Surgere, the provider of digitized visibility and control in the automotive supply chain, has announced a large-scale deployment of its shared platform that represents an unprecedented unification of automakers and the growing list of their suppliers.

The automotive supply chain data ecosystem has being widely deployed and has moved to an Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG) committee to form ongoing industry standards on ecosystem subsets such as Returnable Container Data Mapping. Founding members of the Automotive Data Ecosystem Design Group and AIAG Committee include Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, General Motors, Honda North America, Nissan North America, Toyota North America, Adient, Denso North America, MAHLE North America and Yanfeng Automotive Interiors.

Surgere’s platform enables original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and their suppliers to operate in a single supply chain data ecosystem, sharing data and analytics to more efficiently move, track and manage container and part inventory between companies. “It’s estimated that the automotive industry annually loses more than $2 billion in the supply chain through container, part, and finished vehicle inventory loss and logistics inefficiencies, through a notorious lack of visibility and inherent control,” said William Wappler, Surgere CEO and the brainchild of the ecosystem.

The Surgere digital environment directly tackles the inherent loss and inefficiency in the automotive supply chain and is predicted to create seismic improvements in profitability for both OEMs and their suppliers through shared use of highly accurate technology, dynamic data analytics, and massive collaboration.

“This is a historic event in the automotive industry. Most automotive companies struggle to reduce supply chain costs year over year,” Wappler said. “We conservatively predict the participants in our digitized ecosystem can achieve double-digit cost savings through highly accurate visibility into the supply chain and through the collaborative power of shared information and analysis across OEMs and their supply base,” he said.

Surgere got its name from the Latin word “surgere,” which means “to rise.” Wappler conceived the platform after a scene in the movie Twister in which airborne sensors were used in the vortex of a tornado to send back data on its physical properties in order to warn the community of impending danger. “That’s very much what Surgere does, so to speak,” he said, noting that Surgere’s proprietary software platform leverages highly accurate sensor technologies, in conjunction with advanced data analytics, to indicate not only where inventory resides, but also the critical attributes about that inventory at any given moment, in real time.

“Perhaps the greatest aspect of this incredible coming together is the intent of the Automotive Data Ecosystem Design Group to make the massive collaboration an open community,” said Wappler. “All technology providers are welcome to participate. All other OEMs and suppliers are welcome to join.”