BMW is one of the most well-known German companies in the world but there’s a good chance the BMWs you see on the road today were built in a small town called Spartanburg in South Carolina.
And Tech Guide got a chance to take a look inside and see how the BMW X3, X4, X5, X6, X7 and XM models are built.
The BMW Group’s Plant Spartanburg was opened 30 years ago and over that time it has expanded to more than 745,000 square metres.
BMW Manufacturing has invested more than $US13bn into the plant since it broke ground in 1992.
And the plant is still expanding with construction under way to increase the facility’s production capacity without disturbing the current production.
BMW’s mantra – performing while transforming – shows the company’s mindset that productivity will not be compromised even with construction going on around them.
The building has a central spine with several other structures called fingers leading out from this large section.
Today there are more than 1,500 vehicles produced every day with more than 11,000 staff which BMW refer to as “associates”.
To date, more than 6.5 million BMWs have been assembled at Plant Spartanburg with 60 per cent shipped to more than 120 countries.
The first car produced at the site rolled off the line in September 1994. The first X Model was produced in Spartanburg in 1999.
There are two main assembly halls – one dedicated to the X3 and X4 and the other for the X5, X6, X7 and XM models.
On this site there is a body shop where the panels are produced along with a paint shop and an assembly line that winds through the facility where the parts – inside and out are meticulously added with micrometre precision.
BMW makes both the left-hand and right-hand drive models of the X Series in the Spartanburg plant – including the models that are sold in Australia.
BMW says the plant is equipped to produce internal combustion engine vehicles, plug-in hybrids and EVs.
Tech Guide saw the cars move along conveyor belts where associates carefully added the parts and features that have been specially selected by the customers.
Most of the assembly line is manned by associates with other sections under robotic control where heavy components like the drive train and engines are installed.
Every single engine is made in Germany and shipped out to the Spartanburg plant so it becomes part of the X Series vehicles along with the doors, glass, interiors and hatches.
And the parts, components and fasteners are all automatically routed to the correct station with driverless trains that wind their way around the facility.
And at the end of the line the tyres are fitted and the completed vehicles are driven out of factory and out into the massive yards where huge transporter trucks wait to take the cars around the US or by ship to South America, Canada, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia.
BMW is also looking to the future with a $US700m investment in nearby Woodruff to build a plant that will develop and produce battery cells for BMW’s future electric vehicles.
BMW’s research and development has just produced the sixth generation of its EV battery technology that offers a 30 per cent improvement in range, 30 per cent faster charging and an energy density increase of 20 per cent.
BMW also showed off its new Virtual Reality training so an associate can get up to speed and train up on what’s required in various department using a headset and a course that uses VR to provide an immersive training experience that is low cost and sustainable.
The Spartanburg facility also includes a museum which showcases all the vehicles BMW has produced at the plant over the last 30 years.
It provides an amazing walk down memory lane and an insight into the company’s rich heritage and culture.
* Stephen Fenech travelled to the US as a guest of the BMW Group
