Welcome to BMW Group Plant Munich.

The life cycle of a vehicle begins in the press shop. Every day, tens of thousands of steel and aluminium body components are produced here and take their final shape in several processing stages. Highly automated press lines ensure precision and efficiency by fully automatically drawing, bending and stamping the sheet metal. A BMW body consists of more than 400 individual parts, made from different material grades and sheet thicknesses.

As part of the transformation for the Neue Klasse, the press shop has undergone extensive modernisation. A state-of-the-art high-speed servo press line, together with standardised systems and tools across the global production network, enables particularly efficient and flexible production. The latest servo technology and automated material flows allow up to 30,000 components to be produced every day.

Production is complemented by digital quality inspections using high-resolution camera systems, which automatically compare components with reference data and identify deviations at an early stage. At the same time, a closed-loop material cycle ensures that steel and aluminium scrap is collected, sorted and returned to the production process – an important contribution to resource efficiency and sustainability.

In the body shop, the sheet metal parts produced in the press shop are joined together to form body shells ready for painting. The result is a highly safe body structure with maximum weight savings. A body shell weighs approximately 440 kilograms and is made entirely from zinc-coated sheet steel.

The processes in the body shop are almost fully automated. Industrial robots perform the complex production steps with maximum precision, applying several thousand spot welds to each vehicle with accuracy to within a tenth of a millimetre. With the introduction of the Neue Klasse, the body shop at Plant Munich has undergone extensive modernisation and now enables the flexible production of different body variants on a single line.

Joining technologies such as spot welding, brazing, screwing and adhesive bonding are used, along with the innovative laser welding process. At the same time, the number of joining processes has been significantly reduced to lower process complexity and further increase efficiency. Thanks to their sophisticated design and the use of high-strength materials, BMW bodies rank among the safest on the global automotive market.

Highly qualified employees continuously monitor the quality of the joints and ensure dimensional accuracy and surface quality. They are supported by modern, increasingly digitally connected inspection processes that enable end-to-end quality assurance.

Brilliant colours, perfect corrosion protection and a high-quality appearance: In the paint shop, the body shell is given its colour and shine. Particular emphasis is placed on resource-efficient processes, such as the use of water-based paints and state-of-the-art application technologies.

In a production area of approximately 13,500 square metres, up to 1,000 car bodies are painted each day. Innovative robots provide maximum freedom in painting processes, allowing the paint shop to respond flexibly to individual customer requests, such as special colours and matt paints.

As part of the transformation for the Neue Klasse, the paint shop has been systematically enhanced and digitalised. Digital and AI-assisted systems support key process steps and enable automated quality control directly within the production process. This is complemented by automated surface inspection and automated surface processing: even the smallest deviations are detected and rectified.

At the same time, innovative and energy-efficient technologies are used: exhaust-air purification processes, heat recovery systems and water-saving cycles help to significantly reduce energy and resource consumption. This enables the paint shop to combine the highest quality standards with sustainable, future-oriented production.

In assembly, the painted body is transformed into a finished vehicle – the heart of production at BMW Group Plant Munich. With the introduction of the Neue Klasse, the assembly area has been completely redesigned and is now one of the most modern and compact facilities in the BMW Group production network.

Production systematically follows the principles of the BMW iFACTORY: Vehicles, systems, components and tools are fully interconnected digitally. Digital live tracking provides seamless real-time traceability for every individual vehicle. During assembly, the vehicles transmit the status of up to 20,000 features directly to the production system. Camera systems and sensors along the line provide additional data that is evaluated automatically to ensure quality throughout the ongoing production process.

Automated inline quality checks and intelligent systems that independently report maintenance requirements and deviations ensure end-to-end quality assurance. At the same time, extensive modularisation and simplified components reduce complexity and significantly increase the efficiency of assembly processes. Ergonomic, height-adjustable workstations support employees and provide lasting improvements to working conditions.

Across several levels and using state-of-the-art technologies, this creates a new form of vehicle assembly optimally designed to meet the requirements of electric mobility. Until the transformation is complete, Plant Munich will continue to produce vehicles with different drive systems before switching entirely to the production of all-electric vehicles from 2027.

All seats for the models produced at Plant Munich are manufactured in the in-house seat manufacturing facility. There are several hundred seat variants, depending on customer requirements and country-specific configurations – ranging from the basic model and various optional equipment packages to fully customised seats. Customers can choose between different variants, including standard or sports seats, with or without lumbar support and with electrical or manual adjustment.

There is also a wide variety of upholstery options. Customers can choose from numerous colours and materials, including fabric and leather.

Polyol and isocyanate are used to produce the polyurethane foam parts for the seat padding and are mixed in a high-pressure process. Depending on the mixing ratio of the two components, the resulting foam is firmer or softer. This gives the different areas of each foam part the optimum degree of firmness. The finished seats are assigned sequential numbers and delivered to the assembly line just in sequence as a “car set” comprising two matching seats.

Logistics at BMW Group Plant Munich ensures that all materials are available at the right time, in the required quality and at the right place. Around 2.5 million parts are moved every day and precisely integrated into the production process.

With the introduction of the Neue Klasse, logistics has been fundamentally realigned and consistently optimised for efficiency, digitalisation and the specific requirements of an urban location. A key element is the higher share of direct deliveries to the assembly line: In future, around 70 per cent of parts will be delivered directly to the assembly workstations. This will reduce internal transport distances, save space and accelerate supply to the production lines.

This is made possible by a multi-storey building structure developed specially for the plant’s city location. Delivery is at ground level. Logistics conveyor systems then transport the parts to the respective levels, where Smart Transport Robots distribute them directly to the appropriate points of installation on the production line. This allows components to be made available in the exact order of production, even under the limited spatial conditions of the inner-city plant.

At the same time, the level of automation in logistics has been significantly increased. Automated supply systems, Smart Transport Robots and driverless transport systems handle a large proportion of the material flows. A new control centre known as the Logistics Control Room coordinates all processes, ensuring transparency and data-driven optimisation in real time.