BMW Group’s Plant Regensburg is accelerating toward the future of digital manufacturing with significant advancements in logistics automation, taking strides toward its goal of a fully digital “BMW iFACTORY.” Every 57 seconds, a new vehicle leaves the assembly line, customized to meet individual customer preferences. Up to 1,400 units of BMW X1 and X2 models, including combustion engines, plug-in hybrids, and fully electric variants, are shipped daily to customers worldwide.
To achieve this complex production process, BMW has deployed a fleet of nearly 50 automated tugger trains and over 140 Smart Transport Robots (STR) managed by its cloud-based Automated Transport Services (ATS) system. These driverless vehicles, developed alongside the Fraunhofer Institute, navigate autonomously using AI-based recognition modules. The STRs transport components and individual parts to specific locations on the assembly line “just in time” and “just in sequence,” ensuring seamless production and the timely delivery of sequenced parts for each custom vehicle.
Thomas Dietz, BMW’s process improvement and quality management lead for Physical Logistics, emphasized the importance of precise timing in logistical operations: “Even a brief system failure in the supply of sequenced parts would bring production to a halt. A lot of detailed work on both hardware and software was needed to reach the current status.”
The plant is enhancing its automated fleet, adding autonomous vehicles, including automated forklifts, to further refine intelligent, interconnected logistics. Additionally, an autonomous transport vehicle with a 55-ton payload capacity now supports operations in the Regensburg press shop, expanding BMW’s vision of a fully integrated, driverless logistics system.
BMW’s Regensburg plant, which has been in operation since 1986, also produces high-voltage batteries for its electric models on-site. The entire Regensburg and Wackersdorf complex supports over 9,250 employees, continuing BMW’s legacy of production excellence and technological leadership in the global automotive industry.
