BMW Group Plant Debrecen enters the finish straight: Heartbeat of the plant comes to life with ramp-up of assembly – AutoMart Canada

Debrecen. The future BMW Group plant in the Hungarian
city of Debrecen is on the finish straight as the ramp-up of the
assembly line sees the heart of the plant come to life. This is the
beating heart of all the technologies in the plant, and also where the
most employees work. The assembly launch thus marks the reaching of
another milestone.

“Our highly efficient and ergonomic assembly line immediately started
running without any issues,” said Hans-Peter Kemser, Managing Director
BMW Group Plant Debrecen. “We achieved this thanks to virtual planning
and tests, as well as the outstanding collaboration between our new,
highly motivated employees in Debrecen and our experts within the BMW
Group’s global production network.”

In assembly, the individual components and systems are installed in
the painted body – at the end of the process, a car ready to drive
rolls off the production line. The innovative vehicle architecture of
the Neue Klasse opens totally new possibilities with regard to
assembly: greater efficiency thanks to modularisation, fewer different
connecting elements, and a simplified installation of the wiring
harness. An innovative cockpit assembly also accelerates the process.

The BMW Group Plant Debrecen is already producing test vehicles for
the first model of the Neue Klasse: the new BMW iX3.* Thus, the new
plant is gradually ramping up for series production.

Neue Klasse allows simple, fast assembly process

A number of features of the Neue Klasse are new territory for
everyone. Unlike in previous models, the cable harness is divided into
multiple parts, making it easier and more ergonomic to install. The
zonal wiring harness architecture requires 600 fewer metres of wiring
and weighs 30 percent less than the previous generation.

On the other hand, some components are modularised when one module is
formed from many small individual parts. The variation of connecting
elements has also been radically reduced for the Neue Klasse. This in
turn reduces the number of different plugs, screws and clips. All of
this makes assembly significantly more simple. 

Furthermore, with the Neue Klasse, a wide range of quality checks can
be performed digitally whilst still on the production line. This
procedure will also be implemented at other sites after its initial
use in Debrecen. The next point of use will be the home plant in
Munich, which will produce the sedan model of the Neue Klasse as of 2026.

The innovative cockpit assembly accelerates processes at Plant
Debrecen. It is one of the most compact in the BMW Group’s production
network, yet still allows full flexibility and variety. As at Plant
Lydia in China, cockpit pre-assembly is located right next to the main
line. Once the cockpit has been pre-assembled, it is then installed
directly in the vehicle just a few metres ahead.

Assembly in Debrecen adopts innovations from existing plants

When planning the new production site in Hungary, the BMW Group used
a completely virtual design process. In line with the principles of
the BMW iFACTORY, the tried-and-tested standards and high-tech
solutions from existing plants were referred to many times. For
example, many ideas and proven structures from Plant Lydia in China
and Plant Leipzig can be found in the assembly in Debrecen.

Further development of the finger structure from Leipzig

These structures include the so-called finger structure, or comb
structure, which the BMW Group developed specifically for Plant
Leipzig, which opened in 2005. This structure allows supply parts and
preassembled modules to be transported directly to the assembly lines.
A record proportion of parts, up to 80%, can be delivered directly in
Debrecen, as the fingers will enjoy logistics supply from both sides
for the first time. This is the highest ratio in the BMW Group’s
production network. The finger structure allows subsequent extension
and the integration of further assembly steps – flexibility is a
characteristic of production at the BMW Group.

Production processes, as at Plant Lydia in China

Plant Lydia in China was also an inspiration for many structures and
processes in the assembly. The plant opened in 2022 and was the first
BMW Group site to be completely planned and simulated in the virtual
world from the outset. The shop floor for the assembly line and
complete conveyor system in Debrecen are set up identically.
Therefore, the technology was available quickly and had already been
tried and tested, simplifying the commissioning of a completely new
production line.

Series production of the new BMW iX3 set to start at the BMW Group
Plant Debrecen in late 2025. The Hungarian plant has been designed
specifically for the production of all-electric vehicles. As with the
start of any new model or new plant, production capacities are
increased gradually after start of production. The plant in Debrecen
will be the first automobile plant in the BMW Group to operate
entirely without the use of fossil fuels during normal operation.

*Since this is a pre-production model, consumption data for the
new BMW iX3 is not available at this time.