Virtual Production Launch at BMW

3D visualization Virtual Production Launch at BMW

2024-01-02 Source: Press release | Translated by AI 3 min Reading Time

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The factory is currently under construction, but production has already started, at least virtually: Using the 3D visualization platform Nvidia Omniverse, simulations with digital twins are carried out in real-time, allowing for the virtual optimization of layouts, robotics, and logistics systems.

Not yet existent in reality, but already in virtual production: The new BMW plant in Hungary recently had a virtual SOP (Start of Production), made possible by 3D visualization.(Picture: BMW BMW) — Not yet existent in reality, but already in virtual production: The new BMW plant in Hungary recently had a virtual SOP (Start of Production), made possible by 3D visualization.
(Picture: BMW BMW)

Already today, more than two years before series production starts, vehicle production has started in the future Debrecen plant – virtually. In 2025, the Debrecen plant will then start series production of the next generation of purely electric models from the BMW Group. Construction has just begun.

Virtualization and artificial intelligence accelerate and refine our planning. By merging various planning systems into a digital twin, our planners can collaborate in real-time – from anywhere in the world. This allows for quick and well-informed decision-making, increasing efficiency, making us significantly faster, and reducing costs.

Milan Nedeljković, Production Director of BMW AG

The BMW Group follows a digital-first approach to validate and optimize complex manufacturing systems across its entire production network. It utilizes Nvidia Omniverse Enterprise, a platform for building and operating industrial 3D metaverse applications, to conduct real-time simulations with digital twins, optimizing layouts, robotics, and logistics systems virtually. Omniverse is being deployed across the entire global production network.

Virtual planning simplifies global collaboration

Nvidia Omniverse facilitates collaboration for BMW Group users across different locations and time zones, supporting the planning and design of all structures, manufacturing facilities, and even individual processes at a new technological level. The new platform serves as a "cockpit," providing users with quick and straightforward access to BMW's digital planning worlds. Nvidia Omniverse will be available to experts in various technology and planning departments starting from the end of March 2023.

ABOUT THE BMW IFACTORY

With the BMW iFactory, BMW is pursuing a revolutionary strategy for the future of automotive production, aiming to fundamentally change the group's automotive production in response to the challenges of the automotive transformation towards electromobility.
The company also aims to set new standards in climate protection and competitiveness through flexible, efficient, sustainable, and digital manufacturing technologies. The flagship project is the new plant in Debrecen, Hungary, where the fully electric Neue Klasse will be produced from 2025. "The DNA of the BMW iFactory will be experienced in all our plants—not only in the future plant in Hungary but also in our 100-year-old main plant in Munich," explains Milan Nedeljković, Board Member for Production at BMW AG. "This is our master plan for the production of the future."
The goal is to redefine automotive production, focusing specifically on three key aspects: LEAN. GREEN. DIGITAL. These encapsulate the strategic vision of a global production network that is integrative and scalable, aligned with the challenges of the future.

Simultaneously, the virtual planning for the approximately 1.4 square kilometers production facility of the Neue Klasse in Debrecen is taking shape. The successful virtual production launch of the plant demonstrates the high level achieved by the digitization of planning: Using Nvidia Omniverse, manufacturing experts collaborate internally and with external partners to validate and optimize processes or individual facilities in detail for the approximately 1.4 square kilometers production of the Neue Klasse in Debrecen, using live data, without compatibility hurdles.

Structure and facility data are already accessible. In the future, information such as positions and part numbers of materials in the production process will also be available. Layout options, such as robotic work cells or logistics areas, will be played out in photorealistic real-time simulations and adjusted according to requirements. Each change can be assessed, validated, and implemented in real-time.

Omniverse is open to tools from other providers

Also, suppliers can also be involved in the coordination through the Omniverse infrastructure. Established design and planning tools from various manufacturers that BMW has already been using can directly communicate with Omniverse, including Bentley Systems Microstation for layout planning, ipolog for logistics planning, Siemens Process Simulate, Dassault Systemes Catia for vehicle design, and Autodesk Revit for building planning. Others are expected to follow.

What the next steps should be:

Gradually, all relevant product, process, quality, and cost data between development, planning, and production processes are being made accessible in Omniverse.
The further development also includes the capture of "invisible" processes, such as energy and resource consumption.
The next step is the digitization of operational activities with Omniverse. BMW Group teams are already working together with Nvidia on this next step. This will enable the rapid localization of operational disruptions in the future, avoiding longer production stoppages.
Additionally, virtual commissioning of new facilities can be integrated and automated into a seamless planning process.

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