BMW Group Continues to Invest and Scale-up in China
BMW Brilliance Opens its Plant Dadong Extension

• The All New BMW X5 is the first model produced in the upgraded plant.
• The upgraded Plant Dadong follows BMW iFACTORY principles of “Lean, Green and Digital”.
• “At Home in China”, BMW Group continues to invest in China. In the past 12 years, BBA has invested around RMB 83 billion in Shenyang.
• Expansion and upgrade of the BMW Shenyang Production Base continues with digitalization and sustainability as the main drivers. Third vehicle plant is in the final phase of construction.

Shenyang. BMW Brilliance Automotive Ltd. (BBA) officially opened its Plant Dadong Extension in Shenyang. The All New BMW X5, with China exclusive features, is the first model produced in the new extension. The more advanced production system provides a solid basis for the innovative strength and high quality of the X5, and also lays the foundation for more products to be introduced in the future. The project is a concrete demonstration of BMW Group’s “At Home in China” commitment, expressed through continuous investment and a determination to move forward together with China. The extensively upgraded Plant Dadong follows the BMW iFACTORY principles of “Lean, Green and Digital”, and is therefore a model for industrial upgrade within China’s automotive industry.

“Plant Dadong proves the strength of our team”, said Dr. Milan Nedeljković, BMW AG Board Member for Production: “Despite the challenges of the last three years, this complex construction project was completed fully on schedule. Our Chinese production sites are highly significant for the BMW Group. Last year almost one in every three BMW cars delivered around the world was manufactured in Shenyang.”

Dr. Franz Decker, President & CEO of BMW Brilliance: “In China, we are determined to lead from the front: Lean, Green and Digital! Building on over 100 years of BMW manufacturing experience, we have established one of China’s most advanced and intelligent production bases here in Shenyang. Driven by new technology and our innovation mindset, we strive to create even greater value for our customers. With the new extension, Plant Dadong again sets the benchmark for efficient, sustainable, digitalized and agile production.”

Plant Dadong is where the localisation of BMW vehicles in China first began. Today it’s advanced production technologies means it’s a pioneer of “Industry 4.0” car production and a perfect match to BMW iFACTORY – the masterplan for the future of production. With the upgrade now complete, it offers fully flexible production of combustion-powered, plug-in hybrid and all-electric vehicles. This enhanced flexibility allows it to respond quickly to future market trends and the changing wishes of customers. In extending the plant, further focal points were digitalization and sustainability, with innovative production technologies further reducing the plant’s environmental impact.

BMW underlines long-term commitment to “At Home in China”

Despite many complex industry challenges, the BMW Shenyang Production Base achieved a record-high production volume of more than 700,000 vehicles last year, making BMW the largest manufacturer of premium cars in China. Besides the newly introduced All New BMW X5, Plant Dadong already produces the BMW 5 Series and BMW X3 for the Chinese market. It is also the only facility to make the fully electric BMW iX3 for the world market. Plant Tiexi produces the BMW 1 Series and BMW 3 Series as well as the BMW X1 and BMW X2. In the summer, a complete new plant will open in Shenyang, as the home of the All New BMW i3, a fully electric mid-size sporty sedan made exclusively for the Chinese market.

With the local Powertrain plant, which manufactures high-voltage batteries as well as combustion engines, Shenyang will soon become home to four production facilities: three vehicle plants and one powertrain plant. Since 2010, BBA has invested around 83 billion RMB in Shenyang and built up the largest production base in the BMW Group production network, integrating R&D, purchasing, powertrain and vehicle in one location. With the continuous expansion of the Shenyang production base, BBA will further promote the high-quality and sustainable development of China's auto industry, and support the development of high-end manufacturing and industrial upgrading in Liaoning and Shenyang.

High-quality development driven by digitalization and sustainability

The new extension to Plant Dadong has a footprint of 910,000m² – the equivalent of about 125 football pitches. It incorporates extensions of the press shop, body shop, paint shop and a single-roof logistics and assembly building with two independent production lines. The body shop is equipped with KUKA’s largest Titan robot with a loading capacity of 1.3 tonnes for under body grabbing, which ensures the stability of the body with an action repeatability accuracy of 0.1mm.

Plant Dadong has also received a digitalization upgrade. Data science, artificial intelligence and virtual planning are opening up new dimensions in automotive production, making it faster, more precise and more transparent and taking efficiency, flexibility, sustainability and quality to an entirely new level. Process control and various parameter data are monitored and analysed in real-time throughout the entire production process chain, allowing potential problems to be detected quickly and resolved.

Further investments have also been made in sustainability. With nine newly-added railway lines, Plant Dadong is now home to the biggest railway station in all BMW Group plant structures. Nearly 80 percent of finished BMW vehicles from Shenyang are wholly or partially transported by rail, which significantly reduces CO2 emissions compared with traditional transportation methods. The press shop offers clean separation of scrap aluminium and steel for circularity, thereby making a major contribution to the further reduction of CO2 emissions. The paint shop process in Plant Dadong Extension has already achieved zero fresh water consumption, and the energy efficiency will also be further improved in the future. Plant Dadong’s solar array has also been upgraded. This year, its 179,000m² of panels are expected to produce more than 21 MWh of energy from renewable sources. In total, the Shenyang Production Base incorporates 290,000m² of solar panels, which is the most of any enterprise in Liaoning Province.

The successful completion of the Plant Dadong Extension is further proof of BMW’s strong roots in China and commitment to continuing its high-quality and sustainable development. With "Lean, Green and Digital" as its production strategy, BMW will continue to promote industrial upgrading, and support China's automotive industry to achieve intelligent, sustainable and high-quality development.