Our top priorities are reliable processes and high quality in production, and digital technologies can help us with that. In the long term, these developments will modernize our work environment at the plants even further. Digitalization gives us new leeway and greater efficiency in some processes, and this provides a sustainable benefit to our workforce. In the future, people in production will be creators of their work environment to an even greater extent than they are today. Plus, they benefit from the declining share of physically strenuous tasks.

— Oliver Zipse, Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, responsible for production

When it comes to digitalization, the BMW Group focuses on six key areas in production:

Context-sensitive assistance systems. Intelligent tools can directly support staff in carrying out their tasks and simplify complex processes as well. In a pilot project, the BMW Group’s Munich and Leipzig plants tested smart watches that alert workers when a car with special requirements is approaching. The display lights up and the vibration alarm is triggered as a reminder to workers that the next process step requires, for instance, a different number of screws to be fitted.

Innovative robot systems. As a way to reduce the strain on workers, physically demanding and non-ergonomic tasks can now be carried out by innovative robot systems. Lightweight robots can work side by side with people without any safety fence; their application ensures the same high level of quality throughout, especially for repetitive and tedious tasks.

As early as 2013, the BMW Group started to use lightweight robots for a variety of tasks, such as fixing the sound insulation to the inside of the doors under precise and steady high pressure or applying adhesive to e.g. windscreens. Lightweight robots have been integrated into series production at the plants in Spartanburg, Regensburg, Dingolfing and Leipzig.

Simulation and factory digitalization. The use of digital data in particular offers great potential for raising efficiency in processes. The digital recording of a factory in 3D entails significant advantages compared to the two-dimensional, manual standard approach. One example: It only took one weekend to measure the Rolls-Royce plant in Goodwood, UK, and to record it down to an accuracy of two millimeters with a special 3D scanner and high-resolution digital cameras. So as a first, the site now has a three-dimensional likeness of its production facility for planning purposes; the need for a laborious CAD reconstruction of actual structures and manual recording on-site is eliminated. Contrary to the traditional two-dimensional plans, any spatial change can now be intuitively simulated and assessed. The digitalization provides a precise and comprehensive, up-to-date database for quick and flexible adaptations in production.

Planning and control systems. Automated data analyses lead to major progress in improving quality and efficiency. Especially in the parts provision process of the plants and the component production process, networked data can provide transparency in recording the flow of goods and even give specific information about the quality of parts. At the BMW Group Plants Dingolfing and Landshut, for instance, data matrix codes identify and record the entire production process of carbon parts for the new BMW 7 Series. In addition, the square, camera-readable bar code also comprises information about the processing chain.

Smart logistics. On a larger scale, smart data technologies provide real-time information on the entire supply chain. In case of problems on the transit route, the respective parts supply unit respond immediately. These ‘radar’ functionalities increase the transparency in the BMW Group’s international supply network and optimize supply chains.

Advanced analytics. Automated data analyses improve process safety at the BMW Group’s plants. It is most of all the sum of many small measures that helps plants to optimize processes. For example, when standard process curves are analyzed, the data of an individual screw bonding process can be automatically structured and assessed. Deviations from the standards are immediately remedied before process disturbances occur. With the great number of application scenarios at the BMW Group production sites, efficiency and quality can be increased substantially.

Digitalization offers a great potential when it comes to taking our production systems to the next level. However, not everything that is technically feasible also makes sense. The point is to consider the added benefit to the company – and this can best be done by our workers who actively and continuously shape our production.

—Christian Dunckern, Head of Technical Planning at the BMW Group

Industry 4.0: Intelligent energy data management for sustainable production. In November 2014, BMW described its introduction of an intelligent energy management data system (iEMDS) at its production sites as another example of Industry 4.0 technology. The system is based on intelligent electricity meters which constantly measure the energy consumption of production facilities and robots and align them with a central big data network of the company.

With these smart meters, deviations leading to excess consumption can be identified early on. Moreover, the data helps to prevent imminent disruptions or even breakdowns of individual production facilities or robots, thus ensuring the required premium quality of the vehicle production.

The intelligent energy management data system is part of the BMW Group’s production concept on Industry 4.0; its development was supported by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

The BMW Group applies iEDMS at the sites in Spartanburg (South Carolina, USA), Leipzig, Regensburg, Munich and Landshut; plans for a rollout to further plants in the BMW Group’s global production network with a total of 30 sites in 14 countries are under way. The BMW Group aims at achieving a reduction in specific energy consumption per vehicle produced of at least 45% from the 2006 level by 2020. Until 2013, the company was able to decrease consumption by 31%. Global energy savings in production due to iEDMS are supposed to reach 7% annually.

Intelligent energy data management is an integral part of the BMW Group’s sustainability strategy; it makes a significant contribution to the environmentally-friendly production of vehicles.

The iEDMS data is recorded and analyzed at the BMW Group’s Central IT in Munich where the big data network is hosted. The largest share of data supplied by production is vehicle-related information such as programming and diagnosis results from the up to 80 control units. On top of that, there is the production-related data, such as information on when and where which vehicle was completed and how long it took.

Industry 4.0 at the BMW Group. Some of the approaches currently under wider discussion as part of ‘Industry 4.0’ have previously been introduced at the BMW Group or are in their rollout stage. For the BMW Group, Industry 4.0 does not mean production without people, and also not necessarily increasing automation. In this context, the main issue for the company is the reasonable application of new technologies so as to provide ideal support to the workers in production and production planning.

Besides the intelligent data management, the approach also includes sophisticated human-robot systems that can significantly improve ergonomically unfavorable work procedures. As the digital and the physical worlds grow closer together, new opportunities arise that allow people to cooperate more efficiently in the BMW Group’s global production network. Mobile assistance systems will offer improved support to production workers in the future. In all these efforts, the focus is not on the technical feasibility, but on the specific benefit in production technologies that actually reaches the end customer.