BMW Group and Microsoft launch new manufacturing platform: partnership for future Industry 4.0 solutions

Microsoft and the BMW Group announced today a new community initiative to increase innovation in the manufacturing sector. In manufacturing today, production and profitability can be hindered by complex, proprietary systems that create data silos and slow productivity.

The Open Manufacturing Platform (OMP) is expected to support the development of smart factory solutions that will be shared by OMP participants across the automotive and broader manufacturing sectors, a press release shows. The goal is to significantly accelerate future Industrial IoT developments, shorten time to value and drive production efficiencies while addressing common industrial challenges.

“Microsoft is joining forces with the BMW Group to transform digital production efficiency across the industry,” said Scott Guthrie, Executive Vice-President, Microsoft Cloud and AI Group. “Our commitment to building an open community will create new opportunities for collaboration across the entire manufacturing value chain.”

With currently over 3,000 machines, robots and autonomous transport systems connected with the BMW Group IoT Platform, which is built on Microsoft Azure’s cloud, IoT and AI capabilities, the BMW Group plans to contribute initial use cases to the OMP community. One example is the company’s use of their IoT platform for the second generation of its autonomous transport systems in the BMW Group plant in Regensburg, one of 30 production and assembly sites worldwide.