Smart Factory Day 2026: Automation of Cable Harness Production

The 'Next2OEM' project, presented by Audi at the Smart Factory Day, focuses on fully automating cable harness production from wiring to vehicle integration. A demonstrator in Ingolstadt spans 400 square meters, covering cable harness manufacturing, pre-assembly in the center console, and vehicle assembly.

Supported by ten industry and academic partners, the project aims to leverage new E/E architectures and increasing vehicle integration density to foster innovative production concepts. Key elements include Design for Automation and a semantic-graph-based digital information model that connects product, process, and facility data, facilitating robust automation and future AI applications. The project's success will depend on automation-friendly product design, digital continuity in cross-company data environments, and collaboration across the value chain.