BMW Group made a huge announcement on Thursday, March 3, saying that it will invest more than $200 million to build a 219,000-square-foot press shop at its plant in South Carolina. The investment by BMW is a huge boost to South Carolina's economy as it would help create more than 200 new jobs.
BMW Manufacturing President and CEO Robert Engelhorn delivered the exciting news at the South Carolina Automotive Summit in Greenville, South Carolina. The new press shop will produce stamped sheet metal parts such as exterior body side panels, lift gates, doors, and fenders from raw coils of steel. These component parts will then be used in manufacturing future BMW models.
Construction of the press shop will take approximately two years with its production set to start in the summer of 2024. BMW's new press line in Spartanburg will consist of five stamping stations, which are all equipped with robotic (servo) technology. BMW designed that advanced technology to increase production of the stamp sheet metal parts.
This is the latest project for BMW to improve its facility in South Carolina. The German automaker has invested nearly $12 billion for the development of its Spartanburg factory in the United States. BMW Manufacturing plays an integral role in the automaker's global operations as it is the largest plant of BMW Group in the world, with the said facility producing more than 1,500 vehicles each day.
It just set a new record for vehicle production last year, producing a total of 433,810 vehicles in 2021. BMW has managed to produce five BMW X models, four Motorsport X models, and two plug-in hybrid electric vehicle X models throughout the company's operations in Spartanburg. The South Carolina factory has an annual production capacity of up to 450,000 vehicles with BMW employing more than 11,000 people there.
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BMW will be hiring more employees for their operations in this facility with the company giving the greenlight for the building of the press shop. The 200 jobs that BMW will be offering soon to interested applicants include tool and die technicians, mechanical and electrical maintenance for automated machinery, and specialized line operators.
BMW Manufacturing is already laying the groundwork for its future operations, with more than 45 Spartanburg plant associates currently training at the company's press shops in Swindon, United Kingdom and Leipzig, Germany. They also train with partners from the Schuler Group, the company that builds automated servo press lines for all plants of BMW Group.
While Schuler Group will be the ones manufacturing the automated press line in South Carolina, all tooling for the Spartanburg plant's press shop will come from BMW's tool shops in Munich, Dingolfing, and Eisenach.
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