BMW CLub Malaysia Official Visit to Inokom Assembly Plant

[ALBundy]

BMW Club Malaysia has recently been given the honour and opportunity to visit the Inokom assembly plant at Kulim where the BMWs sold in Malaysia are assembled. This plant is a Low Volume Production (LVP) plant and hence manual labour is extensively employed and each car takes about 70 man hours to produce. Other similar LVP plants around the world are in Thailand, India, Indonesia, Russia, Egypt and the Philippines. As of 2008, all the BMWs assembled locally comes with a completely welded and painted bodyshell from Germany, covered with the necessary protection to prevent any dinks and scratches. Previously, the panels were welded locally at the previous plant at Shah Alam. I did some close inspection and noticed even the inner parts of the shell were painted, which was a pleasant surprise as I remember during my visit to the Regensburg plant, the interior was not painted with the car's color. We were shown how the body shell is uncovered and the inspection that was done before "other parts" are bolted onto the car. The engine and transmission come pre-assembled from Germany and all is needed is to mate the two together, with other ancillaries such as alternator and so on. Almost all the parts bolted on the car are from Germany and about 25-30%local content was used, as part of the government's initiative to promote growth in the local automotive industry. The local content used are all up to BMW's stringest standards and as such the cars built in this plant is of no difference to a CBU unit in terms of quality and reliability. There is a dedicated line for BMWs only, and in this plant only the E90 (320i, 323i, 325i and 320D) and E60 (523i 525i and 530i) are assembled. Upon the completion of the assembling process, the cars are all subjected to strict quality assessment process similar to any BMW plant in the world. In additional to that, random quality checks are conducted and this results determine the efficacy of the assembling plant, and if the results are deemed unworthy the assembling line will be stopped!! From the audit data presented to us, the BMWs assembled here are amongst the best compared to other LVP plants, the other plant being consistently high is at Thailand. For this trip, there were officially 32 cars that joined the convoy and more than 60 participants took part in this event, which I believed is one the biggest "expedition" ever done by the club. The drive up north was exciting and buzz is still very much evident amongst the members, what not when 32 Ultimate Driving Machines are in sight on the highway! The rest of the story shall not be posted here, but do join us for our coming Teh Tarik session!! Some pictures to be shared with all of you, will post more once I get clearance from the authority At the Tapah R&R with the members, Pussy aka Felix, Anakin and Bluepanther

InitialM, ShahyrulN and Affan

Mr. Choong, Jyazid and Mr.Loke and Son

Fabian, GilaJazz, Etquah, Thomas, Jarance and Pussy (again!)

Safety briefing by En. Rizal Jailan and Mr. Manfred Zink (BMW AG Representative)

Another picture of the group listening attentively during the briefing (yes it was hot and try at Kulim!!)

After the briefing, we had to walk 800 meters under the hot sun to the assembly plant!

Mr. Manfred giving us a briefing on what to expect and setup of the assembly plant.

Final Inspection for the car's exterior, with plenty of polishing and buffing done.

Squeak and Noise Test Padhttp://farm5.static.flickr.com/4069/4317588851_34f3c9170b.jpg Rattling Test Pad, at the other end is water leak test room where the cars are being sprayed with water from all direction with the engine and headlights switched on.http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2749/4317595701_01ed4f6f09.jpg This is the audit room where cars are randomly checked for audit purposed. Car on display is the last batch E60 with 19in M-sport rims, non RFT tires with sunroof!! http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2428/4317602115_ae6e2d4076.jpgLast but not least, a group picture with En. Rizal and Mr. Manfred Zink before we left the plant. For more pictures please click on this link,http://www.bmwclubmalaysia.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32405 On behalf of BMW Club Malaysia, we would like to extend our sincere appreciation to BMW Malaysia, En Rizal Jailan (Plant Manager) and Mr. Manfred Zink (BMW Representative) for the warm hospitality and opportunity for this visit. Thank you. AlbundyPresident

 

[Lennon Tan]

a job well done !

 

[bluepanther]

.....:top::top::top::top::top:

 

[Jay Bigbang]

Kudos to all the comittee. :top: :top: :top: :top:

 

[dzuljazz2001]

BMW Club Malaysia has recently been given the honour and opportunity to visit the Inokom assembly plant at Kulim where the BMWs sold in Malaysia are assembled. This plant is a Low Volume Production (LVP) plant and hence manual labour is extensively employed and each car takes about 70 man hours to produce. Other similar LVP plants around the world are in Thailand, India, Indonesia, Russia, Egypt and the Philippines.

As of 2008, all the BMWs assembled locally as termed as SKD (Semi Knocked Down) compared to CKD (Completely Knocked Down) as done previously in the now-closed plant at Shah Alam. The body shell comes completely welded and painted from Germany, covered with the necessary protection to prevent any dinks and scratches.

We were shown how the body shell is uncovered and the inspection that was done before "other parts" are bolted onto the car. The engine and transmission come pre-assembled from Germany and all is needed is to mate the two together, with other ancillaries such as alternator and so on. Almost all the parts bolted on the car are from Germany and very little "local content" was used. The local content used are originally sourced from overseas before being imported by a local agent, as such the cars built in this plant is of no difference to a CBU unit.

There is a dedicated line for BMWs only, and in this plant only the E90 (320i, 323i, 325i and 320D) and E60 (523i 525i and 530i) are assembled.

Upon the completion of the assembling process, the cars are all subjected to strict quality assessment process similar to any BMW plant in the world. In additional to that, random quality checks are conducted and this results determine the efficacy of the assembling plant, and if the results are deemed unworthy the assembling line will be stopped!! From the audit data presented to us, the BMWs assembled here are amongst the best compared to other LVP plants, the other plant being consistently high is at Thailand.

For this trip, there were officially 32 cars that joined the convoy and more than 60 participants took part in this event, which I believed is one the biggest "expedition" ever done by the club. The drive up north was exciting and buzz is still very much evident amongst the members, what not when 32 Ultimate Driving Machines are in sight on the highway! The rest of the story shall not be posted here, but do join us for our coming Teh Tarik session!!


On behalf of BMW Club Malaysia, we would like to extend our sincere appreciation to BMW Malaysia, En Rizal Jailan (Plant Manager) and Mr. Manfred Zink (BMW Representative) for the warm hospitality and opportunity for this visit.

Thank you.

Albundy
President

Well put Mr Prez.:top: One of the best "outing" I have participated in, though it took me a bit to blend with other seasoned bimmer owners.:top:

Proactively, Im already with my drawing board 'scratching' for some events to be done over here in the East Coast (a change of wind for the club next outing). I will come up with a proper proposal to the committee and if approval granted, I dont mind playing host or assist in arranging the event here. Hopefully club members will give us the support as in the Kulim Plant event.:wink::top::top:

 

[XXX]

.....wohooooo Kuantan here we come..

 

[stanleycck]

Kuantan......here we come.........

Power up boys.................Kuantan here we come...........:top::top::top::top::top:

 

[stanleycck]

I will try my level best to go for this one............I missed the Kulim trip...........sob sob sob:37::37::37:

 

[mizhan]

i'm looking forward to the next club outing

 

[etquah]

Make sure radar detector is ON zoom zoom:rock: many turtle in the east coast NOT "tortoise"

 

[adichenko]

nice... hope to join u guys in the next club outing.

 

[astroboy]

nice... hope to join u guys in the next club outing.

Next club outing shall be the TT on next Friday nite where Grace will be walking around a receipt book.. I'll be there with RM150 cash.. :wink:

After that, it will be AGM in March and votes will be casted to determine how "we" want the club to be run.. :wink:

All forumer who wish to convert to the dark side please get RM300 ready on Friday evening.. Stay tune for announcement of venue. :wink:

 

[mizhan]

Kuantan via old road :top:

 

[climenta]

Next club outing shall be the TT on next Friday nite where Grace will be walking around a receipt book.. I'll be there with RM150 cash.. :wink:

After that, it will be AGM in March and votes will be casted to determine how "we" want the club to be run.. :wink:

All forumer who wish to convert to the dark side please get RM300 ready on Friday evening.. Stay tune for announcement of venue. :wink:

Guess you're right again. Official TT should be this Friday 5/2, coz next Friday is too close to CNY.

 

[jarance]

Guess you're right again. Official TT should be this Friday 5/2, coz next Friday is too close to CNY.

you are right.. most outstation people would go back to hometown.

 

[docrayboy]

you are right.. most outstation people would go back to hometown.

What's a TT?:stupid: Are you all catching up this Friday the 5th?:love:

 

[climenta]

TT = Teh Tarik

Look out for updates on the Official TT thread in the forum's members meetup section.

 

[stanleycck]

TT on the 5th.......

Bros.......I believe that this Fridays TT will be at Tropicana........see you all there...........

 

[astroboy]

Wah! This week ka? Must work hard to make the RM150... back to work now..:26:

 

[jarance]

Wah! This week ka? Must work hard to make the RM150... back to work now..:26:

yes better get back to work.. hei.. you only need to work 1 hour to earn RM150..:listen: