Presented by Celonis


Is the smart use of process intelligence the best route to digital transformation? BMW Group thinks so. Over the last eight years, the €155-billion ($US167-billion) automaker has increasingly focused its efforts to create a more agile, efficient and innovative global company by giving employees advanced tools and AI to model, analyze and optimize manufacturing, sales, service and other end-to-end processes, including its supply chains.

BMW’s commitment is not merely a cost-cutting exercise — it’s a forward-thinking strategy designed to maintain competitive edge in a world of “VUCA” (volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity) says Dr. Patrick Lechner, BMW Head of Process Intelligence, Robotics Process Automation, & Low-Code/No-Code.  By embracing process intelligence (PI) and artificial intelligence (AI) across its operations, BMW aims to streamline processes, boost efficiency and enable data-driven decisions at every level of the company.

“The automotive world is changing so fast, and the nature of change has changed,” Lechner says. “Electric vehicle adoption is increasingly fast. There are new players and new sales models, including online.  So, we really have to adapt constantly to challenges by new competitors, to new demands in the outside world. By optimizing our processes, we create additional benefit for our customers.”

BMW’s benefits from optimized processes

BMW credits process improvements for impressive and growing benefits across the company. Among them:

Enhanced production efficiency. By analyzing the minutiae of its production line processes, BMW has optimized resource allocation, minimizing delays and waste. This process overhaul has led to improved manufacturing timelines, shorter production cycles and cost efficiencies.                    

Supply chain optimization. BMW’s global supply chain is complex and involves hundreds of suppliers and distributors. By utilizing process intelligence to track each step and transaction, BMW has streamlined its inventory management, reducing excess stock and ensuring parts are available when needed.      

Increased Automation. Through its citizen developer program, BMW employees have implemented over 1,100 business process automations, reducing manual work and fostering a culture of continuous improvement.

Customer service and experience improvements. By examining the processes behind customer support and warranty claims, BMW has been able to speed up service response times and resolve issues faster. This not only reduces costs but also boosts customer satisfaction.

BMW leads a quiet global revolution

In an era when automotive innovation extends far beyond engines and chassis, BMW’s commitment, scale of adoption and value realized has made it a leader in a quiet global revolution that uses advanced tools, process intelligence and AI to find and unlock hidden value, notes Lars Reinkemeyer, editor of Process Intelligence in Action, and chief evangelist at Celonis, the pioneer and leading global market vendor in the space. 

Every one of the 2.5 million cars sold in 140 countries by BMW Group has been touched by at least one optimized Celonis process. BMW officials say that’s just the start.

Eight years after two initial proof-of-concepts in a Munich plant, business and technology leaders at the automaker continue to put the “pedal to the metal” to transformation driven by applying process intelligence to high-value business cases. Recent implementation of the Celonis Process Intelligence Platform provides a 360-degree digital overview of the entire supply chain — from vehicle development to customer delivery and subsequent service. Having a holistic view lets BMW visualize, analyze and refine its entire operational landscape, enabling faster, data-driven decision-making that keeps the company agile.

In March, BMW and Celonis announced the deepening of a strategic alliance to develop new process innovations. And at the annual Celosphere event in Munich in October, the automaker discussed several new initiatives to expand ecosystem-wide process optimization.

BMW’s process intelligence initiatives roll on

Long known for its engineering prowess, BMW continues to leverage advanced process intelligence tools to ensure that every facet of its business, from parts procurement to customer support, is running as smoothly and efficiently as its legendary engines. Among key initiatives for 2025:

Expanded use of predictive analytics. The company plans to use predictive insights provided by process intelligence to anticipate and mitigate supply chain disruptions. The goal is to forecast demand and supply with greater accuracy, enabling the company to adjust its logistics strategies and avoid bottlenecks before they arise.

Real-time process monitoring for customer service. With customer expectations continually rising, BMW is extending its process intelligence capabilities into customer service workflows, tracking the progress of each case in real-time to minimize delays and deliver a superior service experience.

Sustainability monitoring across processes. A major initiative aims to make all processes more sustainable. By using process intelligence to identify high-energy consumption points within its operations, BMW plans to take targeted actions to cut down on emissions and waste.

Continued expansion to non-expert users. Democratizing the use of process tools has been a key goal of BMW efforts from the beginning. To this end, the company is rolling out Copilots and conversational AI agents to help non-expert users understand how to optimize their daily work and improve training, self-service and user experience.

Extending beyond the organization. BMW is working to extend process intelligence capabilities across its entire network of suppliers and dealers to ensure their operations align with BMW’s high standards. By extending process intelligence across this ecosystem, BMW can ensure consistent quality, minimize delivery delays, better manage inventory and reduce costs throughout the production lifecycle.

Innovating beyond core products

BMW’s ongoing commitment to process intelligence and optimization is a world-class example of how a century-old legacy brand is innovating beyond its core products.

As a highly complex organization, the BMW Group faces processes that span multiple divisions, from vehicle manufacturing to supply chain management. As global markets change, customer demands increase and new technologies emerge, Lechner says, BMW recognizes the critical importance of making these processes as agile and efficient as possible.

Process intelligence takes data from systems like ERPs, CRMS, and Excel and uses process intelligence and AI technology, augmented with business context to create a living, moving digital twin of a business’s end-to-end processes. It then lets BMW extract valuable insights to pinpoint inefficiencies that would be hard to see with traditional analysis methods. That helps the company’s business and technology leaders identify inefficiencies, make data-driven decisions and drive real change across its operations.

To fuel transformation, BMW follows four steps: process modeling, mining and analysis, automation and workflow support, and digitalization. This “infinite loop” is at the core of BMW efforts to build a “global process excellence spirit”, explains Lechner.  

Today, BMW boasts more than 100 process intelligence use cases. This effort is transforming BMW into an organization where process excellence is not confined to a single department but permeates every facet of the company’s operations. 

Empowered workers lead the transformation    

A rich and growing technological foundation supports digital transformation by enabling every employee to make data-driven decisions, automate their most repetitive tasks and digitalize processes whenever possible.

Celonis Process Intelligence,  powered by process mining and AI, anchors BMW’s suite of digital tools. These enable the collection and analysis of process data that gives BMW a common language to see how their business is running and capture hidden value. 

The ultimate goal, says Lechner, is to transform BMW into an organization where process excellence permeates every facet of the company’s operations. He sees a circle of process improvement with ongoing digital transformation and innovation as intertwined goals.

Adds Celonis’s Reinkemeyer: “Unprecedented process intelligence gives BMW and other companies a central decision-making tool to take the right measures, quickly create added value and become more efficient overall.” 

At BMW, continued expansion and democratization of process excellence is setting a new standard for operational excellence and innovation, concludes Lechner. A culture of continuous process-driven transformation paves the way for greater efficiency, sustainability and customer satisfaction.

To BMW, it’s clear: the process of digital transformation rides on process.


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