Members of a community can understand each other with half a word. To avoid feeling lost at the fifth stand of the NEXT LEVEL GALLERY, called SCC/AHEAD, let’s quickly look behind the words and discover the exhibition already as an insider Audi employee.

With almost 30 years of experience in powertrain and vehicle manufacturing, Audi Hungaria is increasingly focusing on developing services that are based on the competences of its employees and are provided for the entire Volkswagen Group. The competence-based services of Audi Hungaria Shared Competence Center (SCC) are mainly related to technical development, finance, IT, procurement and logistics. By integrating them into the value chain of customers, they make processes more uniform and efficient, thus increasing synergies within the Group. In this constantly expanding area, more than 800 employees now provide competence-based services from Győr to the world, making a significant contribution to the economic success of the Volkswagen Group and Audi Hungaria. To further strengthen its premium services to customers, the Győr-based company has embarked on a structured development of its high-level competences.

János Schäffer and Andreas Kattendick, jointly serving as Managing Directors of the new company founded in spring 2023, give us an insight into the present and future of AUDI HUNGARIA AHEAD Kft. at the joint stand.

Andreas Kattendick: We set up our own subsidiary to bring together the procurement, finance and IT services we provide to the Volkswagen Group. Some of the activities not directly related to production, which until now have been concentrated in the Shared Competence Center’s virtual division, mainly in the areas of technical development, finance, IT, procurement and logistics, continue to embody our company’s vision, innovation and development under the aegis of the new wholly owned subsidiary.

Was the transformation of the automotive industry an incentive for the decision?

Yes, I believe that the transformation process in the automotive industry requires our business model to be adaptable in order to ensure the continued success and future viability of our company in a changed environment. Audi Hungaria has always relied on the high level of expertise of its employees, which is one of the reasons why the German company chose Győr as its headquarters in 1993, when from among nearly 150 potential European sites, it decided in favor of the Hungarian city with a long industrial legacy. Beyond the initial manufacturing activities, the colleagues here quickly built up a high level of services, and AHEAD is the next step in this continuous competence expansion and development.

What are the prospects for the new subsidiary?

Our SCC business, which is the lifeblood of AHEAD, has seen orders and staff grow by 15% in the past year, a significant increase that points to the potential for growth for which we have created the framework conditions. Currently, our procurement team is responsible for strategic procurement, value engineering, supplier management as well as supplier scouting and qualification. Our IT experts in Győr provide SAP, software development and DevOps services for nearly 200 Group companies, while our finance specialists review and process invoices from nearly 10,000 suppliers and support AUDI AG’s liquidity management with active receivables management.

We plan to continue to significantly increase our service volume over the next five years, and by further expanding our knowledge-based competences, we have excellent opportunities to secure new orders from the Volkswagen Group. We want to continue our 15-year success story of providing international services to our corporate customers in finance, IT and procurement, and build a stronger brand identity.

What can visitors find out about at the SCC/AHEAD stand of the NEXT LEVEL GALLERY?

We have brought our full portfolio of services to the stand in a symbolic form. We show the public how international we are, offering our services to hundreds of customers from Mexico to China, so we could not have a better motto: from Győr to the world.