BMW’s Factory Genius: How AI is transforming global automotive production

BMW is accelerating the digital transformation of its global manufacturing operations with the rollout of its AI-powered maintenance assistant, Factory Genius. Developed in-house and piloted at BMW’s Dingolfing plant, this cutting-edge tool is designed to reduce equipment downtime by helping maintenance teams identify faults and find solutions in seconds.

“AI applications have become an integral part of modern production systems and are a key element of the BMW Group’s digital transformation,” said Michael Ströbel, Head of Process Management and Digitalisation, Order to Delivery at BMW Group. “Factory Genius is an example of how generative AI, in particular, can streamline operations for everyone involved and enhance economic efficiency.”

Smarter search, faster fixes 

Factory Genius functions like a highly specialised search engine trained exclusively on internal BMW data – including equipment manuals, fault reports, quality metrics, and shift logs. Unlike conventional systems, it integrates a Large Language Model (LLM), like those behind ChatGPT or Gemini, allowing it to interpret maintenance queries with precision and return results contextualised in natural language. BMW says this capability not only identifies relevant documents but also summarises solutions, links to sources, and enables follow-up via chat –all within seconds.

A standout feature of the system is its ability to constantly learn. Daily updates to shift logs and other operational data ensure the assistant remains current. It also includes a multilingual translation engine, which has proven critical in facilities like the new plant in Debrecen, Hungary, where technical documentation is often not readily available in the local language.

A collaborative global rollout 

The success of Factory Genius lies in its collaborative and modular development. While the original pilot took place in Dingolfing in spring 2024, similar initiatives were underway at BMW plants in Spartanburg, USA, and Rosslyn, South Africa. These parallel developments were harmonised at BMW’s Munich headquarters, where AI experts created a unified “best of” system tailored to the diverse needs of the global production network.

Factory Genius is now available globally through an internal platform in its initial development phase. According to BMW, its architecture and methodology are transferable to other areas of the production process. That means this technology is not just a single-use assistant but a scalable framework for building additional digital helpers tailored to specific use cases – from training support to predictive maintenance.

This initiative is closely tied to the broader strategic pillars of BMW’s digital evolution. One of these is the AIonic platform – a company-wide framework that consolidates all AI and data-driven applications. AIonic facilitates the sharing of knowledge and tools like Factory Genius across departments and geographies, ensuring consistent standards and accelerating deployment.

Complementing this is BMW’s Shop Floor Digital Programme, which focuses on integrating real-time data streams, smart analytics, and modular digital tools directly into manufacturing environments. This program supports the seamless rollout of Factory Genius and similar applications, ensuring they are deeply embedded in day-to-day plant operations rather than siloed or experimental.

Supporting the iFactory vision 

All these initiatives feed into BMW’s overarching iFactory project. The iFactory framework is built around three key pillars: lean, green, and digital. Factory Genius exemplifies the “digital” component, reducing diagnostic times, improving cross-plant collaboration, and increasing the agility of manufacturing responses to faults and inefficiencies.

“Factory Genius allows employees to search and interpret vast volumes of production data in real time, in their own language, and receive summarised, accurate guidance instantly,” said Ströbel. “That’s a level of support that fundamentally changes how we approach production challenges.”

As BMW continues expanding its global production footprint, tools like Factory Genius will become increasingly central to maintaining efficiency, quality, and consistency. With its multilingual capabilities, cloud-based deployment, and integration into AIonic and shop floor systems, the assistant marks a significant leap forward in smart manufacturing.