BMW Dingolfing improves packaging efficiency with AI-powered container management

BMW’s plant in Dingolfing, Germany has partnered with students from Landshut University of Applied Sciences to develop an innovative solution for plant logistics, using AI to make container management more efficient, saving time and avoiding errors.

The partnership has developed a tool that automates the counting of empty containers using AI. At the plant, around 1,600 different types of containers are in circulation every day, and had until now been counted manually. Now, a video of the containers taken on a mobile phone can be used to determine the exact number per container variant, due to QR codes placed above the block storage lanes which link to a database of container data. The AI analyses the video and calculates the number of containers in real-time.

“Our goal was to automate empties counting as efficiently and simply as possible,” said Wolfgang Schratzenstaller, project manager, BMW Group Plant in Dingolfing.

“Students bring in new perspectives and unbiased approaches,” Schratzenstaller added. Within just three months, the eight-person team developed the cost-effective solution. An IT masters’ student who worked on the project, Dominik Dama, explained: “QR codes are places above the block storage lanes, which link to a database of container data. The AI analyses the video and calculates the number of containers.”

The system is currently in the pilot phase to test its performance, but BMW hopes the solution will be scaled and used in other areas of plant logistics in the future. It is also planned to further automate the counting process by using autonomous Smart Transport Robots (STR) to record the videos.