EFESO presents the winners of the INDUSTRIE 4.0 AWARD 2025

Setting Standards – Shaping the Future

MUNICH, GERMANY, February 27, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The winners of the INDUSTRIE 4.0 AWARD 2025 have been announced: In the global competition organized by the operations consultancy EFESO, the BMW Group’s Dingolfing plant in Germany, CATL’s production site in Sichuan (China), and the Keysight Technologies plant in Penang (Malaysia) have been recognized for their outstanding Industry 4.0 solutions.

From numerous international applications submitted by manufacturing companies, the jury selected the 2025 award winners in the categories “Organizational Empowerment,” “Smart Factory,” and “AI Driven Production.” The distinguished jury members from different industry sectors evaluate all submissions based on anonymized project descriptions—ensuring that all applicants participate under equal conditions.

Since 2013, EFESO has annually presented the INDUSTRIE 4.0 AWARD to leading innovators in industrial digitalization and automation. The current award ceremony took place at a celebratory event featuring leading figures of Industry 4.0 under the slogan “Setting Standards – Shaping the Future,” held in Munich.

Key solution characteristics: AI adoption, empowerment, and performance

Across all submissions and especially the winning solutions of 2025, three major themes emerged:

1. Digital Foundation & Pragmatic Digitization: Industry 4.0 pioneers continue to advance their established digital infrastructures and successfully scale proven projects and use cases across departments and production sites. Technologies frequently include AI assistants and private 5G networks.

2. Improved End-to-End Performance: Many companies are implementing a “design-to-value” approach across product variants and processes. Success is reflected in tangible improvements delivered by Industry 4.0 projects in cost, time, and quality.

3. Empowered Organization: To address local challenges such as skilled labor shortages, upskilling and reskilling initiatives, along with building internal communities, play an increasingly crucial role—particularly in the context of digital transformation. Most showcased solutions have already progressed beyond the pilot phase and are now in full scaling.

The INDUSTRIE 4.0 AWARD Winners 2025

BMW Group / Dingolfing Plant – Winner in “Organizational Empowerment”

The Dingolfing plant is one of the world’s largest automotive production facilities and the BMW Group’s largest vehicle plant in Europe. Since 2021, it has been implementing digitalization, lean, and automation initiatives across multiple production segments.

Two departments submitted exemplary projects for the INDUSTRIE 4.0 AWARD: the body shop team and the paint shop team. With this third award—after the Regensburg plant (2018) and the Steyr plant (2023)—BMW once again demonstrates how a strong culture of innovation in an OEM facility leads to successfully executed transformation pathways resulting in significant real-world outcomes.

CATL / Sichuan Plant (China) – Winner in “AI Driven Production”

As one of 13 global production sites of Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL), the Sichuan plant ranks among the world’s largest lithium-ion battery manufacturers.

With rapidly rising global demand and intensifying competition, CATL has been developing a customer- and sustainability-focused end-to-end value chain closely aligned with its Industry 4.0 strategy.

The award-winning solution impressed the jury with its strong results delivered by AI tools such as deep learning, machine learning, and computer vision. Furthermore, CATL Sichuan is pioneering a standardized technical AI framework designed for scalability across other sites. The company thus achieved again a winning place in the competition for the international INDUSTRIE 4.0 AWARD after the CATL plant in Ningde in 2023 (category: Process Industry).

Keysight Technologies / Penang Plant (Malaysia) – Winner in “Smart Factory”

Keysight Technologies manufactures electronic design and test systems used in commercial 5G communication, aerospace, and the automotive industry. The Penang plant has been an established pioneer since 1972.

The award-winning project pursued multiple goals to advance digitalization and automation under a Smart Factory concept. Keysight successfully integrated several Industry 4.0 technologies into an active production line and its test center, including augmented reality, robotics, and data analytics. These technologies not only enhance work processes, such as digitally supporting manual operations, but also strengthen the factory’s flexibility and adaptability to meet future market demands.

For more information about the competition and the winning projects, please visit:
INDUSTRIE 4.0 AWARD
YouTube

Sabrina Laborde
EFESO Management Consultants
+33 1 53 53 57 00
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