Revolutionising automotive production at Debrecen iFactory

BMW has entered a new chapter in its production story with the opening of its state-of-the-art facility in Debrecen, Hungary.

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HUNDREDS of associates from Germany, Mexico, China and elsewhere attended the launch of BMW's new fossil-free plant in Debrecen, Hungary.

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More than just another plant, the site represents the physical embodiment of BMW's iFactory philosophy - lean, green, digital and human-centred. The facility not only extends the company's global production network but also signals a bold new era for how premium cars are conceived, built and delivered.

Dr Milan Nedeljkovic, member of the board of management of BMW AG responsible for production, emphasised the scale of BMW's global operations. "We now have 32 plants across four continents with more than 80000 associates," he explained.

"Together they built more than two and a half million vehicles last year."

The network includes a supply chain of more than 2500 suppliers delivering over 30 million parts every day. But, as Nedeljkovic stressed, this is far more than a logistical web. "It's a holistic network, based on trust, competence and agility, one unit, irrespective of where you are. And it has been built on principles that have grown over decades."

Among those principles, flexibility and resilience stand out as crucial to the company's success. For BMW, flexibility is a deeply embedded way of working. Plants are designed to be structurally adaptable, enabling expansion without disruption.

"Take the example of assembly with a finger building structure," Nedeljkovic explained. "It allows us to extend production by simply lengthening the "finger" (it resembles the fingers on a hand enabling components to be transported directly to the assembly line) without altering the main production flow."