BMW factories working at 100 percent capacity
Munich carmaker will invest millions in plants
REGENSBURG -- German carmaker BMW is optimizing its global production capacity.
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"We will be close to 100 percent capacity at all of our plants this year," Anton Heiss, head of the BMW factory here, told Automotive News Europe’s sister publication Automobilwoche. "This average is at a scale that you'll find with no other manufacturers."
The automaker’s production capacity at its 23 sites in 12 countries was at 94 percent in 2006. In 2005, it was 97 percent.
BMW plans to cut costs further by improving it vertical integration.
One way it will do this is by expand its stamping plants in Leipzig and Regensburg. Gerhard Brückom, the head of body shell technology at BMW, said that because of the "extremely high logistical cost" of pressed parts, BMW decided to increase its own part in the process at the Regensburg plant, where the BMW 1- and 3-series models are produced.
By 2009, the carmaker will open up a new, 100 million euro stamping plant in Leipzig, which will employ 150 people.
In addition, BMW will invest 90 million euros in the next two years to expand in Regensburg plant. The investments will create "additional areas of activity" for BMW and will increase the added value of the company, said BMW production chief Frank-Peter Arndt.
You may e-mail Pia Krix at pkrix@craincom.de
You can reach Pia Krix at pkrix@craincom.de.
