BMW Promotes High-Quality Development of Automobile Industry with iFACTORY Strategy

• BMW iFACTORY strategy set a benchmark for intelligent manufacturing
• BMW’s quality management system across whole value chain of product and service
• Customer-centric quality management to achieve excellence both in product and service

(Beijing) At the 20th CPC National Congress, the state made an important deployment of high-quality development: thoroughly implementing the strategy of great power of quality and manufacturing power, constantly pursuing high-quality development, China manufacturing should anchor the goal of high-end, intelligent upgrading and green transformation. Through the implementation of the future-oriented iFACTORY strategy, BMW Group comprehensively promotes the high-quality development of Shenyang Production Base, contributing to build an automotive powerhouse, as well as making a leading role of the manufacturing industry.

Dr. Franz Decker, President and CEO of BMW Brilliance Automotive Ltd. said: “As a customer-centric company, we are committed to producing high-quality products to meet the needs of Chinese consumers. High-quality production system is the foundation for high-quality products. For BMW Brilliance, high-quality development has been our strategic focus since our founding in 2003. We have built a full-fledged production base in Shenyang, which is considered role models for automotive production in China, continuing to lead the industrial upgrading of China's automobile industry."

Mr. Robert Kuessel, Senior Vice President of Technology & Manufacturing, BMW Brilliance Automotive Ltd. said: “BMW iFACTORY strategy is our masterplan for the automotive production of tomorrow. In BMW iFACTORY, we strive for ‘zero-defect’ mindset of our associates and precisely targeted quality work – both of which make increasing use of real-time data from our vehicles and direct customer feedback. To achieve highest customer satisfaction, we deliver our products in highest quality with the joint efforts from E-M-T and our partners."

BMW iFACTORY strategy: setting a benchmark for intelligent manufacturing

To meet the challenges of e-mobility transformation, BMW developed the BMW iFACTORY production strategy, which represents the strategic vision of BMW’s worldwide production network, with a global, integrated approach, providing a global solution for the transformation of production networks towards e-mobility. The BMW iFACTORY strategy focuses on Lean, Green and Digital, which is highly consistent with China's high-quality development, green development and innovation driven industrial upgrading strategy. BMW is implementing the concept at all plants in the world, and Plant Lydia opened in June this year is the newest BMW iFACTORY. The All New BMW i3, BMW's first all-electric mid-size sports sedan, has already started production in Plant Lydia.

Lean is the driving force that significantly improves BMW’s production efficiency, flexibility and accuracy. One good example of ‘Lean’ is the Central Measurement Process (CMP), a unique centralised location for quality analysis located at Plant Lydia, which is the first science lab to bring together quality data, state-of-the-art equipment and quality control experts from different technologies for in-depth testing and analysis and fast problem-solving. Here, the high-tech Geometric Optical Measurement system (GOM) combines body-in-white testing and vehicle measurement for the first time, securing the highest-quality products for customers.

As the first BMW plant fully planned and simulated in the virtual world from the outset, Plant Lydia has integrated all aspects of ‘Digital’ in the iFACTORY strategy and become the benchmark of intelligent manufacturing. In the Body Shop, Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) platforms connect every product, process and person through transparent, always available and integrated data for high-quality and efficient digital production. At Plant Lydia, the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), data analytics and algorithms has shifted decision-making from ‘experience-driven’ to ‘data-driven’. In the plant’s Paint Shop, an AI computer vision system photographs and analyses the painted surface of every car, taking 100,000 photos in 100 seconds. Through machine learning, the system’s intelligent computer vision can identify and flag tiny defects, thereby ensuring each car produced has a flawless painted surface. A powerful network environment and data processing capabilities are essential to establish a ‘data-driven’ plant. The entire plant is covered with a gigabit 5G network to meet the bandwidth requirements for technologies such as augmented reality (AR) and real-time video transmission.

BMW’s quality management system across the whole value chain of product and service

A high-quality production system is the foundation of high-quality products. At BMW, we ensure end-to-end premium quality with a sharp focus on customers’ expectations for the quality management system throughout the entire value chain.

In the light of BMW’s strict quality control during R&D, there are more than 70 test benches in R&D Shenyang, homologation before SOP, fulfilling more than 100 types approval test covering emissions, safety and NEV testing. Rigorous tests system also been set up at the R&D center to ensure product quality and safety through strict standard-compliant tests and inspections, including 128 mechanical tests and 994 software function tests, which covers all levels from battery cells to the complete vehicle.

BMW Shenyang Production Base has developed the unique strength of applying the EMT concept under one roof for production, which means all are under one organisation and adhering to the same standard, allowing faster decision-making and problem-solving. Once a possible quality risk is identified during production, an independent total vehicle quality management team will execute a quick, effective and extensive preventive measures within EMT-organization, at the same time to evaluate the range based on the risk assessment before fully assessing the situation, to ensure that non-conforming parts or vehicle are not getting to production or dealers. Afterall, ‘Block Management’ is carried out for suppliers and the production site. As soon as the impact is minimised, the blocks can be released in a very short period of time. Through such preventive measures, the quality management and control system in the production process has been continuously optimized, and possible quality risks have been greatly reduced.

Customer-centric quality management: achieving excellence both in product and service

BMW use advanced technologies to enables its plants, to release people from the most repetitive and physical jobs and frees them up to do what humans do best – analysis, creativity and problem solving that all support high-quality production. BMW attaches great importance to fostering employees’ quality mindset. Everyone shoulders the primary responsibility for quality, while every employee and partner are responsible for high-quality products.

Customer-centric quality management is BMW's overall high-quality development strategy. Through continuous collection, regular sorting, analysis and improvement of internal and external after-sales quality related information and customer feedback, BMW has formed a unique closed-loop feedback mechanism of R&D, manufacturing, maintenance and improved design, which effectively promotes the improvement of product and after-sales service quality.

Having put down roots in China for nearly 20 years, BMW has always been committed to creating value for consumers, the local society and the industry, fulfilling its commitment of ‘in China, for China’. In the future, BMW will continue to strive for excellence in customer satisfaction in both product and service through the quality management system across the entire value chain, digital improvement and lean production, actively respond to the state's appeal for high-quality development.