ABB robots power Mini output at VDL Nedcar

Just as ABB robots provide the backbone of automation at BMW’s Plant Oxford in the UK, which has just started to build the Mini 5-door Hatch, so it is at VDL Nedcar in Born, Holland where ABB robots form the backbone of automation in the body-in-white shop.

According to sources, VDL Nedcar has nearly 1,000 robots on site, with most of them provided by the Swedish robot maker ABB. However, some robots have been shipped in by German automation specialist KUKA of Augsburg.

VDL Nedcar ready for Mini Hatch

Production workers at VDL Nedcar’s facility are currently on summer shutdown, but when they return manufacture of the Mini Hatch will begin.

VDL Nedcar in will re-open the factory in Born in mid-July.

BMW to make Mini in Mexico?

Rumours are circulating that BMW is set to manufacture at least one of its Mini range alongside BMW 3-Series and 1-Series in Mexico.

With Mini production now getting ready to roll at VDL NedCar in Holland, reports are surfacing that parent BMW is looking at further possibilities to expand production of the brand in potentially lower-cost regions close to new and expanding markets.

Mini on target to roll at VDL Nedcar

BMW Group is to begin production of the Mini hatch this summer at VDL Nedcar, according to board chairman Norbert Reithofer.

He added that the parent company is expecting even more from the brand this year with the launch of the new generation model this spring and additional volume from the Netherlands in the summer.

ABB wins prestige Mini robot contract

Swedish robotics vendor ABB has won a contract to supply robots and factory automation equipment to produce the next generation of Mini at the car maker’s UK plant.

The UK plant at Oxford, which is the company’s main stay for the production of the Mini range of cars, is set to install 1,000 robots as part of its next phase of expansion to raise output from 200,000 to 280,000 in the near term.