2012 BMW 3 Series production on the way

[BlackE90]

It seems like BMW have adopted an admirable attitude about the future of the new 2012 3 Series. They’ve talked about it long enough, they might as well get down to making it.With that in mind, note that the Bavarian company’s Munich plant flipped the ON switch the production line that will roll out brand new F30 3 Series.

The plant received a considerable investment in order to be ready to push out the F30 BMW 3 Series the company hopes to, and probably will, sell in enormous numbers.Some serious cash flow went into the Munich plant and when the books were done, a total of more than 700 million dollars had been credited to this upgrade.

This expansion pushes the plant up to around 700.000 square feet of “live” floor space as it spreads over five floors of height.The end result is around 9000 new jobs and the ability to make around 680 units of the F30 BMW 3 Series each day at the moment, eventually going up to as much as 900 units.

Those figures are most likely to be justified as the Munich plant will be the main facility the Bavarians will use to manufacture the 2012 BMW 3 Series.A highlight of this plant will be a new enormous press that can 600 tons of steel per day, enough to cover for all the F30 BMW 3 Series units and a wide range of engines that’ll be made there, including the stuff the M Division uses and the Rolls Royce powerplants.

 

[Herbert]

Anything similar to BMW Kulim SKD factory?

 

[BlackE90]

Here are more pictures of F30 in Munich assembly plant.

P/S: For those OM whom had signed up for Kulim Plant visit, will get to witness these identical assembly processes.

 

[BlackE90]

German engineering at it’s best.

 

[BlackE90]

This is a video of making & assembling the E46.

 

[bmw7833]

The 2012 BMW 3 Series Modern Line vehicle was photographed at the Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam. Aside from the black metallic paint, other obvious features are completely redesigned headlights, 3D kidney grill, L-shaped rear lights and wider track.

Source: Autojunk.nl » Spots van de straat

 

[ALBundy]

Anything similar to BMW Kulim SKD factory?

I went to this plant in 2009. It's actually about an hour from Munich and located at a town called Regensburg. Pretty much everything is done at the factory from steel pressing to spraying, and everything is more or less automated like you see in the pictures. The amazing part is the accuracy of the sequencing of engines+transmission+subframe when "married" to the chassis.

In Kulim, the plant is considered as a Low Volume Production Plant (LVP). The car shell is fully imported and hence now its now as SKD (Semi Knocked Down) instead of CKD (Completely Knocked Down). The assembly line resembles a horse shoe, and the shell is fixed on a moveable jig and moved from one end till the other end. However the testing procedures remains similar to what I saw in Germany. Nevertheless it is always interesting to see how a car is assembled and I am sure all of you will enjoyed it.

Cheers

 

[ceteh]

Fantastic information ... Thanks for sharing! About the Kulim plant visit, is it open to public or restricted BMW owner? Thanks.

 

[morrogan]

Sorry... off track and hijack the thread a bit. If I am not mistaken, Proton's Tanjung Malim plant is just as advance as the BMW plant. The press, robot and flow design are from Japan. Panels are laser cut to precision. I never been to BMW plant yet so cannot comment/compare much. I believe the Kulim plant is just equivalent to a single shop in Proton plant (i.e. the trim and final assembly shop) whereby the whole plant consists of Stamping Shop, Engine and Transmission Shop, Paint Shop, Body Shop, Trim and Final Shop and a test track.

 

[e46_UDM]

found this on autoblog... enjoy...

http://www.autoblog.com/2011/11/18/2012-bmw-3-series-first-drive-review-video/

 

[azam9636]

Me and my wife visited Munich's BMW plant in March this year. We purposedly arranged to visit Munich in our Europe Tour. I think we paid around 12euros per person for the plant tour where we walked into the live plant to observe the making of BMW cars.

We actually wished to see the 5 series plant but we were told that the 5 series were manufactured at Dingolfing. Nevertheless, the plant tour was still a great experience. Our plant tour was lead by a BMW engineer so we got to ask some technical questions during the tour (my wife was previously from Proton). What we have observed was the robotic arms at the production lines were just super awesome!! Coping up with the demand, Munich's plant was rather cramped with floors of production lines due to the limited factory area. However, the layout placement of the robotic arms and the sequences were excellently designed to fit these space limitations. The best part about these lines are they are not fixed for just a model. The lines were designed to also fit other models (touring, coupe, etc.) which we think is a good planning arrangement.

Each and every engine was personally attended by an operator and they were holding and referring to the manual for each engine they are attending to. I suppose this is a way they are trying to avoid complacency among operators and spot any deficiency on the engine parts.

You can also visit the awesome BMW Welt and its BMW museum. You'll get to take photos with the BMW car models and we were lucky enough to get our photos taken by the BMW staff, printed and given to us for free (with a simple BMW photo frame). You will also get to shop for your BMW merchandises at the BMW shop. Here you will get to buy all types of BMW merchandises ranging from the t-shirts to quick-fix paint for your car and also baby's BMW car seat!

If you are visiting Munich, don't miss the chance to go for their plant tour. Arrive early as there will be a few tour sessions in a day as each plant tour will take approx 3 hours. You may also visit 1972 Olympic Stadium (Olympia Park) located wthin walking distance with the BMW Welt.

 

[docrayboy]

Exactly the way you decribed.....only 1 thing I would add, get the Plant Tour tickets 6 months before the date you want to go. They are that popular! Only managed to get in the plant tour last week because BMW Malaysia helped me! And...lucky also they gave me and my son free tickets for the plant and the Welt tours! Thanks also to BMWCM!

I am here in Europe and tomorrow will go for this event......


Night of White Gloves at BMW Museum
The Night of the White Gloves at the BMW Museum. +++Visitors are invited to handle historic exhibits covering 95 years of BMW brand history.
Munich. Forbidden fruit is always the sweetest. Which is why the BMW Museum is about to stage its fourth “Night of the White Gloves”. From 19.00 hrs on 25 November, visitors to the Museum will don a pair of white gloves and then be allowed to stroke all the cars they are normally only permitted to caress with their eyes.

Up until midnight, 125 exhibits – comprising cars, motorcycles and engines – can be closely scrutinised and freely touched. They include classics that were and remain rarities, such as the BMW 328, unveiled 75 years ago and running to just 464 units built. “This is now the fourth time that we are staging this special evening at which visitors are granted an opportunity to experience the 95-year-old history of the BMW brand not just first-hand, but literally hands-on. The ‘Night of the White Gloves’ has become a firm fixture in our calendar of events and we are delighted at its popularity as reflected in the sheer number of visitors,” said Dr Ralf Rodepeter, Head of the BMW Museum.


The Night of the White Gloves at the BMW Museum:

When: 25 November 2011, 19.00 hrs to 24.00 hrs

Where: BMW Museum

Am Olympiapark 2
80809 München