BMW has radically upgraded its core Munich plant in a €650 million transformation for the Neue Klasse age, bringing in thousands of robots, completely transforming most of its production techniques, and powering it with an AI brain.
A huge chunk of the money has been spent constructing a new three-storey assembly building for the i3, which sits at the heart of the 104-year-old site, and gutting and refitting the body, paint, and press shops with new tech that is said to reduce production complexity.
But, the brand says the most important addition is the new AI brain, something incoming BMW CEO Milan Nedeljković calls “unique in our industry” and has been created to streamline operations.
The system controls everything from the production lines and quality control to logistics; the latter includes a fleet of around 200 electric roaming robots that transport stock from lorries to lines – BMW notes these are the “backbone” of the new factory, with the “last mile” of all logistical operations carried out by these machines. By 2027, they will complete 17,000 operations a day.
Notably, the brain can also run thousands of future processes in real time via digital twins in an effort to improve efficiency.
Other car makers have also tested such a concept, but not to a scale such as this. For example, Hyundai has its Innovation Centre concept in Singapore which uses a similar AI brain and robotic dogs to build and deliver cars just six hours after an order is placed. However, production is limited to just a few dozen a day, whereas BMW’s Munich site will build up to 1000 i3 saloons in the same period when production begins in August.
Add your comment