by the variety of automotive suppliers on the industry’s communication and business platform.
With its restart as a face-to-face event, Europe’s leading trade fair for the supplier industry is larger and more international than ever before: with around 940 exhibitors from 37 nations, Wolfsburg AG as the organizer is reporting record numbers. On around 38,000 square meters of exhibition space in the Allerpark, global players, medium-sized and smaller companies will show their innovations along the entire automotive value chain. As a showcase for the latest innovations, the IZB pays special attention to the current topics of electrification, autonomous driving, connectivity, electromobility, software, production 4.0 and cyber security.
Another factor is Volkswagen’s changed purchasing strategy. On the opening evening in front of 600 guests, VW Purchasing Director and IZB patron Murat Aksel said: “In the future we want to work much earlier and more closely with our suppliers. To do this, it is necessary to enable agile organizational structures and processes at all levels of the company. Open platforms and interfaces to suppliers all over the world create immense innovative power that will be decisive for the success of Volkswagen.”
At the IZB 2022, Wolfsburg AG is relying on a mixture of traditional trade fairs, online offers and new communication formats. The team around Josef Schulze Sutthoff seems to have found the formula for success in the post-corona period. The new trade fair formats offer first-hand expert knowledge and the exchange of current trends. Volkswagen’s top managers from purchasing, development, production and data security will be making contributions on the IZB live stage.
Silke Bagschik, head of the MEB series, gave the trade fair participants an expert insight into the further development of the Volkswagen ID family. Of course, the current plans for the proposed Trinity plant in Wolfsburg-Warmenau also played a role. Christian Dahlheim, CEO of Volkswagen Financial Services, currently the most financially successful “brand” in the entire group, spoke on the subject of “Our path from selling vehicles to providing mobility (solutions)”: Every potential customer should always be able to can receive an individually tailored offer from the ranks of the Group.
Another focus was on the management of leasing vehicles and, above all, on the resulting access to the batteries following eight or more years for the users of the fully electric vehicles. In this way, the manufacturers can decide for themselves whether they can use Second Life or whether they can recycle the rare earths themselves. (aum/av)