|
|
|
|
|
|
BMW Garage | BMW Meets | Register | Today's Posts | Search |
|
BMW 3-Series (E90 E92) Forum
>
How the South African factory builds its cars
|
|
07-29-2005, 10:14 AM | #1 |
Lieutenant General
1312
Rep 10,185
Posts |
How the South African factory builds its cars ( Long Post )
Was on the facory tour today and will explain the process from the beginning
South african steel rolls are delivered to a BMW contractor here ( a german firm) that stamps all the metal body parts, everything, doors, sides roofs, bonnets ect ect These parts are then delivered to the factory next door and go into the body shop Parts arrive only 2 hours before being fitted 90 or so robots and countless workers weld and glue all the parts of the body together to form a complete bare mettal car 4 types of car are produced, sunroof with fin hole, sunroof without fin hole, no sunroof with fin hole, no sunroof and no fin hole LHD and RHD bodies are exactly the same on the E90 (on the E46 they were different) The car then makes its way to the paint shop next door to be dipped and anti corrosion coated, they are then painted They paint the cars in batches here to save costs, but it is possible to paint one collor immediately after another without changing anything on the spray machines The car then moves to a holding cell where about a days worth of cars are held in stock The car then moves into the final assembly building to get fitted out The doors are separated from the car and go on their own assembly line First is the wiring harnesses, each is custome made for each car ( thats why you have a cutoff date for changing your order ) All mechanical parts arrive at the factory for a specific chassis number Each engine, driveshaft, supspension , brakes, ect ect have the chassis number printed and barcoded on them for the car thay were made for, nohing is kept in stock All the wiring is put in, speakers, carpeting , rar lights ect ect, then comes the dash The dash is delivered from the factory just a few hours before being fitted. It comes completely assembled with everyting, radio, nav, spedo ect ect all fitted In SA the dash is hand fitted, takes about 30 seconds, in germany it is fully automated Windshields are then fitted by robot And then the seats, which come from the supplier in a premade kit for each car ( Interrestingly its an American company that makes the seats, but the factory is in SA and they usae SA leather ) next comes the engine and drivetrain and then nose section with front lights Next are the bumpers which arrive from a supplier already painted ( so they are not painted in the same factory as the car ) Next come the wheels Saw every style of wheel and tire you can get from the factory ( non of the ones that your dealer must fit) There were a couple rejected/damaged wheels lying in a corner, but I could get one ) Syle 162 is in full supply here, but these are made here and the shortage in europe could be due to a european supplier Car is then given a infra red reciever and programmed though it while it is filled with some fuel , aircon gas and raddiator water ( programmed in probably 15 min or so ) Egines come from the factory in england or Austria already filled with oil, as do the gearboxes Car is then driven off the line to the wheel alignment that is done by laser in less than 2 min ( new optical system being installed to do it in less than 1 min ) Car then is check on a dyno and the headlights aimed It them goes into final Inspction which is mostly done by woman who wont let the car go with any problems ( cars go to a seperate are to have defects fixed, thoug threre was only 1 threr when I checked and it only had a loose trim panel ) Car is then driven over a short course with bumps and turns to check its ride and then goes to the shipping department Then it goes to the customer They finish about 260 cars a day here at the moment, 70% of which are exported to places like Japan, Asia, Australia and 325i for the USA 80% of parts are made here, mostly by German companies with factories here 98 Robots are used in total here ( Germany uses about 108 depending on Factory ) I saw lots of USA cars in many colors, but especially White and Artic, and there were a few red ( all red ones were for USA ) Also saw Japan, Australia and South Africa cars There was a equal distribution of all current colors Saw a Mystic blue test body |
07-29-2005, 10:54 AM | #4 |
Private First Class
17
Rep 184
Posts |
At the BMW factory in South Carolina, they confiscated all cameras and camera phones and returned them to you after the tour. Im sure the same procedure is used at all there factories.
|
Appreciate
0
|
07-29-2005, 03:45 PM | #6 |
Lieutenant
16
Rep 523
Posts
Drives: 2010 E90 330i 6MT
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Pretoria, South Africa
|
Thanks for the write-up...it's great to hear how they do their magic in the factory.
It's interesting that the bumpers get painted from a different location to the one where the whole body gets painted.
__________________
E90 330i 6MT|Space Grey|Red Brown|Alumin|Sunroof|Voice Control|Logic 7|Xenon|Prof-Navigation|Storage Pack|Luggage Pack|Extended Lights|Anti-dazzle Folding Mirrors|Climate Comf. w/screen|M-Sport Pack|Exclusive Pack|Innovations Pack|Alumin Pedals|CF Splitters|Delivered:19 March 2010
|
Appreciate
0
|
07-29-2005, 07:52 PM | #8 | |
New Member
0
Rep 14
Posts |
Quote:
|
|
Appreciate
0
|
07-29-2005, 11:45 PM | #9 |
Private
12
Rep 63
Posts |
if you visit the link for the factory, there are video clips of the building process.
http://www.bmw-werk-dingolfing.de/di.../en/index.html |
Appreciate
0
|
08-05-2005, 02:02 AM | #15 |
Private First Class
20
Rep 166
Posts
Drives: F30 M-Sport 320i Red
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Johannesburg, South Africa
|
Hey E90Fleet , I got an Invitation via mail for a factory tour.
I'm gonna book for the end of the month |
Appreciate
0
|
08-05-2005, 02:53 AM | #16 | |
Lieutenant General
1312
Rep 10,185
Posts |
Quote:
Its really nice to go and see, so book it quick |
|
Appreciate
0
|
08-05-2005, 03:03 AM | #17 | |
Lieutenant General
1312
Rep 10,185
Posts |
Quote:
But they keep about 100 painted bodies in storage to make shure that if there is a problem on the painting side, the rest of the factory can keep on working. So a painted body may stay a day in storage before it is used It just takes 9 hours ( germany 7,5 hours due to more robots ) to put everything into a painted body (Interior, engine, suspension ) The slowest part is the painting |
|
Appreciate
0
|
08-07-2005, 09:37 AM | #19 | |
Lieutenant General
1312
Rep 10,185
Posts |
Quote:
To work 24 hours they would have to go to 3 shifts, but as you would know the security and worker travel situation doesnt allow that here |
|
Appreciate
0
|
Bookmarks |
|
|