Practices at two locations
How Opel is recalibrating automation in assembly
The automation of vehicle assembly is continues to be a challenge. Opel shares its approach across two plants, demonstrating why partial automation, modules, and AI are currently more realistic than full robotics.
The automation of vehicle assembly has been considered one of the greatest unsolved challenges in automotive production for years. While robots work with high precision and stability in body construction and painting, automated systems in final assembly quickly reach structural limits. The variety of variants, tight spaces, and quality-critical decisions can only be standardised to a limited extent. Added to this is the high economic pressure, especially when launching new models. Any disruption has an immediate impact on the entire cycle. Against this backdrop, Opel does not pursue an approach of maximum automation but instead aligns its investments consistently with stability, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness. The Rüsselsheim and Eisenach plants demonstrate how assembly automation can be used sensibly today without introducing new risks into the line.
Assembly automation remains a question of cycle stability
At the Rüsselsheim plant, final assembly is deliberately set up differently from body construction and painting. While these areas are highly automated, assembly remains largely manual. Automation is primarily applied to process steps that can be technically stabilised and at the same time offer ergonomic relief. These include, among other things, the marriage of body and drive, the sunroof installation, or the insertion of the battery in fully electric vehicles. Full automation of individual assembly sections is critically assessed if it costs flexibility or causes high start-up losses during model changes. Especially for activities with a wide range of variants, targeted partial automation can be more economical than complex, rigid systems.
At the Rüsselsheim plant, we consciously use automated technology where it creates real added value and ensures quality, efficiency, and the ergonomics of our employees.
A focus is on stabilising quality during the ongoing cycle. Camera-based inspection systems are intended to detect deviations early and avoid rework. Data-based systems for analysing downtimes and process deviations are already an integral part of production. AI-supported applications are gradually being added, especially where visual inspections have so far depended heavily on the experience and attention of employees.
Eisenach shows the limits of classic full automation
Plant manager, Jörg Escher describes how quickly automated assembly systems can reach economic limits using the example of the Opel plant in Eisenach. The new Grandland is manufactured there on a multi-energy platform, which adds additional complexity to the assembly. Automation is generally sensible when capacity is high, but loses its advantage as soon as flexibility is restricted or ramp-ups are unstable. Fully automated systems such as headlight assembly could initially cause high rejection rates with new models because they need to be finely adjusted. Every downtime has an immediate impact on the entire operation, as hundreds of employees are affected. For a plant of this size, this often does not pay off.
In Eisenach, assembly is therefore deliberately kept minimally automated. The focus is on stable processes and quick response to deviations. Automation is primarily understood there as support, not as a replacement for manual work. At the same time, AI is already being used in several assembly-related applications. Inspection stations check, for example, whether screws are fully present and correctly set, especially in the substructure area with numerous fastening points. Additionally, an AI-supported outside conformity test checks features such as colour, nameplates, or missing components. The aim is to avoid rework and detect errors as early as possible.
AI shifts the focus from technology to quality
In assembly, the concept of automation is increasingly shifting away from pure mechanics towards quality assurance and decision support. Eisenach systematically collects data from the end-of-line area to analyse where rework occurs. In the future, this information is intended to be used to specifically direct inspection attention. Employees could then receive indications of which areas of a particular vehicle need to be checked particularly carefully. Automation here does not arise from additional robots, but from better use of data in the cycle.
Rüsselsheim is also pursuing this approach. AI-based camera systems are still being developed there, but are specifically considered as a complement to existing inspection processes. Humans remain an integral part of the assembly. Technology is meant to support them, not push them out of the process. Especially in the context of increasing variety, this approach is considered more robust than extensive full automation.
Kaiserslautern as a reference for sub-processes
The Kaiserslautern plant plays a different role in this context. No vehicle assembly takes place there, but rather the production of structural and body components. Nevertheless, individual principles can be transferred to assembly. The autonomous cells used there, in which parts are automatically inserted, removed, and inspected, show how standardised sub-processes can be stably automated. However, these concepts are only transferable to a limited extent for the final assembly of complete vehicles, as the mix of variants and cycle coupling play a significantly larger role there.
For us, automation represents not only efficiency but also the key to a future-proof factory.
In the end, a clear picture emerges. Assembly automation at Opel does not follow a maximal approach. It is oriented towards cycle stability, quality, and cost-effectiveness. Automation is implemented where processes become more robust as a result. Where flexibility would be lost, humans remain central. Thus, assembly remains the area where technological progress is less spectacular but all the more effective.
