BMW Brilliance Automotive (BBA), a Chinese automotive manufacturer, has automated its BMW-producing factory in China by deploying autonomous mobile robots (AMRs).
According to BBA, this makes it the world’s leading BMW-producing facility to use goods-to-person AMRs.
The plant produces vehicles from the BMW 5-series, and has implemented goods-to-person automation in order to streamline production and increase efficiency at the site.
What’s more, the site will see the introduction of new software to refine warehouse management systems by connecting upstream and downstream processes.
Some hardware upgrades will include the customisation of the new AMRs to meet the specific requirements of BMW.
Ralf Schieder, vice president of BBA Strategy and Logistics, said: “This project is an important step in BMW Brilliance’s move towards smart manufacturing and digital factories, and a key milestone in our logistics transformation! I like to call it ‘collaborative innovation.’
“[This] efficient and flexible smart logistics solution…not only realised the integration and coherence of the warehouse management system, but also provided us with more flexible and faster solutions for future upgrades and renovations, setting a model of a people-oriented sustainable green factory for the industry.”
The plant also produces sustainable advanced production technology, environmentally friendly plant design and various environmental protection and energy-saving measures.
Project lead time from start to finish was reportedly two months, with Geek+ supplying the AMRs.
The two companies plan to work together to develop both software and hardware to power the digital intelligence upgrade.
