REGENSBURG, Germany—BMW AG’s assembly plant here has been named the “Factory of the Year” (the European equivalent of the Assembly Plant of the Year award) by the Kearney consulting firm and the German trade magazine Produktion. The state-of-the-art facility, which produces X1 and X2 sport utility vehicles, was cited for its flexibility and digital production prowess.
“The innovative strength and dynamism with which the Regensburg plant is implementing the transformation to iFactory together with the entire workforce is impressive,” says Daniel Stengel, a director at Kearney and project manager for the competition. “In particular, the flexibility both in the factory setup and on the part of the employees is exemplary….”
The 38-year-old assembly plant also received praise for its use of artificial intelligence and other digital tools to improve productivity and quality.
According to Stengel, the logistics behind this process are extremely complex. The components and individual parts required for production always need to be in the right place at the right time, delivered just in time and just in sequence.
At BMW Regensburg, this logistical task is primarily handled by driverless, automated or autonomous transport systems that are intelligently connected through a cloud-based traffic control system known as BMW Automated Transport Services (ATS). In some cases, loading and unloading of transport vehicles is also fully automated.
Depending on the transport task, various types of driverless vehicles are used. For example, automated tugger trains transport small parts from the warehouse to the assembly line, while larger components weighing up to 1 ton are handled by smart transport robots.
These flat transport machines operate autonomously using dedicated AI modules. Relying on sensors and software, the devices recognize their surroundings, allowing them to navigate around obstacles independently when oncoming traffic permits.
The transport devices are managed through the central cloud-based BMW traffic control system. When it is time to replenish supplies, an employee on the assembly line rotates the change frame with the empty part containers and uses it to operate a retrieval rocker.
The control system then receives a signal indicating that new parts need to be delivered. It provides optimal route guidance, based on delivery priorities, and ensures transport devices are safely parked and their batteries sufficiently charged.
The Regensburg plant currently enables intelligent connection between nearly 50 automated tugger trains and more than 140 Smart Transport Robots through the control system. The fleet compromises both automated and autonomous devices from different manufacturers, handling approximately 10,000 part deliveries each workday.
