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BMW iFACTORY: TOMORROW’S PRODUCTION.

The BMW Group sets the bar in terms of the future of production. As customer demand for electric vehicles increases, we deliver, with cars made using digitalisation to save resources in production and keep us competitive.

The BMW iFACTORY is our visionary strategy for the future of car production. We are implementing it at every one of our plants worldwide – from our new facility in Debrecen, Hungary, to our 100-year-old home plant in Munich. Coupled with our highly qualified team and cutting-edge technologies, the BMW iFACTORY is a powerful response to the challenges of the transition to electric mobility.

iFACTORY / PRODUCTION – EFFICIENCY THROUGH DIGITALISATION IN PRODUCTION.

Our goal is for production to be efficient, high-precision and flexible. To help us achieve that, we use tools like data science and artificial intelligence. In addition, by melding the real and the virtual, we are opening up new dimensions in production planning and employee training.

How can a car be a smart and communicative actor in production? With the BMW iFACTORY and artificial intelligence (AI). At the BMW Group, we use our own AI innovations not just for faster, more reliable, more efficient production but also to turn cars on the production line into aids for communication. They provide a constant flow of information about things like their build status or detect manufacturing errors and notify the team. Meanwhile, AI takes visual and acoustic quality assurance to a completely new level in the BMW iFACTORY.

Artificial intelligence

At the BMW Group, production logistics is making increasing use of innovations from the fields of digitalisation and Industry 4.0. A variety of applications are under the spotlight, including logistics robots, autonomous in-plant transport systems and digitalisation projects for an end-to-end connected supply chain.

Autonomous logistics

Virtual reality (VR) is familiar to many of us from the gaming world. But at the BMW Group, it’s yet another tool we use to simulate highly complex production systems – realistically and in real-time. Using the virtual planning environment Omniverse, our planners design a wide variety of production processes collaboratively, across the globe and without compatibility issues. Engineered jointly by the BMW Group and the US chip and processor maker NVIDIA, the Omniverse platform takes virtual planning to the next level.

Virtual planning

The BMW Group first started using additive manufacturing – or 3D printing – in prototype production in 1990. It has been enhancing the technology ever since, and in the future, new additive manufacturing methods will mean even shorter production times. Toolless manufacturing offers major potential for more flexible and economical production but also for customising components. 

Additive manufacturing

BMW PRODUCTION – THE NUMBERS.

Here are the numbers that matter: headcount in production, vehicles per year and production facilities worldwide – a testimony to our innovativeness and performance at the BMW Group.

36 MIO
PARTS FOR OUR PLANTS PER DAY
2.661.922
VEHICLES PRODUCED IN 2023
> 30
PRODUCTION PLANTS WORLDWIDE

PRODUCTION OF THE NEUE KLASSE.

The Neue Klasse heralds a new era of fully electric driving. For the transition to electromobility to succeed, the production of powerful high-voltage batteries is crucial. To make sure we are fully equipped for such a profound transformation, we are investing heavily in our production facilities and Gen6 high-voltage batteries. All in keeping with the principle of “local for local”.

Production Neue Klasse

EXPERTISE IN EVERY CELL.

Cell intelligence

Since October 2023, our Cell Manufacturing Competence Center (CMCC) in Parsdorf, just outside Munich, has been helping create the future: at 95 mm high, 46 mm across and cylindrical in shape, our prototype batteries are just like the ones that will make their debut in the Neue Klasse models in 2025. Our CMCC represents a groundbreaking step forwards and uniquely brings together our entire product and process expertise. When it comes to ramping up electromobility, the BMW Group has the power to deliver and manifest its leadership in battery cell technology.

Production/iFactory

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE FUTURE OF PRODUCTION.

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Production/iFactory

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE FUTURE OF PRODUCTION.

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MORE ON PRODUCTION.

RESOURCE CONSERVATION AND RENEWABLE ENERGIES.

Given our commitment to achieving net zero by 2050, we have adopted an even stronger focus on efficiency and control in our use of resources. Besides CO2 emissions, key measures of our success in this area include energy and drinking water consumption, the use of solvents in production, and waste. As we work to become less dependent on fossil fuels, we are examining all the options for switching our plants from gas to alternatives, such as electricity, biogas, hydroelectricity and geothermal energy.

Sustainability
Circular economy

CIRCULAR ECONOMY.

At the BMW Group, we think in terms of circularity. We’re driven by the responsible use of resources and the transition to a circular economy. That’s why we return selected scrap from production to the supplier so that materials can be recovered and returned to a new production process.

People

PEOPLE.

At the BMW Group, we’re about moving not just cars but people as well. And it’s all made possible by our production network, where intelligent expertise meets close collaboration and passion, with highly motivated employees from different specialist areas, from production planning to assembly, all working together to create innovative solutions.

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