BMW Group scales Virtual Factory digital twins to cut production planning costs by up to 30 percent

Overview

BMW Group is industrialising its Virtual Factory, with production planners continuously scaling applications in digital twins of over 30 production sites built on NVIDIA Omniverse. Automated collision checks for new vehicle models that once took almost four weeks of real-world testing now take three days to simulate virtually, and production planning costs are projected to fall by up to 30 percent.

The challenge

For every vehicle launch, BMW must verify that the new product fits on the production line and does not collide with its surroundings at any point; the BMW Group will integrate more than 40 new or updated vehicles into its global production between now and 2027, requiring immediate stability at the plants for each launch.

The solution

The BMW Group is industrialising its Virtual Factory, with production planners continuously scaling applications in digital twins of over 30 production sites built on NVIDIA Omniverse, as a core element of the BMW Group iFACTORY. Intelligent linking of building data, equipment data, logistics data, vehicle data and 3D simulation of manual work processes creates digital twins of all BMW Group plants worldwide, enabling real-time simulation and virtual optimisation of layouts, robotics and logistics systems. Collision checks for new vehicle models use construction data combined with 3D scans to precisely simulate the movement and rotation of a vehicle through the production lines and automatically check for possible collisions. The Virtual Factory is continuously expanding to incorporate generative and agentic AI functionalities and assistants, and now also includes human simulation to optimise manual production steps and automated identification of maps of the surroundings from existing 3D scans for smart transport systems.

Reported business value

What now takes just three days to simulate virtually previously required almost four weeks of real testing, which in the paint shop sometimes required completely emptying and cleaning the dip coating tanks. The BMW Group's Virtual Factory is projected to reduce production planning costs by up to 30 percent.