MHP and ADMARES relocate building production to highly automated smart factory

There is currently no globally established concept for cost-efficient, industrialized building construction on a large scale. ADMARES wants to change this and is pursuing a new approach: The production of residential buildings is being moved away from conventional construction methods, which are predominantly location-bound, and relocated to a highly automated smart factory.

Together with management and IT consultancy MHP, Porsche Consulting, EDAG Group, and Siemens Digital Industries Software, ADMARES has developed a digital manufacturing system designed to make the production of modular buildings faster, more efficient, and more flexible. The planned 310,000 square meters production facility will be capable of producing up to 16,320 smart homes per year – more than 50 units per working day.

“The building modules leave the factory fully equipped and ready for occupancy,” explains Maximilian Sander, Partner at MHP and project manager. “The entire process – from product development to delivery – is virtually planned, configured, simulated, and continuously optimized with the help of digital twins.”

Strategic consulting provides orientation and planning security

MHP has supported ADMARES as a strategic partner since the start of the project. Its consulting services include developing a comprehensive operational and IT strategy, defining the target digital architecture, and planning the next steps in the digitalization process. In the initial phase, the focus was on fundamental strategic questions: Which digitalization concepts enable scalable production? Which digital capabilities does ADMARES need in the long term? And how can this be used to develop a sustainable investment model?

This strategic groundwork forms the basis for all further project steps and ensures transparency, clarity, and investment security even before operational solutions are implemented. Building on this, MHP and its partners develop concrete technological solutions – from product life cycle management (PLM) and manufacturing IT to digital services for the buildings themselves. The result: a consistent digital ecosystem that combines design, simulation, configuration, and operation via an intelligent IT architecture. Changes to product variants are automatically incorporated into the simulation models, thereby increasing planning reliability. At the same time, the digital approach ensures a consistent database and a high degree of automation.

ADMARES did not have to take existing structures into account and was therefore able to completely redesign the processes of its first smart factory from scratch using digital technology. Even before the first machine was installed, all production processes and layouts were planned and simulated virtually. The results include around 30 percent lower initial investment, a minimum required plant availability of less than 90 percent, and a highly flexible production design.

Automotive expertise transferred to residential construction

With its approach, ADMARES transfers proven methods from the automotive industry – such as standardized processes, digital planning, and automated manufacturing – directly to residential construction. “Together with ADMARES and our partners, we are designing a fully digital value chain – from strategic alignment and IT architecture to scalable smart factories,” explains Federico Magno, Group CEO at MHP. “The project shows how we combine technological expertise with a deep understanding of industry and business, successfully transferring our automotive and manufacturing excellence to new industries. This creates a new level of industrial performance for residential construction – faster, more precise, and more economical.”

Concepts such as modular platforms, just-in-time delivery, and digital twins are already being used in parts of the construction industry. However, ADMARES goes one step further: With a fully digital value chain, a high degree of automation, and a highly vertically integrated production model, a scalable concept for the efficient industrial series production of ready-to-move-in residential buildings is being developed in collaboration with MHP and other partners.