Industry 4.0 Brings Borgward Back to Bremen

The original Borgward plant in Bremen. (Image courtesy of Borgward.)

Reshoring tends to be discussed in terms of bringing jobs from China and Mexico back to America, especially in an election year. It’s easy to forget that the U.S. hasn’t been the only country to see manufacturing jobs shipped off to other, less costly shores.

By the same token, America isn’t the only country anticipating reshoring via advanced manufacturing technologies. Germany, for example, will see auto manufacturer Borgward return to Bremen, where a new facility will begin producing cars for the first time in more than fifty years thanks to Industry 4.0.

Borgward Returns to Bremen

The German automotive company produced around 1.2 million Borgward, Lloyd, and Goliath brand vehicles in Bremen from the 1920s until well into Germany's "economic miracle" era in the 1950s. Borgward decided to return to its origins not only for the location’s logistical value, but also because of the availability of skilled workers and the region’s supplier industry, which the company holds in high regard.

“By taking this step, we are demonstrating our commitment to Germany as an industrial location and to our own heritage,” said Ulrich Walker, CEO of Borgward Group AG. “Naturally, our return here is also of symbolic significance, as today marks the beginning of a successful cooperation between the city, the state and Borgward."

The BX7. (Image courtesy of Borgward.)

The exact location of the production facility will be decided sometime in the weeks ahead. According to Walker, Borgward is currently holding in-depth talks about the final location with potential production partners, property owners and the State of Bremen.

The company stated that between 50 and 100 jobs will be created during the initial phase, during which it will build an assembly hall with approximately 108,000 sq ft of floor space. Ultimately, Borgward plans to create an SKD manufacturing facility with a production capacity of up to 10,000 vehicles per year.

“Production will be designed from the ground up to be flexible and organized in such a way that we can adjust - and thus increase - production output and the number of models to the demand at any time as we enter other European markets,” said Walker.

Borgward and Industry 4.0

The company has made clear its intention to base the technological aspects of its Bremen facility on the Industry 4.0 standard. That means the facility will be designed as a smart factory, with interconnected equipment and scalable production lines. Interestingly, it will be modeled on the company’s plant in Miyun, China, which opened earlier this year.

Borgward has stated that the Miyun plant will serve as the home plant for the company’s global production network, collecting and evaluating feedback from other production locations and then distributing it to the rest of the network. The aim of this approach is to ensure a continuous transfer of knowledge between business units in order to foster increases in overall product quality.

So even though it’s not quite what it once was—imagine if GM moved its headquarters to Tokyo and Detroit became a mere satellite office—Borgward is coming home, all thanks to Industry 4.0.

Now if we could only convince all the other automakers to follow suit…

For more information, visit the Borgward website.