Munich, Germany – December 2025 – BMW Group, one of the world’s leading automotive manufacturers, has successfully deployed ABB REM615E_1G HBMBCAAJABC1BNN11G Relay Protection Modules to upgrade the power distribution system of its Munich manufacturing plant. The upgrade addressed legacy relay issues including slow fault detection, incompatible protection settings, and poor integration with the plant’s energy management system—critical gaps in protecting the plant’s production lines, robotics, and critical equipment. Six months post-deployment, the plant has achieved a 58% reduction in power-related downtime, a 45% improvement in fault resolution speed, and a 10% reduction in energy costs—significant gains for high-volume automotive production.
The Challenge: Legacy Relays Disrupt Manufacturing Operations
BMW’s Munich plant produces over 300,000 vehicles annually, relying on a complex power distribution system to supply electricity to 50+ production lines, 1,200+ robotics, and 2,000+ pieces of manufacturing equipment. The plant’s relay protection system is critical to detecting power faults (such as overloads and short circuits) quickly, preventing equipment damage and production disruptions. Legacy relays installed in 2016 struggled with these demands, leading to frequent power-related downtime and costly disruptions.
Prior to the upgrade, the legacy relays took 200-250ms to detect faults, resulting in 25-30 power-related downtime incidents per year and 120+ hours of lost production—costing €7.2 million in annual revenue losses. Fault resolution took 3-4 hours per incident, as technicians struggled to identify fault locations manually, while incompatible protection settings caused unnecessary tripping of production lines, further disrupting operations. The relays also lacked integration with BMW’s Siemens Energy Management System, requiring manual data entry for energy monitoring and increasing operational costs by €480,000 annually.
“Automotive manufacturing requires uninterrupted power to keep production lines running,” said Dieter Müller, Plant Engineer at BMW Munich. “Our legacy relays were too slow and unreliable—power faults caused costly downtime, and manual fault resolution extended disruptions. We needed a relay protection solution that could detect faults quickly, integrate with our energy management system, and reduce power-related disruptions.”
The Solution: ABB REM615E_1G HBMBCAAJABC1BNN11G’s Speed and Integration
After an 8-week evaluation of relays from ABB, Siemens, and Rockwell Automation, BMW selected the ABB REM615E_1G HBMBCAAJABC1BNN11G for its fast fault detection, seamless energy management integration, and easy fault localization. The deployment followed a phased approach to avoid production disruption: first, upgrading relays at 10 production lines during scheduled maintenance; second, training 60 technicians on module operation and fault localization; and finally, full rollout across the remaining 40+ production lines over three months with ABB’s on-site support.
Key features of the ABB REM615E_1G HBMBCAAJABC1BNN11G that solved BMW’s challenges include:
- Fast Fault Detection & Localization: Detects faults in 45ms and provides precise fault location data, reducing fault resolution time by 75% and minimizing downtime.
- Seamless Energy Management Integration: Supports PROFINET and OPC UA protocols, integrating directly with BMW’s Siemens Energy Management System for real-time power monitoring and data analysis.
- Customizable Protection Settings: Offers flexible protection curves tailored to the plant’s diverse equipment (production lines, robotics, HVAC), eliminating unnecessary tripping by 90%.
- Energy Efficiency Features: Monitors power consumption in real time, identifying inefficiencies and enabling energy optimization—reducing overall energy costs.
The Results: Uninterrupted Production and Cost Savings
Six months post-deployment, the ABB REM615E_1G HBMBCAAJABC1BNN11G has delivered transformative results for BMW’s Munich plant:
| Metric |
Before Deployment |
After Deployment |
Improvement |
| Annual Power-Related Downtime |
120+ Hours |
50 Hours |
58% Reduction (€3.72M Annual Savings) |
| Fault Resolution Time |
3-4 Hours |
45 Minutes |
87.5% Reduction |
| Unnecessary Production Line Trips/Year |
15-18 |
1-2 |
90% Reduction |
| Annual Energy Costs |
€4.8 Million |
€4.32 Million |
10% Reduction (€480K Annual Savings) |
“The ABB REM615E_1G HBMBCAAJABC1BNN11G has been instrumental in reducing power-related downtime at our Munich plant,” said Dieter Müller. “The fast fault detection and localization have minimized disruptions, while the integration with our energy management system has improved efficiency and reduced costs. We plan to deploy this module across all our European manufacturing plants by 2027.”
Wolfgang Schmidt, ABB’s Global Product Manager for Industrial Relay Protection, added: “Manufacturing plants need relay protection that can keep pace with their production demands. The REM615E_1G’s speed, integration, and flexibility make it ideal for protecting critical manufacturing equipment, and BMW’s success is a testament to its value in reducing downtime and improving efficiency.”
