Mercedes-Benz lays foundation for advanced paint shop in Sindelfingen, fusing sustainable design with digital twin, AI and smart energy management

In the immediate vicinity of Factory 56 in Sindelfingen, Mercedes-Benz has laid the foundation stone for a new, state-of-the-art paint shop. A three-digit million euro sum is being invested in this prestigious project focusing on sustainability and digitalisation.

Smiling faces are rare these days in the automotive industry. However, today in Sindelfingen at Mercedes-Benz, the situation was different. Both plant manager Sara Gielen and Board Member for Production Jörg Burzer seemed to be in the middle of a ceremony marking the laying of the foundation stone for the new paint shop at the site of Mercedes’ traditional headquarters.

“Sindelfingen is already a pioneer in digitalisation and decarbonisation, and now the ‘Next Generation Paintshop’ is another flagship project as part of our strategic modernisation,” said Burzer when welcoming the guests from politics, business and the public.

The automaker is investing a “very high three-digit million sum” in the prestigious facility near the fully digitised Factory 56 , as the new facility is a brownfield project and, due to the demolition of the old parts of a former assembly hall, requires significantly more financial resources than comparable new buildings on greenfield sites, the head of production explained to AMS partner publication, Automobil Produktion. In spring 2028, a hall measuring approximately 170,000 sq.m  on a floor space of approximately 60,000 sq.m is scheduled to be built in the center of the factory premises.

The invited representatives from state and local politics were almost enthusiastic about the investment in the Next Generation Paintshop, which is to be realized in collaboration with long-standing partner Dürr. ” Mercedes-Benz is setting standards for the world here in Sindelfingen,” said Baden-Württemberg’s Minister of Economic Affairs, Nicole Hoffmeister-Kraut (CDU).

Despite all the geopolitical upheavals and the currently escalating trade dispute with the USA, projects like the new paint shop are proof of how innovative German companies can be, said the minister. “Initiatives like these create a window of opportunity for us in Europe to come together more closely on innovations and develop a positive spirit ,” said Hoffmeister-Kraut. Roland Bernhard, District Administrator of the Böblingen district, and Bernd Vöhringer, Mayor of Sindelfingen, also expressed their delight at Mercedes’ commitment to the production site in Baden-Württemberg.

Lighthouse of sustainability

For Board Member for Production Burzer, the new paint shop is a showcase project, especially with regard to sustainability. The new hall is being built between Factory 56 and Hall 46, where the E-Class and GLC are built, and is designed to fit Mercedes-Benz’s holistic sustainability approach.

The building site already consists of 100,000 cubic meters of concrete demolition from the old assembly hall that previously stood on the site. Using an environmentally friendly building concept and the latest painting technologies from partner Dürr, Mercedes aims to reduce overall energy consumption by half compared to the old facility – an ambitious goal.

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Energy management software from Dürr, as well as its energy-efficient paint booths and body dryers, should also help. But it’s not just the painting process itself that’s set to become more sustainable. To save primary energy, an intelligent district heating network will be used in the future, with the goal of achieving up to 50 percent self-sufficiency for the production facility.

20,000 square meters of the Next Generation Paintshop’s roof will be equipped with photovoltaic systems, and thousands more square meters will be landscaped. The facility’s concept will also include comprehensive exhaust air purification, achieving a 60 percent reduction in emissions. Water consumption will also be cut by half, Mercedes assures.

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“China Speed” thanks to digital twin and AI

Following the example of the Rastatt plant—something of an incubator for digital production for Mercedes —the new paint shop will also benefit from several digital tools. Nvidia’s Omniverse virtualization platform will be used for planning; commissioning and ramp-up will be carried out using a digital twin tested in Rastatt, thus enabling the plant to be built “almost at China speed ,” as Jörg Burzer emphasizes.

Of course, the new paint shop will also be connected to Mercedes’ MO360 data hub . Among other things, the platform will be used to virtually program the approximately 250 robots on the paint line – in collaboration with an undisclosed partner company.

And of course, the facility will also benefit from the advantages of AI. Among other things, the building’s technology will be monitored using generative AI, a technology also developed in Rastatt. Smart algorithms will also be used in sustainability: To monitor and optimize the energy flow in the facility on a daily basis, Mercedes plans to use a self-learning system to structure the data – also developed in-house in Rastatt.

However, Burzer, Chief Production Officer, is reluctant to predict what AI innovations will be realized before the paint shop is completed: “AI has such incredible innovation potential, not just for us in production, that I don’t even want to presume to say today what we will be doing.”

Which technologies will actually be used in the paint shop, which is intended to cover all special and large-scale painting processes, will be revealed in 2028. The plant is scheduled to go into operation then. Original plans called for a ramp-up in 2026, with series production in 2027.