[E90Fleet]

EDIT: PLEASE NOTE THIS IS FROM JULY 2005


Will post the long version later

Just got back

WOW, wonderfull factory, wonderfull technology

Takes South Africa 9 hours to build E90, Germany does it in 7,5 Hours ( assembly only )
This is from the start of welding to having the car ready for shipping

SA uses 98 robots, germany has about 108 depending on the factory

I saw many USA 325i, Japan model, Australia models and South African models.

Very few Electric Red, lots of White and Arctic

No shortage of Style 162 wheels here, saw tons and tons more being delivered and put onto USA cars amoungst others


Saw a test ody in Mystic Blue and it looks wonderfull on the E90

[Ponchoyu]

If they have fewer robots, do you think they employ more manpower than the Germany factory (resulting in higher prices in SA than Europe?)?

[E90Fleet]

Originally Posted by Ponchoyu

If they have fewer robots, do you think they employ more manpower than the Germany factory (resulting in higher prices in SA than Europe?)?

Yes they do have more people working per car, for example dash installation is fully automated in Germany, and here it takes 2 people to fit it

[Broken1]

But the labour here is cheaper than Germany? and seeing as they are doing the same task again and again, it's "exclusive skilled" labour...

[england1987]

I think that they have fewer costs, so employ more man power

[jmcphillips1]

Is it later yet?

[txusa03]

e90fleet, if i visit SA, would you setup a tour for me?

[RyBMW]

Are you allowed to take pictures?

[E90Fleet]

Originally Posted by txusa03

e90fleet, if i visit SA, would you setup a tour for me?

Sorry, I dont have that type of power

You could contact the factory tour rep and see what they say http://www.bmwplant.co.za/

Biggest problem is ther is no public transport to anywhere near the plant, and its pretty far outside the nearest city


If you are just interested in a plant tour you could look at the bigger german factories

Munich: http://www.bmw-plant-munich.com/lowb.../en/index.html

Dingolfing: http://www.bmw-plant-dingolfing.com/.../en/index.html

Leipzig: http://www.bmw-plant-leipzig.com/lei.../en/index.html

Regensburg: http://www.bmw-plant-regensburg.com/


All these tours are booked up pretty far in advance, so best to make plans early

[E90Fleet]

Originally Posted by jmcphillips1

Is it later yet?

Posted a longer version long ago

Even posted about our second factory visit with Broken1 and Thrill30 (Look for Broken1's post that included pics of their cars )

[E90Fleet]

Originally Posted by RyBMW

Are you allowed to take pictures?

No, but do a search in the photo section where i have posted official pics before of E90's being assembled.

[David328M-Sport]

what an amazing experience to see the bmw factory where the e90s are built.

fleet, i can absolutely understand why you keep on attending these tours time and time again. if i had such an opportunity, i would take it up as well.

how many tours does the rosslyn factory conduct per year/month?

is there an entrance charge or is it free?

no doubt you've mentioned it before, but how long does the tour last?

thanks fleet.

[E90Fleet]

They do almost 2 tours a week here, as far as I know

Lots of them are for suppliers and magazines, but many are for owners aswell.

The ones we went on were arranged by our Local BMW car club

There was a slight fee , about 13 australian dollars

Tour takes about 2,5 hours

[RyBMW]

Originally Posted by E90Fleet

No, but do a search in the photo section where i have posted official pics before of E90's being assembled.

I guess pictures is nothing compared to actually seeing it in person. I want to go on a factory tour now too.

Maybe we can plan a trip for E90Post members to go to the factory tour.

[E90Fleet]

German factories make multiple daily tours

[SCA]

What is the deal with the "stacker" Were BMW stores paint body before they go to assembly?

[E90Fleet]

Originally Posted by SCA

What is the deal with the "stacker" Were BMW stores paint body before they go to assembly?

Think about this


Firstly a body gets welded together, then goes to paint, then assembly.

now imagin monday morning comes and the welding section has a problem, so no cars get built for 5 hours

That means no cars get painted for 5 hours and no cars get assembled for 5 hours. So the whole factory stops and costs lots of money. And no trains getr loaded for the docks, and then the boat is late or leaves half full


So they stack about a days worth of assembly. So if there is a problem at welding or painting, assembly can still keep on assembling without interuption.


Also imagine your new car is being made and something happens to the paint early in assembly. With the stacker they can just pull another body your color and start over.


Also the paint shop likes doing runs of colors, because it costs them to clean the nozzles between color changes. But order runs are not all for the same color . So they can take the correct color bodies out of the stacker in the order needed for assembly, and not be bound by the order they were painted in

[rman]

I did the tour in Munich about three weeks ago on my ED.

I thought it was awesome, even though I was having trouble staying awake after flying in that morning and getting no sleep.

There were actually fewer workers on the line than I expected to see - maybe because Munich is relatively highly automated. A few years ago I had briefly visited a GM truck plant in the US for my work and my impression was that there were more line workers than what I saw in Munich.

The most fascinating part of the tour was watching robots moving door panels and doing spot welding. It looked almost like a dance as maybe about 8 or 10 robots moved panels and almost completed door units in unison - if they were to wander out of sequence they'd be bashing into each other.

[SCA]

Originally Posted by E90Fleet

Think about this


Firstly a body gets welded together, then goes to paint, then assembly.

now imagin monday morning comes and the welding section has a problem, so no cars get built for 5 hours

That means no cars get painted for 5 hours and no cars get assembled for 5 hours. So the whole factory stops and costs lots of money. And no trains getr loaded for the docks, and then the boat is late or leaves half full


So they stack about a days worth of assembly. So if there is a problem at welding or painting, assembly can still keep on assembling without interuption.


Also imagine your new car is being made and something happens to the paint early in assembly. With the stacker they can just pull another body your color and start over.


Also the paint shop likes doing runs of colors, because it costs them to clean the nozzles between color changes. But order runs are not all for the same color . So they can take the correct color bodies out of the stacker in the order needed for assembly, and not be bound by the order they were painted in

How many hours does an E90 spend in the paint shop?

[E90Fleet]

Originally Posted by SCA

How many hours does an E90 spend in the paint shop?

Its about 8 hours for paint, 9 for assembly, 9 for welding. ( my first post here reffered to assembly )

It first gets cleaned, then gets a anti rust E-coat, then primer, then paint, then clear coat, then sits in a oven for a while

Have a look at http://www.bmw-plant-munich.com/lowb.../en/index.html

Click on the links for paint, assembly , ect ect
Also click of facts and figures while in say painting to get things like time taken

[SCA]

Originally Posted by E90Fleet

Its about 8 hours for paint, 9 for assembly, 9 for welding. ( my first post here reffered to assembly )

It first gets cleaned, then gets a anti rust E-coat, then primer, then paint, then clear coat, then sits in a oven for a while

Have a look at http://www.bmw-plant-munich.com/lowb.../en/index.html

Click on the links for paint, assembly , ect ect
Also click of facts and figures while in say painting to get things like time taken

Originally Posted by E90Fleet

If you are just interested in a plant tour you could look at the bigger german factories

Munich: http://www.bmw-plant-munich.com/lowb.../en/index.html

Dingolfing: http://www.bmw-plant-dingolfing.com/.../en/index.html

Leipzig: http://www.bmw-plant-leipzig.com/lei.../en/index.html

Regensburg: http://www.bmw-plant-regensburg.com/

Jeeez Fleet, these plant links are awesome! Thanks!