Why automotive logistics must become more regional, transparent and intelligent
Geopolitics, new customs regimes, regionalisation and artificial intelligence are putting automotive logistics under pressure all at once. ZF, Bosch and Daimler Truck show why transparency, new planning logics and robust networks are now decisive for competitiveness.
Daimler Truck, ZF Group and Bosch are facing upheavals in their automotive supply chains, as are many in an industry facing pressure from geopolitical challenges, new customs regimes, artificial intelligence and shifting demand for electrification. At a forum in Wolfsburg hosted by the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), experts from the companies say the classic supply chain function is increasingly turning into a strategic control area in which resilience, data quality and reaction speed play a key role in determining competitiveness.
Regionalisation is changing the logic of supply chains
The globally balanced supply chain that has shaped the automotive industry for many years is coming under increasing pressure. Rising geopolitical tensions, political intervention in trade relations and growing requirements for security of supply are shifting the logic of industrial networks. Andreas Koetz, senior vice-president of ZF Group, describes this development as a clear movement towards more localised value creation. “In the past, local for local was more of a buzzword,” he says. Today, this principle has to be implemented much more consistently. Companies need to “move more deeply into the markets and produce where the customer is” in order to make their supply chains more robust.
Marcus Schick, senior vice-president of logistics mobility at Bosch also sees the supply chain entering a new phase. “We need to regionalise more overall,” he says. China in particular is no longer viewed only as part of a global balance, but increasingly as a standalone region. “China for China is a given,” says Schick.
At the same time, pressure is rising to build alternative sourcing structures, because customers and markets are formulating new requirements. This is creating a supply chain architecture that is no longer primarily geared towards maximum global efficiency, but more towards political risk protection and operational ability to act. Building resilience into day-to-day operations as a strategy for risk management is something that Daimler Truck has been focusing on. During a January 2026 Automotive Logistics livestream, Marion Gillich, head of supply chain resilience management at Daimler Truck argued that risk management can no longer rely on periodic reviews or post-event response plans. Instead, she described a model built on continuous monitoring, supplier transparency and pre-positioned mitigation options.
Building on this, Andrea Güdemann, director of E2E supply chain at Daimler Truck warns against equating regionalisation as a strategy against risk with complete decoupling. “One hundred percent regional or local for local will hardly be feasible,” she says. Industrial networks in the automotive sector in particular will remain dependent on international flows of raw materials, parts and components. For her, the crucial lever therefore does not lie in the illusion of full self-sufficiency, but in the ability to anticipate alternatives and manage networks flexibly. “Network capability remains, in my view, a key factor,” says Güdemann. The point is to set up locations and structures in such a way that companies can switch and reallocate in the event of a crisis.
Transparency becomes a prerequisite for resilience
As the complexity of supply chains grows, the importance of transparency also increases. Anyone who wants to identify risks at an early stage, respond to disruptions and manage costs in a targeted way needs visibility across the entire chain. For ZF Group's Koetz, this is precisely where the real work of transformation begins. “We first have to create this transparency at all,” he says. Especially in corporations with historically grown IT landscapes, different ERP systems and many organisational discontinuities, this is an enormous task.
The ambition goes far beyond classic reporting. Koetz describes the target vision of a control tower as an end-to-end view of the entire network: “Ideally, I have transparency over all relevant elements from the supplier to the customer.” For him, the decisive factor is that this transparency not only makes inventories and movements visible, but also helps to identify risks proactively and make faster decisions.
Bosch's Schick formulates the same ambition in more operational terms. “That only works if we have a digital shadow of the supply chain,” he says. A digital shadow, or a digital twin of the physical supply chain, allows traceability on the location of goods, material flows and content in inventories, containers or shipments. For Schick, this is the basis of modern resilience. “We will no longer be able to safeguard resilience in future purely by building up inventory,” he says. High stock levels alone are no longer a viable answer to volatile markets and geopolitical disruptions. What will be decisive is the ability to obtain reliable information in a short time and to derive options for action from it.
Daimler Truck's Güdemann echoes Gillich in linking transparency directly with responsiveness. “We need transparency and the right tools so that we can react in the next step,” she says. Behind this is an understanding of logistics that is no longer guided only by efficiency indicators, but by adaptability in ongoing operations.
Customs duties are shifting from specialist topic to strategic factor
The structural transformation is particularly visible in the area of customs. For a long time, customs management in many companies has tended to run in the background. It is now developing into a factor that influences costs, supply chain architecture and control in equal measure, due in part to disruptions such as changing tariff rates and geopolitical turmoil.
Güdemann describes this change clearly. When asked whether her company still handles the issue in a similar way to a few years ago, she answers briefly: “No, today it is a completely different situation.” For her, the reason lies in the changed economic relevance. “The share of customs duties in the overall cost base has become significantly larger,” she says. This also increases the pressure to gain a deeper understanding of one’s own supply chain. Companies need to know more precisely how components are classified, which materials they contain and what their origin is. “I have to know exactly what is in my components and where it comes from,” says Güdemann.
Bosch also now sees this as much more than a classic execution topic. “Export control in particular is currently gaining massive importance,” Schick says. In addition to preference calculations and customs duties, regulatory requirements are becoming more significant, for example when goods or components are subject to stricter inspection or approval rules. This increases the need for end-to-end data management, clear material master data and traceable movement information along the supply chain.
ZF Group's Koetz makes it clear how much pressure new customs situations are putting on companies with established processes. “What surprised us less was the customs topic itself than the lack of linkage with the ERP structures,” he says. As soon as customers and sales wanted to know what a tariff change specifically meant for individual products, this gap became visible. What were needed were robust answers on what a new rate “specifically triggers for a transmission, a steering system or a damper”. Koetz draws a clear conclusion from this: “Customs tariff issues must be integrated directly into the systems.” Customs thus becomes part of the operational control logic and is no longer just a specialist function on the side.
AI and new planning systems are shifting operational logic
In parallel with geopolitical and regulatory pressure, the operational control of supply chains is also changing. New cloud architectures, end-to-end planning systems and AI applications are intervening deeply in processes that have been organised in a largely stable way for decades.
In this context, Schick speaks of a fundamental change at Bosch. “This is the biggest paradigm shift in planning in 50 years,” he says. What he means is the transition from step-by-step, functionally separated planning to a simultaneous, more integrated model. Where planning used to take place in a chronological sequence, overall views are now increasingly being created that consider procurement, inventories, demand and transport in parallel. The aim is not only to improve efficiency, but above all to shorten reaction times.
Schick also makes it clear that such changes cannot simply be rolled out from a technical point of view. “You have to win people over to it, and unfortunately that takes time,” he says. Planning systems reach deeply into routines, responsibilities and role models. Transformation is therefore not only a matter of IT, but always also a question of leadership and acceptance.
For Daimler Truck's Güdemann it's about looking at AI from an application perspective. For her, the benefits do not arise automatically from a new tool, but from the ability to identify suitable use cases and develop them further. “You need a certain level of trust that such solutions really can help,” she says. She sees particular potential in administrative areas to make processes faster and more effective. At the same time, she makes it clear that this gives rise to new qualification requirements. Anyone who wants to work meaningfully with data, digital tools and AI needs different skills from those in traditionally structured logistics environments.
Koetz describes how strongly the impact of such technologies is already being felt in technical areas. “In the past it took us four weeks, today we manage it in three days,” he says with regard to simulation and design processes. Such acceleration effects demonstrate to him how deeply AI is intervening in value-creation processes. It not only saves time, but also changes expectations regarding development speed, decision-making logic and role profiles.
Transformation in job profiles and leadership
With the technological and structural changes, the demands placed on employees are also shifting. Logistics is becoming more data-intensive, more digital and more analytical. At the same time, the speed and complexity of decisions are increasing. This is also changing the question of which capabilities companies will need in the future.
Bosch's Schick explicitly describes this development as a leadership task. “Especially in times of crisis and transformation, this is clearly a leadership responsibility,” he says. Companies must develop employees in such a way that they can operate successfully in a new world of processes and systems. Not everyone will follow this path. All the more important, therefore, is to combine qualification, clarity and consistency.
Koetz from ZF Group also observes that awareness of this change within companies is already evolving. “The awareness that occupational fields are changing has now taken hold,” he says. For him this is an important step, because transformation only takes effect when it is understood not as an abstract management message but as a concrete change in one’s own working environment. “This transformation of occupational fields has already begun,” says Koetz.
And Daimler Truck's Güdemann emphasises above all the mindset that must accompany such changes. “We still do not know exactly what logistics will look like in 20 years,” she says. Precisely for this reason, it takes people who remain open to new paths and who can also cope with uncertainty. “We have to experiment much more,” says Güdemann. For companies, this means creating structures in which not only efficiency but also the ability to learn is given greater importance.
