About Continental
Continental develops pioneering technologies and services for sustainable and connected mobility of people and their goods. Founded in 1871, the technology company offers safe, efficient, intelligent, and affordable solutions for vehicles, machines, traffic, and transportation. In 2023, Continental generated sales of €41.4 billion and currently employs around 200,000 people in 56 countries and markets.
Continental is one of the world’s largest tire manufacturers. Tire solutions from the Tires group sector make mobility safer, smarter, and more sustainable. Its premium portfolio encompasses car, truck, bus, two-wheel, and specialty tires as well as smart solutions and services for fleets and tire retailers. Their complex global supply chain across many manufacturing plants worldwide depends on the seamless movement of raw materials and components through multiple transportation modes and regions — with ocean freight playing a particularly crucial role in their global logistics network.
The Problem: Disrupted, delayed, and not trackable
When COVID-19 disrupted logistics worldwide, Continental faced the critical visibility challenge of moving thousands of containers with very little insight into their current location or status. “Before Corona, everything was running well,” explains Tomas Zabojnik, Inbound Supply Chain Manager at Continental. “But after COVID, everything just blew out. We didn’t know exactly where our containers were.”
The company’s manufacturing plants relied on timely shipment arrivals to maintain production schedules, and without accurate tracking capabilities, they struggled to proactively manage potential disruptions. To prevent costly production stoppages, Continental needed a solution that could provide comprehensive visibility and automate its manual tracking processes.
But after COVID, everything just blew out. We didn’t know exactly where our containers were.
Tomas Zabojnik
Inbound Supply Chain Manager
The Solution: A data-driven solution for real-time visibility
After an extensive evaluation of available solutions, Continental selected project44 based on several key differentiators.
- Convincing ETAs: Continental found that project44 offered outstanding solutions, especially in terms of accuracy and timeliness, enabling proactive planning based on more reliable arrival predictions.
- Seamless data integration: Direct integration with Continental’s existing SAP system provided automatic updates with the latest shipment data to planning transactions. This eliminated the need for manual entry and updates, reducing operating overhead and ensuring all stakeholders had access to real-time information, the new single source of truth for shipment status and location.
- Disruption management: Exception and incident monitoring capabilities transformed how Continental responded to supply chain disruptions. Proactive notifications surfaced potential issues before they impact operations, enabling preemptive action during times of disruption. This capability has proven particularly valuable during major disruptions like the Red Sea crisis. The system helps us quickly discover which containers and raw materials might be impacted,” says Zabojnik.
The Result: Improved supply chain management, better service, and lower costs
01
82% visibility achieved
Since starting from very limited visibility before implementation, Continental now tracks between 70-80% of their ocean shipments, reaching a peak of 82% visibility in January 2024. This improvement offers a comprehensive view of container shipments.
02
Prevented production stoppages due to delayed shipments
Enhanced visibility has directly contributed to Continental’s operational resilience, “project44 paved the way towards more visibility and transparency — by having the data and was therefore able to improve its supply chain management” notes Zabojnik.
03
Enhanced carrier management
The improved visibility can help Continental to optimize carrier relationships and make data-driven decisions about transportation partners. Teams are now able to analyze carrier performance across specific lanes, using concrete data which results in improved service and more control over transportation costs.
04
Streamlined operations
At the operational level, the automation enabled by project44’s SAP integration has improved the effectiveness of Continental’s day-to-day workflows. Local buyers who previously spent hours manually tracking shipments and updating systems now have immediate access to critical shipment information through their familiar SAP interface. Reducing the operational burden on Continental’s teams has allowed them to focus on other tasks instead of routine tracking and updates.
05
Enhanced decision-making velocity: Utilized predictive, multimodal ETAs and project44 insights to shift from reactive to proactive during disruptions including port labor strikes, natural disasters, and geopolitical conflicts that impacted the global supply chain.
The next phase in our plan is to track the entire transport way of our shipments and to build a more resilient and efficient supply chain system.
Tomas Zabojnik
Inbound Supply Chain Manager
Building a digital future
Continental’s success with ocean visibility provided by project44 has laid the groundwork for their future goal — true end-to-end supply chain visibility across all transportation modes.
“The next phase in our plan is to track the entire transport way of our shipments and to build a more resilient and efficient supply chain system”, says Zabojnik.
The Movement platform will enable Continental to extend their current ocean freight visibility success to include road and rail transport, while also gaining access to enhanced capabilities like detailed lane performance analysis and advanced emissions reporting.
