Visit to the BMW factory

CLS_55_AMG · 24th February 2005, 17:18

During my last visit to the US, in 2002, I got a chance to visit the BMW factory which is in Greenville, SC. It so happens that my sister lives in Greenville, and her house is just 20 mins away from the Plant.

The plant has a properly organised tour, which costs around 5$ a head. It is spread over something like 200 acres of land and is simply mindblowing. Lush lawns cover most of it. At the entrance, on display was a brand new X5 painted in the colours of the US flag, shod with 20 inch chrome wheels.
Inside the plant theres a mini museum and souvenir shop from where i bought this really cool M3 keychain.
On display inside are various models from z coupe to the engine of the BMW Williams F1 engine.

The tour starts with all the visitors being given safety goggles and wireless headphones. The leader of the group uses an FM microphone and hence while we are inside, we can hear what she
says as there is too much noise inside.

The only part of the plant that is not open to visitors is the paint booth because the paint technology is a secret.

This particular plant produces all the worlds BMW X5's and Z4's accross all variants including LHD's and RHD's. They work in 3 shifts of 8 hours, hence the plant is never shut. In a day 600 new cars roll out including 400 X5's and 200 Z4's.

Before the Z4 was launched, they produced the Z3 here and hence as a tribute to the Z3 they had the last produced Z3 mounted on one of the walls at the plant.

The engines come pre assembled from Germany. The body panels and chassis are fabricated in the US itself. At any given point of time there are over 600 unpainted bodies ready to be processed. As orders are received from all over the nation and world, the ready bodies move on to the assembly line. A page containing all the different codes of the configuration of each car is stuck onto the front fender. As the car moves through various stages of production, these codes are scanned into the system and accordingly the various parts are fitted, for eg. if a particular car is with beige leather, then the robot automatically picks up the beige leather seats and installs them into the vehicle. It is just amazing how these mechanical marvels are doing everything while the humans at the plant just watch and supervise.

Once the cars are ready they go through extensive tests to ensure faultless production. They are run on dynos for a couple of minutes to ensure that the engine runs perfectly and then taken into a booth where water is sprayed at high pressure continuously for a few minutes to ensure waterproof beadings and joints.

At the end of the entire assembly is this huge, and I mean HUGE hall, something the size and magnitude of 10 aircraft hangars, that houses the ready cars. Hundreds of X5's of various colours, and hundreds of Z4's.

All in all an absolutely awesome experience, something that I wont forget for the rest of my life. In fact, I have just learnt, that at the plant itself, they have this training programme which is for 3 days where they teach various stunts such as sliding, doing doughnuts, slalom runs etc on a BMW M5, for a fee of around 1000-1200 $, so thats gonna be on the itenary of my next trip hopefully sometime this year. Will keep you guys posted on that!

P.S.: Anyone else had any experiences like this?...please make sure to post them!

ajmat · 24th February 2005, 18:49

Have visited a Nissan Ford, plant and Rover plant in the UK quite sometime ago. Visiting a BMW must have been a mega experience. Re: driving - check my track day here:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/showth...light=thruxton

Maverick5490 · 24th February 2005, 18:52

Hey man..
Boy am i jealous.. i work for a BMW service centre and am pretty happy with the experience as i get to see almost all of the Beemers around.. so i must say urs is an experince to cherish.. hope i get to do it some day.. I beleive the X3's are also produced over there now..
EnjoY!

ajmat · 24th February 2005, 18:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maverick5490

Hey man..
.. I beleive the X3's are also produced over there now..
EnjoY!

No mate, X3's are made by Steyr Puch in Austria - only car not built by BMW - everything is totally outsourced by BMW except the powertrain

Rehaan · 25th February 2005, 07:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maverick5490

i work for a BMW service centre

...and my avatar says "mitsubishi motors".

whys that??..just wondering.

Hey CLS_55_AMG,

That was a really awesome write up.... at the begining i was dissapointed to see no pics...but after reading it i didnt even need the pics!
Thanks for the info, just a few weeks ago i was trying to find out which models were made in the SC factory.

cheers
R

turbo_v12 · 25th February 2005, 10:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by ajmat

No mate, X3's are made by Steyr Puch in Austria - only car not built by BMW - everything is totally outsourced by BMW except the powertrain

No wonder Jeremy Clarkson ws no impressed by the performance of the BMW X3...The drivetrain is not by BMW as you said. The off-roader looks great but he says that the car sounds a lot more than it performs.Bet u must have found the 5$ more than worth it.

lamborghini · 25th February 2005, 11:07

Hey Cls buddy,
good write up.Now even i want to go there.5$ a head is not all that bad.Do they allow you to take pictures or no?

revtech · 25th February 2005, 14:06

hey dude
amazin write up.and thanx a lot for all the information.!!

Deeps · 25th February 2005, 17:43

Sounds like an amazing day. $5 is nothing for all that you got to see. I'd also like to know if you were allowed to take pics.

CLS_55_AMG · 26th February 2005, 00:33

Hey guys
thanks for appreciating the write up!
Yeah I was geared with my camera ( of course!...u think im stupid?!! hehe ) but sadly they didnt allow me to take it in!
Anyways, now that I work with Mercedes-Benz, I will write soon about my numerous experiences at the Plant near Pune at Pimpri.

Cheers!

lamborghini · 26th February 2005, 23:25

Hey Cls buddy, please do that.
Are the general public allowed to visit it yet?

Maverick5490 · 27th February 2005, 00:49

good point rehaan.. dint get a good BMW logo that fiits the size requirements.. so had to settle for the one that i had!!

z klasse · 27th February 2005, 01:09

General Public not allowed to visit it. I had gone there for training when i used to work there. It does not feel like India once u in. Smooth tarmac and greenery all around. Though the factory only works from 9 to 3 and a 1 hour lunch in the middle, they have a capacity to produce 6500 cars a year but they dont produce so many. Maybach and other cars are just zooming up and down going into ditches etc to hear for noises or something I guess or just some excited guy going up and down everyday in the factory.

lamborghini · 27th February 2005, 12:51

Any of you people working for mercedes driven a maybach yet?

24th February 2005, 17:18	#1
CLS_55_AMG BHPian Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Cuffe Parade, BOMBAY Posts: 153 Thanked: 370 Times	Visit to the BMW factory During my last visit to the US, in 2002, I got a chance to visit the BMW factory which is in Greenville, SC. It so happens that my sister lives in Greenville, and her house is just 20 mins away from the Plant. The plant has a properly organised tour, which costs around 5$ a head. It is spread over something like 200 acres of land and is simply mindblowing. Lush lawns cover most of it. At the entrance, on display was a brand new X5 painted in the colours of the US flag, shod with 20 inch chrome wheels. Inside the plant theres a mini museum and souvenir shop from where i bought this really cool M3 keychain. On display inside are various models from z coupe to the engine of the BMW Williams F1 engine. The tour starts with all the visitors being given safety goggles and wireless headphones. The leader of the group uses an FM microphone and hence while we are inside, we can hear what she says as there is too much noise inside. The only part of the plant that is not open to visitors is the paint booth because the paint technology is a secret. This particular plant produces all the worlds BMW X5's and Z4's accross all variants including LHD's and RHD's. They work in 3 shifts of 8 hours, hence the plant is never shut. In a day 600 new cars roll out including 400 X5's and 200 Z4's. Before the Z4 was launched, they produced the Z3 here and hence as a tribute to the Z3 they had the last produced Z3 mounted on one of the walls at the plant. The engines come pre assembled from Germany. The body panels and chassis are fabricated in the US itself. At any given point of time there are over 600 unpainted bodies ready to be processed. As orders are received from all over the nation and world, the ready bodies move on to the assembly line. A page containing all the different codes of the configuration of each car is stuck onto the front fender. As the car moves through various stages of production, these codes are scanned into the system and accordingly the various parts are fitted, for eg. if a particular car is with beige leather, then the robot automatically picks up the beige leather seats and installs them into the vehicle. It is just amazing how these mechanical marvels are doing everything while the humans at the plant just watch and supervise. Once the cars are ready they go through extensive tests to ensure faultless production. They are run on dynos for a couple of minutes to ensure that the engine runs perfectly and then taken into a booth where water is sprayed at high pressure continuously for a few minutes to ensure waterproof beadings and joints. At the end of the entire assembly is this huge, and I mean HUGE hall, something the size and magnitude of 10 aircraft hangars, that houses the ready cars. Hundreds of X5's of various colours, and hundreds of Z4's. All in all an absolutely awesome experience, something that I wont forget for the rest of my life. In fact, I have just learnt, that at the plant itself, they have this training programme which is for 3 days where they teach various stunts such as sliding, doing doughnuts, slalom runs etc on a BMW M5, for a fee of around 1000-1200 $, so thats gonna be on the itenary of my next trip hopefully sometime this year. Will keep you guys posted on that! P.S.: Anyone else had any experiences like this?...please make sure to post them!
	() Thanks

24th February 2005, 18:49	#2
ajmat Team-BHP Support Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Bangalore Posts: 14,858 Thanked: 27,925 Times View My Garage	Have visited a Nissan Ford, plant and Rover plant in the UK quite sometime ago. Visiting a BMW must have been a mega experience. Re: driving - check my track day here: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/showth...light=thruxton
	() Thanks

24th February 2005, 18:52	#3
Maverick5490 Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Thane Posts: 1,464 Thanked: 1,814 Times View My Garage	Hey man.. Boy am i jealous.. i work for a BMW service centre and am pretty happy with the experience as i get to see almost all of the Beemers around.. so i must say urs is an experince to cherish.. hope i get to do it some day.. I beleive the X3's are also produced over there now.. EnjoY!
	() Thanks

25th February 2005, 11:07	#7
lamborghini Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Mumbai Posts: 6,112 Thanked: 5,760 Times View My Garage	Hey Cls buddy, good write up.Now even i want to go there.5$ a head is not all that bad.Do they allow you to take pictures or no?
	() Thanks

25th February 2005, 14:06	#8
revtech Senior - BHPian Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Bombay Posts: 1,992 Thanked: 38 Times View My Garage	hey dude amazin write up.and thanx a lot for all the information.!!
	() Thanks

25th February 2005, 17:43	#9
Deeps Senior - BHPian Join Date: May 2004 Location: Delhi/Noida Posts: 1,116 Thanked: 170 Times	Sounds like an amazing day. $5 is nothing for all that you got to see. I'd also like to know if you were allowed to take pics.
	() Thanks

26th February 2005, 00:33	#10
CLS_55_AMG BHPian Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Cuffe Parade, BOMBAY Posts: 153 Thanked: 370 Times	Visit to the BMW factory Hey guys thanks for appreciating the write up! Yeah I was geared with my camera ( of course!...u think im stupid?!! hehe ) but sadly they didnt allow me to take it in! Anyways, now that I work with Mercedes-Benz, I will write soon about my numerous experiences at the Plant near Pune at Pimpri. Cheers!
	() Thanks

26th February 2005, 23:25	#11
lamborghini Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Mumbai Posts: 6,112 Thanked: 5,760 Times View My Garage	Hey Cls buddy, please do that. Are the general public allowed to visit it yet?
	() Thanks

27th February 2005, 00:49	#12
Maverick5490 Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Thane Posts: 1,464 Thanked: 1,814 Times View My Garage	good point rehaan.. dint get a good BMW logo that fiits the size requirements.. so had to settle for the one that i had!!
	() Thanks

27th February 2005, 01:09	#13
z klasse BHPian Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Mumbai Posts: 351 Thanked: 28 Times View My Garage	General Public not allowed to visit it. I had gone there for training when i used to work there. It does not feel like India once u in. Smooth tarmac and greenery all around. Though the factory only works from 9 to 3 and a 1 hour lunch in the middle, they have a capacity to produce 6500 cars a year but they dont produce so many. Maybach and other cars are just zooming up and down going into ditches etc to hear for noises or something I guess or just some excited guy going up and down everyday in the factory.
	() Thanks

27th February 2005, 12:51	#14
lamborghini Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Mumbai Posts: 6,112 Thanked: 5,760 Times View My Garage	Any of you people working for mercedes driven a maybach yet?
	() Thanks