Munich. BMW Group Plant Munich is approaching the
biggest milestone in the transformation process: series production of
the BMW i3, the second model in the Neue Klasse range, gets underway
here in August. This marks the start of the rollout of the Neue Klasse
within the BMW Group’s global production network.

“We have been making rigorous preparations. With the BMW iFACTORY we
have devised a consistent, strategic framework for our production,”
explains Milan Nedeljković, Member of the Board of Management of BMW
AG, Production. “We have paved the way for the upcoming start-ups in
all our plants and have invested heavily in technologies,
digitalisation and AI.”

BMW Group Plant Munich has undergone extensive modernisation in
recent years. The result is a plant that now works even more
efficiently, flexibly and digitally, and is optimally positioned for
the requirements of electric mobility and the Neue Klasse.

But that’s not all: as of 2027, the Munich plant will exclusively
produce all‑electric vehicles and thereby achieve a further boost in
efficiency. This is assisted by proactive planning, close
collaboration with development teams and suppliers, as well as modern
production technology in the new structures. “We have considerably
reduced production costs over recent years. With the start of
production of the BMW i3, we will reduce overall production costs at
the Munich plant by a further 10 per cent, bringing them below the
level of the current vehicle generation,” says Peter Weber, Head of
BMW Group Plant Munich. In addition to optimised production processes
and targeted automation and digitalisation, the new vehicle
architecture of the Neue Klasse also ensures efficiency.

Plant Munich is investing around 650 million euros in its
transformation into a fully electric production site.

 

Highly efficient production at historic site

Plant Munich has been consistently reinventing itself for more than
100 years – from a location outside the city to today’s site
surrounded by it. The facility has undergone a fundamental process of
redevelopment for the Neue Klasse – with production of up to 1,000
vehicles a day continuing during this period. A new body shop and
state-of-the-art vehicle assembly including new logistics areas were
set up on an area spanning around a third of the plant’s footprint.
Extensive updates have also been made to existing technologies.

Plant manager Peter Weber highlights what the workforce has achieved:
“The people at the factory played an essential role in making this
transformation a success. With their high level of expertise,
enthusiasm and tremendous dedication, our employees have shown that
world-class industrial production is possible even under the toughest
conditions. The BMW i3 is just the beginning – several Neue Klasse
models will be manufactured in Munich in the future, including the BMW
i3 Touring.”

 

A vision for all technologies: the BMW iFACTORY

The BMW iFACTORY focuses on the areas of efficiency,
sustainability and digitalisation. Within this framework, the
company’s plants around the world are implementing site-specific
solutions and, in so doing, strengthening the company’s resilience as
well as its ability to deliver reliably at any time and worldwide.
This vision has now also been consistently implemented across
all technologies at BMW Group Plant Munich.

“We have rethought the entire value stream from supplier to finished
customer vehicle. We have looked at every single process in detail and
made optimisations. Now our plant is even more efficient, more
flexible and even more digitised than ever before. We are thereby
safeguarding the future viability of the plant,” adds Peter Weber.

 

In the press shop, steel and aluminium boards are
turned into tens of thousands of components on highly automated press
lines daily. Uniform press and tool standards across the global
production network result in efficiencies on many levels: installation
and integration of the systems are standardised, tools for the presses
can be swapped within the network, and employees can work at various
locations and help each other. An AI-assisted camera system supports
quality control before an underground transport system moves the parts
to the body shop. Output has increased significantly compared with
previous structures. Cuts of steel and aluminium are collected, sorted
and then used to manufacture new steel or aluminium coils.

 

Plant Munich has set up a new body shop for the Neue
Klasse featuring systems planned and realised using a virtual twin. A
total of 800 new industrial robots take care of the joining processes
here; decreasing the number of joining processes to five reduces
process complexity. With an automation rate of around 98 per cent,
robots perform the majority of standardised processes. Automated
surface inspection (ASI) assists with quality assurance.

 

In the paint shop at Plant Munich, digital and
AI-assisted systems control central quality processes. Automated
surface inspection (ASI) uses cameras and artificial intelligence to
detect even the most minor deviations on the surface and documents
them digitally. Automated surface processing (ASP) works on the
variations detected directly during the running process. To purify the
exhaust air, the paint shop uses the energy-efficient, electrically
powered eRTO process. This is complemented by heat and energy recovery
as well as water-saving cycles.

 

What once was the home of engine manufacturing at BMW Group Plant
Munich has become a new assembly
area for the Neue Klasse. The assembly area is set
up for end-to-end digital processes: vehicles, systems and tools are
interconnected and digital live tracking and automated inline quality
checks support employees in the assembly line process. During assembly
already, the BMW i3 digitally transmits the status of up to
20,000 features to the production system. Ergonomic workstations,
height-adjustable systems and simplified processes lighten the load
for employees, while targeted training supports new digital fields.

 

Aspart of the transformation, logistics at BMW Group
Plant Munich has focused squarely on efficiency and direct integration
of production. The logistics department at the Munich plant moves
around 2.5 million parts every day; in future around 70 per cent of
these parts will be delivered directly to the assembly workstations.
This will reduce internal transport distances, save space and
accelerate supply to the production lines. This is made possible by a
multi-storey building structure developed specially for the plant’s
city location. Delivery is at ground level and then conveyor
technology transports the parts to the right levels, where they are
distributed directly to the assembly workstations. This enables the
principle of direct delivery to be applied systematically even in a
multi-storey plant. At the same time, the level of automation in
logistics has been significantly increased. Automated supply systems,
smart transport robots and driverless transport systems will handle
around 60 per cent of supply tasks in the future. A digital logistics
control station manages all processes centrally, ensuring transparency
and data-driven optimisation.

 

Unique to Plant Munich is the in-house seat manufacturing
facility. It is a “plant inside a plant” and takes on a
central role for quality assurance and expert evaluation within the
production network. The seats for all versions of the models produced
in Munich are manufactured here and delivered to vehicle assembly
directly and “just in sequence”. The in‑house seat manufacturing
facility is regarded as the benchmark for quality assurance across the
BMW Group. Modern, largely automated processes ensure seamless quality
control. This is complemented by fully automated end-of-line checks,
including for safety-relevant components. The seat manufacturing
facility also systematically strengthens the BMW Group’s in-house
expertise. It serves as a competence centre and innovation hub, tests
new materials, technologies and manufacturing concepts, and supports
the evaluation of costs, quality and production processes – making an
impact far beyond the Munich location.

 

Global network, regional value creation: high-voltage batteries
and e-drive

With the new assembly plant for high-voltage batteries in
Irlbach‑Straßkirchen (Lower Bavaria, Germany) around 90 minutes away,
the BMW Group is significantly boosting value creation in the Bavaria
region. In keeping with the “local for local” approach,
Irlbach-Straßkirchen will deliver high-voltage Gen6 batteries to the
Munich plant as well as other German locations. Here, the batteries
will be installed in the BMW i3. Manufacture of the high-voltage
batteries combines a rigorous zero-defect approach with the latest
production technologies, which were developed at Bavarian pilot
plants. With seamless inline quality controls, digital twins and the
systematic use of artificial intelligence, the BMW Group is setting
new standards in battery production.

The Gen6 e-motor for the BMW i3 is produced at BMW Group Plant Steyr
in Austria – a location that has been manufacturing drivetrains for
over 40 years. With the first e-motor in the portfolio, the plant is
developing its role as a prime example of technology openness. All
core components of the highly integrated e-drive – from the rotor and
stator to the inverter and transmission – are produced on-site. New
production lines and state‑of‑the‑art clean room environments have
been set up for this. The aluminium foundry at BMW Group Plant
Landshut supplies the e-motor housing for Plant Steyr.