BMW Group said on the 6th that it has completed a large-scale modernization of its Munich plant in Germany and will begin mass production in August of the second model in the Neue Klasse lineup, the all-electric sedan "the new BMW i3." Neue Klasse is BMW Group's next-generation electrified platform.
BMW Group has carried out a large-scale modernization of the Munich plant, its core production base, for about four years. It built a new body shop, assembly plant, and logistics space on an area equal to one-third of the plant site. It also introduced new production and logistics structures to create an efficient and digitalized operating environment.
Even looking at the new body shop alone, the automation rate reaches 98%. Robots perform most of the processes, and automated surface inspection assists with quality assurance. In the painting process, digital and artificial intelligence (AI)-supported systems control central quality processes. The logistics department transports about 2.5 million parts every day and plans to deliver about 70% of these parts directly to assembly workstations in the future to shorten internal transport distances.
Milan Nedeljkovic, BMW Group board member in charge of production, said, "Based on our unique production strategy, the 'iFactory,' we have devised a consistent strategic framework to apply across production." BMW Group is investing about €650 million (about 1.13 trillion won) to completely convert the Munich plant into a dedicated all-electric vehicle production facility by 2027.
The Munich plant is currently producing pre-series vehicles of the new BMW i3. This is the final stage to check and verify the entire production system under the same conditions as actual mass production, a process to secure quality and process stability for full-scale mass production going forward.
Over the coming months, BMW Group plans to further refine its production processes and establish a stable mass-production system based on the improvements and operating data derived from this process.