- The Mercedes-Benz Digital Factory Campus (MBDFC) reinforces its status as global innovation centre for production and digitalisation
- Humanoid robots, artificial intelligence and new patented production methods revealed
- New processes and standards developed for digital production technologies to be rolled out across global production network
Mercedes-Benz is accelerating the transformation of its production network by reinforcing Berlin-Marienfelde’s status as the centre of innovation for MO360 digital production technologies, which are now enhanced with Artificial Intelligence (AI), humanoid robots and pioneering innovations such as the production of high-performance electric axial-flux motors.
In 2022, Berlin-Marienfelde established itself as the global centre of competence for the digitalisation of production with the Mercedes Benz Digital Factory Campus (MBDFC), promoting the development of future software applications in a real production environment. The central basis of the activities is the
Mercedes-Benz Cars Operations 360 digital production ecosystem, or MO360, which contains all the important software applications and data of the global production network. At the MBDFC, the development and testing of new processes and technologies has been combined with seamless and rapid global implementation of pioneering MO360 software applications for automotive production.
Mercedes-Benz has now enhanced its MO360 production system with AI features like the Digital Factory Chatbot Ecosystem and the MO360LLM Suite, and with humanoid robots from U.S.-based company Apptronik, reinforcing Berlin-Marienfelde’s status as a centre for global innovation.
Today, new production processes and features including those enabled through the Mercedes-Benz Operating System (MB.OS) are tested before they are sent to real-life production lines at other Mercedes-Benz assembly plants. Marienfelde, for example, played an important role in preparing the Rastatt plant for its ramp-up of the new Mercedes-Benz CLA, the first vehicle to incorporate MB.OS, which was presented only a few days ago.
“Mercedes-Benz Berlin-Marienfelde remains at the cutting edge of automotive production and keeps Germany on the map as a global centre for innovation. Artificial Intelligence and humanoid robots open up an exciting new frontier which make automotive production more sustainable, efficient and more intelligent.”
Jörg Burzer, Member of the Board of Management of Mercedes-Benz Group AG, responsible for Production, Quality & Supply Chain Management
Berlin-Marienfelde: proving ground for highly automated robotics in production
Mercedes-Benz is committed to empowering its staff with state-of-the-art technology – and with Apollo, Mercedes-Benz brings one of world’s most advanced commercial humanoid robots into its manufacturing facilities. To underscore its commitment to deploying humanoid robots in automotive production,
Mercedes-Benz will make a low double-digit-million-euro investment into Apptronik, which was founded in 2016 at the Human Centered Robotics Lab at the University of Texas at Austin.
Mercedes-Benz has been using industrial robotics technology since the 1970s to perform particularly monotonous and physically demanding tasks. Mercedes-Benz is currently testing the integration of humanoid robots in production with an initial focus on repetitive tasks within intralogistics. Apptronik’s Apollo can be used to transport components or modules to the production line for Mercedes-Benz’s highly skilled production staff to assemble, and to carry out initial quality checks of components.
Apollo robots have been collecting data in a production environment to train for specific use cases within MO360. Mercedes-Benz employees with real-life production know-how have transferred their knowledge to Apollo using teleoperation processes and augmented reality. Mercedes-Benz is now taking the next decisive development step at the Digital Factory Campus Berlin – enabling Apollo’s robots to perform autonomous operations, a technological milestone on the way to a flexible, intelligent assistance system for production.
In December, the AI-powered humanoid robotics company Apptronik announced that it had entered a strategic partnership agreement with the Google DeepMind robotics team to bring together best-in-class artificial intelligence with cutting-edge hardware, advancing humanoid robots that can be more helpful to people in dynamic environments.
Artificial intelligence for everyone: smart assistants in everyday production
Artificial Intelligence is changing the world and at the MBDFC, Mercedes-Benz is proactively shaping and creating new smart technologies for use in the global production network. Thanks to the MO360 AI Factory, artificial intelligence is being brought directly into production in a way which is intuitive, accessible and usable for everyone. The in-house Digital Factory Chatbot Ecosystem development allows employees to access production databases: Questions about machine maintenance or best-practice methods for manufacturing processes can simply be asked via chat and the AI immediately provides precise answers in several languages.
“AI takes over the tasks we usually enjoy less, giving us time to focus on real innovation, creativity and value-adding activities. I’m convinced that it makes a significant contribution to business success when applied strategically and executed pragmatically. So, let’s embrace it as key part of our solution moving forward.”
Katrin Lehmann, Chief Information Officer of Mercedes-Benz Group AG and Mercedes-Benz AG
Another example of the practical use of AI is the virtual multi-agent system. AI-supported virtual assistants analyse complex data in real time and can, for example, help to quickly identify the causes of sudden quality deviations in production. Instead of laborious, manual root-cause analysis, the engineers rely on AI agents from a virtual data-science team. These AI agents quickly and reliably analyse available data, identify patterns and anomalies and offer well-founded analyses and suggested solutions at the touch of a button for real efficiency gains in production.
Transforming Marienfelde with Axial Flux technology
In addition to the development of new production processes, the Marienfelde site has served for decades as an important part of the global powertrain production network, with the production of various drive technologies. As the global auto industry gradually shifts from combustion-engine technologies to an all-electric future, Mercedes-Benz is establishing Berlin as a centre of excellence for the manufacturing of high-tech performance electric motors. Starting next year, the cutting-edge axial-flux motor will roll off the production line at Marienfelde.
Making an axial-flux motor involves around 100 production processes. Around 65 processes are new to Mercedes-Benz, 35 of which are entirely new to the world. New ways of using laser technologies have been combined with bonding processes and AI to name just one example. These new production techniques were mainly developed in house and the innovations have resulted in more than 30 patent filings – all underscoring Marienfelde’s globally pioneering role in production process innovations.
