Production milestone for BMW Group Plant Hams Hall: British engine plant celebrates 25 years – AutoMart Canada

Hams Hall, UK. BMW Group’s Hams Hall plant, located
in the UK, has reached a major milestone: For exactly 25 years, the
plant near Birmingham has produced highly efficient internal
combustion engines for a variety of BMW Group vehicle models. More
than 7.6 million engines have shipped from Hams Hall since 2001. The
facility supplies numerous production sites worldwide with highly
efficient petrol engines for the BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce brands,
including drive trains for plug-in hybrid models – making the plant an
integral part of the BMW Group’s technology-open approach. Today,
Plant Hams Hall produces three and four-cylinder petrol engines to
high performance V8 engines, powering vehicles across both BMW and
MINI. Separately, the V12 engine is produced at Plant Hams Hall
exclusively for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. Its assembly follows a
distinct, bespoke production process, carried out by specially trained
engineers and technicians, before final delivery to the Home of
Rolls-Royce at Goodwood.

Plant Hams Hall – an integral part of the global production network

“This anniversary is a special milestone for our site,”
says Dirk Dreher, Head of the BMW Group’s Hams Hall plant. “We
are a competitive plant and there’s always been a real passion among
our workforce to continually improve our manufacturing processes and
site. Building on our strong foundation, we are looking forward to
remaining a successful plant in the future.”

“The Hams Hall plant is an integral part of our global production
network,” explains Harald Gottsche, Head of Engine Production at BMW
AG. “The site combines technological expertise with high flexibility.
It reliably supplies our vehicle plants with efficient, powerful
engines of premium quality. This includes the V12 engine – a
masterpiece from Hams Hall!”

61% reduction in energy use per engine built since the start
of full production

The British engine plant is systematically implementing the
principles of the BMW iFACTORY. The strategic vision of the BMW
iFACTORY focusses on sustainability, electrification, digitalisation
and profitability. From the first concept of the plant to the present
day, the Hams Hall team has made sustainability a key consideration.
Since the first full year of production, the plant has made a 61%
reduction in energy required per engine built, meaning the overall
energy to operate the site has remained level even though there has
been a considerable increase in production. The plant purchases 100%
of its external electricity from renewable energy sources today. It
has also worked to reduce its consumption of natural gas.

SpOTTO robotic dog scans and monitors manufacturing equipment

A four-legged autonomous robot named “SpOTTO” joined the Hams Hall
team in 2024. The autonomous robotic dog scans the plant, supports
maintenance and ensures production processes run smoothly. Equipped
with visual, thermal and acoustic sensors, SpOTTO collects valuable
data for the plant’s digital twin. It also serves as a watchdog,
monitoring the maintenance of production facilities. SpOTTO was
developed by Boston Dynamics under the product name “Spot”, an agile
robot capable of climbing stairs and traversing rough terrain with
ease. At Hams Hall, “Spot” was fondly renamed SpOTTO, paying tribute
to the engine plant’s proud heritage: Gustav Otto, one of the founders
of BMW, was the son of Nicolaus Otto, inventor of the four-stroke engine.

Fully connected digital twin: Big data on three levels

At the core of the Hams Hall plant’s digital transformation is the
fully connected digital twin, which consists of three levels: On the
first level, 3D representations of the entire plant are generated. The
second level comprises a large data layer, continuously updated with
all relevant information from the SpOTTO robotic dog, the plant’s
manufacturing equipment and its IT systems. On the third level – the
application level – dedicated programmes organise the collected data
into comprehensible units. Using special apps, experts at Plant Hams
Hall can leverage this information for tasks such as production
planning and quality assurance.

A history of continuous growth

Over the past 25 years, BMW Group Plant Hams Hall has continuously
evolved, establishing itself as a key pillar of the company’s
production network. Relying on state-of-the-art manufacturing
technologies, it provides drive trains for numerous BMW, MINI and
Rolls-Royce models.

Selected historic milestones:

• 2001: Plant Hams Hall launches series production
  with new four-cylinder engines, using innovative Valvetronic
  technology in large-scale manufacturing for the first time.
• 2006: An additional engine family is introduced;
  Plant Hams Hall produces engines for the MINI brand for the first time.
• 2013: Plant Hams Hall becomes the exclusive
  manufacturer of the award-winning three-cylinder engine for the
  iconic BMW i8 plug-in hybrid sports car. The plant also integrates
  additional production lines for three- and four-cylinder petrol
  engines. At the same time, the processing hall for crankshafts,
  crankcases and cylinder heads is expanded.
• 2022: The plant takes over production of V8 and V12
  engines. With this step the plant generates even greater business
  value for the company.
• 2026: Plant Hams Hall celebrates 25 years of production.

The BMW Group’s drive train production network

The BMW Group’s engine production network comprises several plants
alongside Hams Hall: Its largest engine facility is in Steyr, Austria,
where diesel and petrol engines, as well as sixth-generation electric
motors, are developed and produced. The fifth generation of electric
motors is produced in Dingolfing. Plant Munich handles mechanical
production of V8 and V12 engine components, while Plant Landshut
manufactures special engines. The Chinese joint venture BMW Brilliance
builds engines for the local market in Shenyang. Collectively, these
locations support the BMW Group’s technology-open powertrain strategy.