The BMW Group Virtual Factory
The BMW Group is industrialising its Virtual Factory, with production planners continuously scaling applications in the digital twins of over 30 production sites to accelerate production planning worldwide. What once required several weeks of real-world modifications and testing can now be precisely simulated in the BMW Group’s Virtual Factory. To create optimal conditions for upcoming launches at the plants, the BMW Group will integrate more than 40 new or updated vehicles into its global production between now and 2027. This will first be done virtually to ensure immediate stability at the plants. Going forward, the BMW Group’s Virtual Factory is projected to reduce production planning costs by up to 30 percent. Virtual planning is a core element of the BMW Group iFACTORY and involves a wide range of tools. The intelligent linking of building data, equipment data, logistics data, vehicle data and even 3D simulation of manual work processes creates digital twins of all BMW Group plants worldwide. In an industrial 3D metaverse application based on NVIDIA Omniverse, simulations can be performed in real time, enabling virtual optimisation of layouts, robotics and logistics systems. The BMW Group’s Virtual Factory is continuously expanding to incorporate generative and agentic AI functionalities and assistants.
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