Program Schedule 2025 *

Factory tour, keynotes and panels by experts (Presentations will be held in German)

In addition to exciting and insightful presentations from production experts, participants will have the exclusive opportunity to take part in a tour of the BMW Group plant in Landshut specially tailored to the participants of the "Smart Factory Day" and to experience best practice on site.

Please note: The presentations will be held in German.

Wednesday, May 14, 2025

Shuttle service to the BMW Group Werk Landshut, Gate 2

Meeting point: Stadtsäle Bernlochner, Ländtorplatz 2-5, 84028 Landshut

We recommend using the shuttle, as there are only very limited parking spaces available at the BMW Group plant.

Greetings & Welcome to Smart Factory Day 2025

Claus-Peter Köth

Editor-in-Chief of »Automobil Industrie« | Vogel Communications Group

Keynote Speech:

Technological expertise and flexibility as the key to transformation - BMW Group Plant Landshut as a centre of innovation.

Thomas Thym

Site Manager BMW Group Plant Landshut | BMW Group

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    As the company's largest component plant, the Landshut plant plays a central role in the New Class, the BMW Group's project of the century. With around 3,700 employees, the plant produces a wide range of innovative components for almost all BMW Group vehicles. Thanks to its close links with the BMW Group Research and Innovation Centre in Munich, Landshut plays a key role as an innovation hub within the company. The plant develops pioneering technologies and state-of-the-art production processes that ensure the company's competitiveness.

Tour of the BMW Group Landshut plant

Part of the tour will be the ultra-modern production system for the BMW Energy Master, the central control unit for the high-voltage battery for the New Class. The complex control unit is currently in pre-series production at the plant. You will also see the Landshut light metal foundry, which is in pre-series production for the central housing of the electric drive unit for the New Class. For the next generation of housings, experts have further developed the specially developed casting process, known as injector casting.

Photos: © BMW Group AG

Shuttle service transfer back to the conference location Stadtsäle Bernlochner

Networking Dinner the evening before the »Smart Factory Day«

Enjoy a relaxed dinner with participants, speakers and partners of the Smart Factory Day with numerous networking opportunities.

Thursday, May 15, 2025

Welcome & Introduction

Claus-Peter Köth

Editor-in-Chief of »Automobil Industrie« | Vogel Communications Group

Keynote-Speech:

How artificial should intelligent production be? Google Cloud helps with the search

Gerhard Keller

Head of Manufacturing Industry & Auto Germany | Google Cloud

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    In a world in which more and more products (even cars) are becoming digital and the manufacture of these products is also being made more efficient and flexible with digital options, many employees are also confronted with a completely different approach. The possibilities offered by AI are among the new opportunities in this area too.

    How does a "digital native" player like Google view the manufacturing industry? What options do you have as a user of Google Cloud technology? How do I have to handle data in order to benefit from it?

    In this presentation, we will provide an exciting insight into the world of tomorrow.

AI for All: Driving Innovation from the Shop Floor at the MO360 AI Factory in the Mercedes-Benz Digital Factory Campus Berlin

Dr. Stephanie Knizkov

Head of the MO360 AI Factory | Mercedes-Benz

Nicolai Gruber

Generative AI Lead | Mercedes-Benz

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    Using AI is not just a vision, but a part of our daily work. While AI is often associated with technology, the focus of the Mercedes-Benz Digital Factory Campus goes beyond that. It’s about people – especially our employees in the shop-floor, whose skills, experience, and craftsmanship shape our production every day. This is why we founded the MO360 AI Factory: to drive innovation from within, powered by those who understand our processes best. By working closely with colleagues in the shop floor—from the initial idea to global rollout—we combine advanced AI technologies with hands on production expertise. For AI to truly make a difference, it must be intuitive, accessible, and trustworthy. Our solutions are built to feel as natural as a conversation – and in this workshop, we’ll explore real examples of how AI is already transforming work at Mercedes production. You want to learn more? Than visit the Smart Factory Day and let’s dive in together!

Making Brownfield factories smarter and more sustainable - from proof of concept to scalable value creation

Dr. Fabian Keller

Vice President Automotive | Capgemini Invent

Stephan Schwarz

Head of Intelligent Manufacturing Germany | Capgemini

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    The growing geopolitical instability, evolving consumer demands, and rapid technological advancements highlight the inadequacies of legacy factory IT systems. These systems frequently lack the necessary openness, impeding their ability to support innovations such as predictive maintenance, real-time tracking, and AI-driven supply chains, thus limiting scalability and efficiency. To address these issues, manufacturers must implement IT strategies that are scalable, secure, and aligned with the changing business requirements, necessitating a reevaluation of their factory IT approaches.

    The shift toward modular, service-oriented, and cloud-ready IT architectures is redefining how automotive manufacturers manage and scale their factory operations. Real-time visibility and control are becoming essential for handling production complexity, reducing downtime, and enabling data-driven decisions on the shop floor. Seamless integration between planning and execution systems ensures that production remains agile and synchronized with fluctuating demand. As factories become more connected, cybersecurity is no longer just an IT concern—it is a foundational requirement for protecting critical operations and maintaining resilience in a digital manufacturing environment. At the same time, the transition to service-based architectures opens the door to innovation, from predictive analytics to autonomous production workflows, forming the backbone of future-ready, intelligent factories. In the face of increasing product variability, electrification, and supply chain pressures, manufacturers must move beyond patching legacy systems. A clear Factory IT transformation strategy is essential to guide the migration toward scalable, secure, and flexible system landscapes. This requires a structured approach to system modernization, governance, and cross-functional collaboration—aligning IT capabilities with production needs and long-term business goals.

From data to insights: How captured sensor data can be turned into real added value from your process data using artificial intelligence

Christian Friedrich

Managing Director | ifm statmath gmbh

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    Manufacturing companies are faced with the challenge of increasing their efficiency, reducing costs and utilising resources sustainably. The IIoT platform moneo makes it possible to read and analyse sensor data from production systems and use it as a basis for well-founded business decisions. Find out what challenges exist in today's industrial environment and why generative AI and large language models (LLMs) are not always the ultimate solution when it comes to optimising machine availability, ensuring process quality and sustainably reducing energy consumption. In this presentation, we will show you how moneo supports the digital transformation of your industrial application with artificial intelligence (AI) and helps you to make data-based decisions in real time.

Coffee break – Meet & Talk at the trade exhibition "Smart Expo"

More efficiency through data transparency

A holistic approach to scalable data management in manufacturing

Bastian Sacher

Managing Director Digital Manufacturing | Transition Technologies PSC

Tobias Lante

Senior Business Analyst Digital Manufacturing |Transition Technologies PSC

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    In modern manufacturing, data transparency is a crucial factor for increasing efficiency and competitiveness. This presentation will show a holistic approach to scalable data management based on the integration of different data sources and the use of advanced analytics technologies. A demo environment will be used to show how companies can exemplify scalable data management in manufacturing by implementing a Unified Namespace (UNS).


    This enables comprehensive process monitoring, precise predictions and well-founded decisions. The practical examples presented illustrate how companies can optimize their production processes, minimize downtimes and improve product quality.

BENTELER and shyftplan: New Work with digital Workforce Management

Harald König

Head of Sales | shyftplan

Verena Thonemann

Head of Operational Transformation | BENTELER Gruppe

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    BENTELER Steel/Tube GmbH & Co. KG is shaping the future of workforce management with automated shift planning. Find out how the company uses shyftplan applications together with SAP solutions to streamline processes, increase planning efficiency and involve employees in the planning process.

Edge Cloud 4 Production: IT/OT convergence at Audi

Sven Müller

Project Manager of Edge Cloud 4 Production project | AUDI AG

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    Today's factories still need to become more efficient and connected - but there is still a gap between IT & OT departments that needs to be bridged. Audi is driving this change with the introduction of Edge Cloud 4 Production (EC4P). EC4P is the beginning of a new paradigm in Audi production, towards a Software Defined Factory. In this presentation, you will learn how the car manufacturer has set up a private cloud for the shop floor. In future, EC4P will host all shop floor applications with on-premise requirements, ranging from data-intensive MES systems to latency-critical virtual PLCs (with safety function). In addition to the technical challenges, the cultural change process will also be highlighted and progress in the area of IT/OT convergence will be discussed.

Exhibitor tour and questions to the exhibitors

Moderation:

Claus-Peter Köth

Editor-in-Chief of »Automobil Industrie« | Vogel Communications Group

Lunch break

Meet & Talk and visit to the Smart Expo

Innovative technologies on the way to the smart factory - Start-up session

Start-ups present themselves and their products and projects. In 4-minute pitches, the speakers have the opportunity to present themselves on the podium. Each presentation concludes with a short Q&A session with the audience.

Moderation:

Claus-Peter Köth

Editor-in-Chief of »Automobil Industrie« | Vogel Communications Group

Christian Eder

Manager Business Creation | EIT Manufacturing Central gGmbH

These start-ups present themselves and their products and projects:

Kim Daniel Barthel

Head of Business Development | ai-omatic solutions

ai-omatic solutions

Dr. Mirco Möncks

 CTO | Augmented Industries



Augmented Industries

Christian Held

Geschäftsführer | iLARIZ



iLARIZ

Karsten Wenige

Managing Director | nascit GmbH



ai-omatic solutions

Philipp Heisenberger

Senior Solution Architect |

ONIQ GmbH

ai-omatic solutions

Manuel Ackermann

Managing Director | XRify GmbH

ai-omatic solutions

Digital transformation in the BMW Group's component plants

Franz Heigl

Head of Digitalization and Production System | BMW Group

  • learn more about this lecture

    The BMW Group's component plants are driving digitalisation along the entire value chain. Based on lean principles and the "Lean before Digital" approach, an intelligent, networked shop floor environment is being created that supports employees with AI-supported assistance systems. Innovative logistics solutions such as autonomous transport systems are also being used. The digital transformation extends into the supply chain, where real-time data and intelligent algorithms optimise processes. The presentation shows how the BMW Group's component production is gradually implementing a holistic digitalisation strategy and thus building a smart factory of the future.

Start of the shuttle service transfer to the BMW Group plant in Landshut, Gate 2

We recommend using the shuttle, as there are only very limited parking spaces available at the BMW Group plant.

Discussion at market areas at the Lightweight Construction and Technology Centre on the topics:

  • Lean management in component production at the BMW Group

    The focus here is on communicating the lean method through the value-creation-oriented production system (WPS). Here we explain the structure of the BMW work organisation and the digital process board, which serves as a central control instrument. We also present how the value stream method is used to maximise the value added share. The target development process acts as an effective management and steering tool for the joint alignment of the organisation, enabling targets to be broken down to the grassroots level and translated into concrete challenges.

  • Quality in the supply chain

    The Zero Defect Supply Chain Campus offers suppliers an insight into the component production system at the BMW Group plants in Landshut and Dingolfing. In an interactive workshop format, good practices regarding shop floor management, management with value stream and KPIs, sustainability and AI are exchanged, and in our blue print areas the discussed topics are brought to life in production.

  • Artificial intelligence & cyber security in component production at the BMW Group

    In an experience room, the so-called AI-LAB, visitors will be able to experience first-hand how artificial intelligence can revolutionise production processes. We will show examples of the many possible applications of AI in areas such as production planning, control and optimisation. AI-based systems can analyse production processes, identify bottlenecks and monitor production processes in real time in order to increase productivity, conserve resources and improve product quality.

    Furthermore, the existence and spread of generative AI requires a special focus on IT security. In our AI-LAB, we show how various attacks can affect production.

  • Shopfloor digital in component production at the BMW Group

    The BMW Group is systematically driving forward the digitalisation of its production. With the Shopfloor Digital transformation programme, we are harmonising our diverse manufacturing processes and IT systems worldwide across all 30 locations in our production network. Key elements include standardising working methods across all technologies, improving data consistency and introducing an end-to-end, process-oriented process chain in order to improve production quality and efficiency across all locations and technologies and create a uniform user experience. To achieve this, the company is building a modern, cloud-based IT architecture and relying on process automation and AI solutions. Digitalisation is intended to make the company competitive for the future.

    This market stand shows the initiative's approach and the basic concept for the IT architecture.

  • Smart logistics in component production at the BMW Group

    The focus of this market stand is on the automation of logistics with innovations at BMW Group Plant Landshut.

    Smart logistics is the basis for efficient and flexible production. Examples of this include autonomous transport systems and digital material provision on shelves.

End of Smart Factory Day 2025 und shuttle service transfer back to the conference location Stadtsäle Bernlochner

* Subject to change