BMW's 1,700 new ABB robots share one controller in Munich and Tiexi
More than 1,700 ABB robots are going into BMW body shops in Munich and Tiexi, China, to weld, glue, rivet and assemble Neue Klasse car bodies, with every unit on ABB’s OmniCore controller. The order spans three models across two related families that share components and a common footprint, which ABB says supports flexible installation and changeouts. ABB’s "up to 20%" controller claim and "up to 30%" robot-family claim use different baselines and shouldn’t be treated as the same number.
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Key takeaways
ABB's up to 20% energy figure compares OmniCore with its predecessor controller. The up to 30% figure for the IRB 7710/7720 family already includes that controller regeneration, so the two shouldn't be added together in a business case.
For plants that move stations between payload classes, a shared footprint and standardized components across robot sizes belong on the spec sheet next to payload and reach.
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More than 1,700 ABB robots are going into BMW body shops in Munich and in Tiexi, China. There they will weld, glue, rivet and assemble car bodies for the Neue Klasse, BMW's new vehicle generation. ABB Robotics announced the supply deal on November 11, 2026. At BMW's main plant in Munich, the robots' work includes building the fully electric Neue Klasse models.
The robot count makes the headline. For anyone who specifies or runs a body shop, the more useful detail is how uniform the order is. It covers three robot models from two closely related families, which share mechanical components and a common footprint, and every unit runs the same controller generation. ABB says that uniformity is where the flexibility comes from. In the company's announcement, Joerg Reger, who leads ABB Robotics' automotive business, described the work with BMW as a shared vision of flexible, future-proof production.
Three payload sizes on one footprint
ABB's announcement, also carried by Automotive World and Controls Drives & Automation, lists the IRB 6720, the IRB 6740 and the IRB 7720. All three are optimized for car-body construction, with payloads up to 620 kilograms. Securities.io pulled together ABB's product listings to give the rating for each model:
What BMW's body shops are getting
ABB product listings, compiled by Securities.io
Body work involves several different jobs, so a range of robot sizes makes sense. ABB lists the IRB 67X0 family for precise car-body assembly and spot welding, along with material handling, gluing and machine tending. The heavier IRB 7710 and IRB 7720 family can also do high-payload assembly and handling, press tending, machining and friction-stir welding. Manufacturing Digital's Tabitha Woolcott adds battery handling to the heavier assembly jobs in the BMW deployment, which fits a body shop that builds battery-electric cars.
The mechanical detail matters most here. The IRB 7720 uses the same modular design as the IRB 67X0 family, with standardized components across ABB's large robots and a common footprint. ABB says this makes it faster and more flexible to install robots when they're changed out on different production lines. Suppose a station has to move from the 310 kg class to the 620 kg class. A shared footprint could limit how much of the cell has to be rebuilt. Standardized components also suggest a shorter spare-parts list across the two plants. The sources don't quantify either effect.
OmniCore and the commissioning clock
Every robot in the order uses ABB's latest OmniCore controller. ABB says the platform can connect AI, sensor, cloud and edge technology, and that it includes energy recovery. According to Manufacturing Digital, ABB calls OmniCore an automation control and cybersecurity system, and the platform manages robot movement and supports coordination with other manufacturing equipment.
Every one of the 1,700 robots runs the same generation of ABB's OmniCore controller, so the Munich and Shenyang body shops will commission and tune one machine family on two continents. ABB says OmniCore and its commissioning system can cut commissioning from weeks to days. Automotive World made the practical point: a shorter start-up counts for more when a new vehicle generation is entering production at two plants on different continents. If ABB's claim holds, BMW gets the time back at both sites, during the same model launch.
The same platform at both plants also means a programming fix or a commissioning lesson learned in one shop is written for the same controller the other shop runs. That is an inference from the shared platform, not something BMW or ABB has described. It's still the main reason an automation buyer would choose standardization at this scale.
Reading the 20% and the 30%
ABB makes two energy claims, and they are easy to mix up. OmniCore is rated at up to 20% energy savings compared with the controller it replaces, by regenerating energy and returning power to the grid. Separately, ABB claims the IRB 7710 and IRB 7720 family uses up to 30% less energy and has up to 25% shorter cycle times. According to Securities.io's comparison of ABB's figures, the family's 30% combines the robot's own design with OmniCore's regeneration.
The two figures overlap. The up to 20% compares controller with controller. The up to 30% compares robot family with robot family and already includes the controller's regeneration. Adding them in a savings estimate would count OmniCore twice.
This matters for the person who has to build the energy business case. For a plant whose heavy stations would run IRB 7720-class robots, the 30% family figure is the relevant ceiling. For lighter IRB 67X0 stations, the controller comparison is the cleaner reference. Both are vendor 'up to' figures. None of the coverage ties either number to BMW's actual operating conditions, so treat them as the top of the range.
BMW and ABB have bought at this scale before
A reasonable objection is that 1,700 robots sounds unusual, and for this pair it isn't. Manufacturing Digital reports that ABB has supplied BMW since 2009, including robots for diesel models and engines. The two companies also signed an earlier five-year agreement for 2,100 robots across BMW plants in Germany, the UK and the US. So the size of the order fits the relationship. What's new is the hardware generation and the single controller behind it.
BMW's schedule explains the timing. BMW started production of its first Neue Klasse model in 2025 and plans 40 new models and updates by 2027, according to Manufacturing Digital, which also notes that the Munich plant is being adapted for Neue Klasse production. That is a lot of body variants going through new lines in a short time. In that situation, robot swaps and fast commissioning save weeks on the launch schedule.
An earlier ABB order gives a useful comparison. In 2020, ABB announced 800 robots for the body shop at Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles' Hanover plant, for the all-electric ID. Buzz. By simple arithmetic, the BMW order is more than twice that. The labor numbers point the same way. Deloitte's 2025 Smart Manufacturing Survey, cited by Manufacturing Digital, found 48% of surveyed executives struggling to fill production roles and 46% making process automation an investment priority.
Questions for the next body-shop robot spec
For manufacturing engineers and automation buyers planning their own EV body-shop lines, the BMW order suggests questions to ask early, while specifications are still being written. These are editorial recommendations, not requirements from the deal:
- Which baseline does each energy claim use: the previous controller, the previous robot family, or both? Ask before any percentage goes into a savings model.
- Do the payload classes you need share a footprint and standardized components, so a station can be upsized without rebuilding the cell?
- What exactly does 'weeks to days' commissioning cover, and can it be repeated at a second plant running the same controller?
The real test will come as Neue Klasse production grows toward BMW's 2027 model target. If commissioning times and energy use in Munich and Tiexi come close to ABB's ceilings, one controller across a global body-shop network becomes a much easier line item for the next automotive capital request.
Sources
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