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The current challenges of the automotive industry illustrate the importance of a clear picture for an innovative, next generation General Assembly, supported by a roadmap for future oriented advanced manufacturing technologies. Based on the profound analysis of the existing technology portfolio a vision of a desired state of a future oriented lean assembly plant is developed. This paper defines the gap for needed technology, explains the criteria for future assembly technology and describes the roadmaps to accomplish the vision of next generation General Assembly. The strategies are explained and some projects will be shown as example for the roadmaps to increase the competitiveness. The current economical crisis led to a drop of production volume up to 50%. This disclosed that current assembly plants are not set up for volume flexibility. Line speed changes require massive changes in process and assembly operations.