BMW Group Product and Innovation Centre

Press Release

Page 1 - Setting the Benchmark in Efficient Vehicle Development:
The New Project Building at the BMW Group's Research and Innovation Centre.

Page 2 - Wiring the World:
Three New Studios for Virtual Reality at the Project Building.

Page 3 - Full Throttle into the Future:
BMW Hydrogen Car Sets up Nine International Records.

Page 4 - Voice, Gestures, Mimics:
BMW Group Studies New Types of Automotive Communication.

Page 5 - Safe, Individual, and with Self-Learning Capacity:
BMW Car IT Developing Central Intelligence in the Car.

The New Project Building at the BMW Group's Research and Innovation Centre.

It is a well-known fact that innovations come mainly from face-to-face communication. And indeed, it is precisely this principle that underlies the BMW Group's Research and Innovation Centre known for short, to use the German abbreviation, as the "FIZ", ever since being opened back in 1987.

Today, 17 years later, the BMW Group is once again setting the standard in the future of automobile development, integrating the new Project Building into the FIZ area as a highlight in architecture bearing testimony to BMW's Product Creation Process. As the name indicates, this is the process underlying the creation of every BMW Group product from the initial idea all the way to the start of series production. So forming part of the FIZ concept, the Project Building has now become the physical rendition of this operating process.

In the words of Professor Dr. Burkhard Göschel, Board Member Development and Purchasing of BMW AG, "we have combined the substance of the building with a process-oriented frame of mind in an almost ideal manner".

Providing a hands-on experience of development: the building within a building.

Through its layout and dimensions alone, the Project Building opens up a new dimension in cooperation: Organised according to BMW's range of model series, specialists from all different areas have their workplaces around an atrium encompassing an oval, glass-clad building right in the middle. On each level of this studio and workshop building the current state of development of each vehicle project is clearly and convincingly presented in virtual worlds and with real models directly in the associates' line of vision from the surrounding project workplaces and within easy reach from short distances. So that parallel to the engineering processes, three-dimensional clay models in full scale or prototypes may be compared with and examined against the virtual models in a quasi-real time process.

The philosophy: communicating in real time.

Through its overall concept, the Project Building was designed from the start for one requirement in particular: real-time operation. Professor Gunter Henn, the architect responsible for the Building, expresses this challenge in clear words: "With development teams of up to 200 people, the mission was to make the right people meet at the right time, conducting development in a real-time process."

Precisely this is what the Building guarantees through its house-in-house architectural concept creating new ways and means of communication: "First, the engineers and other specialists are able to move to-and-fro from the computer screen to the real model", says Henn. "And second, presentation of the real product in a new, consistently updated and enhanced level of development ensures a motivating factor getting the right people together at the right time." Indeed, this is a communication principle we find at every market in our everyday world: "As soon as a farmer with apples opens up his stall, the only people to come are those who really want apples." In other words: Only the chassis engineers and production specialists will meet at the model of a front axle subframe, coming together specifically when they have to exchange views with their colleagues in the interest of further progress. Given the complexity of a modern car, the development engineer is alone with his project only for a few hours in succession and is then required to come back to his colleagues and other specialists for an exchange of views.

The Building and its design: why the Atrium House is oval in shape.

The special shape of the Atrium House follows from its underlying concept and philosophy to provide a direct, hands-on experience of the components and vehicles being developed in their current state: the Atrium House stands out as a clear-cut oval within the round inner courtyard. The reason for this special design, quite simply, is that this was the best way to accommodate the measuring systems on platforms for car prototypes while at the same time providing ample space and freedom of movement in the Circular Building around the courtyard. The job was to provide space for four of these platforms on each level, each of them some six metres long and 2.5 metres wide. "If it had been designed as a circle, the Atrium House would have been too big. So we arranged the platforms longitudinally in an elliptic layout", states Professor Henn.

This physical advantage is enhanced by an appropriate mental effect: Within the atrium, the inner oval and the surrounding circle generate a feeling of dynamic space arousing the right spirit and commitment for active, dynamic development processes.

It goes without saying that the Atrium House boasts the most advanced virtual development tools offering invaluable support particularly in the initial concept phase of a new vehicle: "Powerwalls" and "CAVEs" equipped with state-of-the- art projectors are able to provide particularly realistic simulations. This enables the development specialist to "walk through" complete vehicles in a virtual process almost from the start in a very early stage of development, using the vehicle's construction data for this purpose long before the first hardware is created. Clearly, the result is a high standard of planning quality ensured quickly and efficiently, any deviations from target measurements and data being immediately recognised and remedied.

Close cooperation in organisational units.

In organisational terms the entire process of product development within the BMW Group is subdivided into product lines comprising all of the Group's brands: BMW, MINI, and Rolls-Royce. To use the space available as effectively as possible but with a high degree of variability depending on requirements, the four project levels in the new Project Building are made up of four Quadrants each extending over two levels and covering an area of up to 1,500 square metres. With the two levels being connected in each case by a spiral staircase, there is enough room for a complete project with an average team of 200 associates within one space continuum. A lift in the core building serves to transport complete vehicles to each floor, bridges on each level connecting this house-in-house with the circular building outside.

Space and light for optimum working conditions.

Conceiving the Project Building, it was essential to provide open and creative working areas reminiscent in their character and layout of a loft - that is wide open spaces and bright rooms. The special topography of the ceilings and the unique design of the upper-level galleries provides areas varying in height from well over three to almost eight metres. And despite the modular layout of the Building, the Quadrants with eight different floor configurations ensure individual style to meet individual requirements.

The floor plan of the smaller gallery levels with their alcoves and wall openings enhances the impression of high ceilings. In particular, this creates areas ideal for high-quality work and with maximum daylight - areas in which you simply feel great.

In its dimensions the Atrium House also follows this objective: The entry of light into the building and the view to outside ensure generous, inspiring working conditions. In optical terms, the façade of the Atrium House conveys an impression of size and dimensions the building does not really have: The round and conical shape of the Atrium House and its structures eliminates the usual reference points the human eye generally needs to objectively assess the size of the building, an effect further enhanced by the many reflections in the window areas. For in reality, the Atrium House takes up only about 20 per cent of the entire area of the Project Building, making the entire structure very economical also when it comes to the use of space.

Interior design confirming the BMW Group's premium standard.

Transcending all of the Group's brands, the interior design of the buildings ensures a perfect rendition of the BMW Group's claim to perfection: The architectural concepts applied within the BMW world must be unique, sophisticated, clear, timeless, and consistent. Indeed, it is this tangible ambience that creates a working environment highly conducive to creativity and networking and reflecting the values of the various brands.

The Project Building: the logical continuation of the FIZ concept.

The new Project Building is the logical continuation of a development concept dating back to the construction of the BMW Research and Innovation Centre - the concept of "built-in communication".

When the Centre well-known the world over as the "FIZ" entered operation in 1987, the concept of "built-in communication" was an absolute revolution in the automotive industry. Instead of Development, Production and Purchasing coming in a row behind one another as in the past, all three of these Function Areas for the first time operated not only parallel to one another, but also very close together. And Logistics, Controlling and Human Resources were also integrated in the development process right from the start. Indeed, simultaneous engineering even allows the integration of suppliers from a very early point in time.

All this has significantly reduced the number of interfaces and thus keeps frictional losses to a minimum, enabling the BMW Group to develop products to production standard much more quickly and cost-efficiently through the new FIZ operations. Hence, the Research and Innovation Centre has become a role model now, through its principle alone, setting the standard for many other buildings and centres of this kind.

Guaranteeing successful car development: simultaneous engineering.

The FIZ Project Building further enhances the BMW Group's concept of simultaneous engineering: No less than 18 years ago, the Board of Management of BMW AG appointed the first Project Managers for new vehicles - and the concept of developing vehicles through highly efficient project management has evolved consistently ever since. The strong backbone for this development process is provided, as before, by individual departments in the Development Division, with teams assuming inter-divisional, overall responsibility for specific vehicle projects defined in advance.

Pursuing this operating concept, the BMW Group has solved a problem typically encountered in product development: the need to choose between a division-oriented or a project-oriented organisation. Development periods cannot be kept short and well-organised without project groups, just as technological development and the enhancement of skills will slowly but surely come to a standstill without the support of such groups and their specialists.

To overcome this bottleneck, the BMW Group's organisation concept provides for the delegation of associates from their Technical Departments to Project Teams for the duration of the concept phase. Then, in the subsequent implementation phase extending up to production clearance of the vehicle, the associates return to their original Technical Departments, naturally maintaining their close links with the Project Team.

Projects remain in place for a limited period and start several years prior to series introduction of the first model, by which time the so-called Initial Team has already established the general framework for the new model series. And when the last model comes off the line at the end of production, the organisation is disbanded. At the same time a new team sets out as the next organisation developing the next generation of the vehicle set to enter the market. This allows a smooth and consistent concept development process for future vehicles not influenced by any outside effects.

Product creation: marching in unison next to each other, not just in a row behind one another.

Through its density alone, the product development and creation process applied by the BMW Group differs from the conventional method of car development as clearly as a 21st-century computer stands out from an old slide rule. Instead of working in an ongoing succession of different jobs, the developers handle as many assignments as possible at the same time, following a multi-faceted process of simultaneous engineering in creating the final product. And just like computer technology, the BMW Group's Product Creation Process is consistently fuelled by ongoing progress: The development we see in the virtual world from 16 to 32 or 64 bit technology and beyond, is also to be found in the Product Creation Process with parallel development of an increasing number of functions, components and systems for a new generation of vehicles all at the same time. And there is another common feature, results not only being achieved more quickly, but also with growing precision improving to an ever-increasing standard.

Specifically, therefore, Development, Production and Purchasing no longer work in a row one after the other, but rather in a closely-knit network next to one another. And this special style of cooperation is characterised not by isolated, stand-alone responsibilities, but rather by a common, joint concept of project management.

Modern web technologies are of course indispensable tools: To keep everybody involved - from the project engineer to the purchasing manager, from the supplier to the designer - up-to-date at all times, all important data in the development project is always available online whenever required. Such simultaneous availability of product, process and project data in the development network obviously serves to capitalise on time and quality potentials.

The Project Building: a catalyst for creativity.

Given all its qualities and features, the Project Building is the Product Creation Process translated into reality through appropriate architecture: Applying the findings of Professors Tom Allen from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the man who already provided the fundamental philosophy for the FIZ Research and Innovation Centre, 80 per cent of all the ideas implemented here are based on direct face-to-face contact. This gives the BMW Group's new Project Building the architectural requirements for a highly efficient process of product creation, offering a working environment ideally suited to an excellent dialogue among associates.

Basic facts and figures of the Project Building: