Next Level Production

Electrically powered vehicles are a key ingredient in ensuring the mobility of the future. The need to scale the production of electric vehicles in parallel with ongoing manufacturing is creating new challenges for the automotive industry as a whole.

The BMW Group is responding to these challenges with its BMW iFACTORY, a comprehensive production concept. “The BMW iFACTORY is not designed to be a one-off showcase plant, but rather will be implemented in all our plants going forward – at our 100-year-old main plant in Munich, as well as at the future plant in Debrecen, Hungary”, explains Milan Nedeljković, member of the Board of Management responsible for production at BMW AG.

The BMW iFACTORY focuses on three core areas: LEAN and GREEN production and a DIGITAL factory. These elements will facilitate a successful process of transformation towards electromobility.

LEAN

As a driving force, LEAN refers to the company’s ambition to achieve efficient and highly flexible production that will make all future processes more integrable and variable.

By way of example, different drivetrains and vehicle models can be built on one and the same production line. At the Dingolfing plant, new BMW 7 Series models featuring combustion engines, plug-in hybrid systems and fully electric drivetrain systems will roll off the same production line, with the same applying to the BMW X1 and the BMW iX1 in Regensburg. The outcome: greater agility, lean processes and accordingly, future-oriented structures.

GREEN

Whether in Leipzig, Germany or Spartanburg in the USA, at each of its production sites, the BMW Group sees itself as an integral part of society.

In order to meet the associated responsibility, production with state-of-the-art technologies designed to conserve resources and enable circularity is important. Every BMW Group location worldwide already purchases only electricity from renewable sources and applies principles of the circular economy today.

Production in Hungary using fossil-free energy

The production concept will be fully implemented at the BMW Group plant in Debrecen, Hungary, where the all-electric NEUE KLASSE will be produced from 2025 onwards. “We will be implementing our strategic vision for production, the BMW iFACTORY, in ideal form in this future plant”, explains Nedeljković. In keeping with the new strategy, one of the key elements of the sustainability concept is to dispense with fossil fuels. A significant portion of the electricity required will be produced on the plant’s premises, with the remaining requirements covered by renewable energy sources, largely from the surrounding region.

DIGITAL

Digitalisation is another key component of the BMW iFACTORY. Data science and artificial intelligence are making production significantly faster, more precise and more transparent. The merging of the real and virtual world opens up a new dimension for factory planning. Once developed, digital innovations can be applied throughout the entire production network.

“For me, digitalisation is the key to state-of-the-art production, making it an important pillar of our BMW iFACTORY.”
Milan Nedeljković Board of Management member responsible for Production

Setting standards in virtualisation

The BMW iFACTORY concept is already setting standards in vehicle construction, for example as part of the “Lydia” plant expansion in Shenyang (China), which opened in 2022. The entire expansion project was planned from the beginning in a virtual environment where production processes were simulated. By merging the virtual and real worlds, the BMW Group was able to shorten the planning period and enable collaboration across different regions and time zones.

The BMW Group is also using virtual tools to plan the entire production process, down to the very smallest details, for its Debrecen plant. As Milan Nedeljković puts it: “We are at home in the digital world. And the digital world is at home in the BMW iFACTORY.” This is the BMW Group’s way of laying the foundation for “Next Level Production”.