BMW 2003 Annual Report Download - page 21

001 BMW Group in figures
004 Report of the Supervisory Board
008 Supervisory Board
011 Board of Management
012 Group Management Report
12 A Review of the Financial Year
29 Outlook
30 Financial Analysis
44 Risk Management
047 BMW Stock
050 Corporate Governance
054 Group Financial Statements
118 BMW AG Principal Subsidiaries
120 BMW Group10-year Comparison
122 BMW Group Locations
124 Glossary, Index
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terms of time spent related to production engineer-
ing, information technology and computer assisted
engineering.
Approximately 13% of the staff at BMW AG are
female, one of the highest percentages for the auto-
mobile sector. 31% of all staff gaining work experience
and working towards their first or doctor’s degree
and approximately 21% of those joining straight after
university or as young professionals are women –
and the trend is rising. The BMW Group is one of the
most attractive employers in the world. This is borne
out by “employer image” studies, carried out by
leading market research organisations, in which the
BMW Group regularly achieves leading positions. As
part of the on-going process of finding and nurturing
suitably trained staff, the BMW Group provides work
each year for some 3,600 persons gaining work
experience or working towards their first or doctor’s
degrees. University research activities are supported
with an amount of approximately euro 30 million each
year. The BMW Group regularly acknowledges out-
standing performances by young scientists in the
form of the BMW Group Scientific Award.
Production capacities still fully utilised
The BMW Group’s production network again proved
its underlying strength in 2003. In line with the
growth of unit sales, the BMW Group also achieved
new record car production volumes. 1,118,940
BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce brand cars were manu-
factured, 2.6% more than in the previous year (in-
cluding contract production of the BMW X3).
Production of BMW cars was affected to an
exceptional extent in 2003 by the product offensive.
The Group was able to carry out its ambitious pro-
gramme with the aid of flexible work-time arrange-
ments and on-going process optimisation.
In 2003, 944,072 BMW cars came off the pro-
duction lines, 1.5% more than in the previous year.
In addition, 174,366 MINI brand cars were manu-
factured, an increase of 9.0% compared to 2002.
The production start-up phase for the Rolls-Royce
Phantom was completed. At present, five
vehicles
are being manufactured per day at Goodwood,
England. Overall, 502 Rolls-Royce Phantoms were
manufactured in 2003. An annual production volume
of approximately 1,000 cars per year is planned.
Production of BMW cars began in Shenyang,
China, in autumn 2003, in conjunction with the
joint venture entered into with the Chinese partner,
Brilliance China Automotive Holdings. Annual pro-
duction capacity will be increased to approximately
30,000 units over the next few years.
In autumn 2003, contract production of the
BMW X3 commenced as planned at Magna Steyr
Fahrzeugtechnik, in Graz, Austria. 8,770 units of the
BMW X3 model were manufactured in 2003 ahead
of the market launch in January 2004.
Construction of the new BMW plant in Leipzig
is progressing according to plan. Pilot production
of the first vehicles will commence in mid-2004 and
series production of the BMW 3 Series will start in
2005.
In conjunction with the worldwide production
and quality management system, all BMW Group
plants are certified to DIN EN ISO 9001 (quality) and
DIN EN ISO 14001 (environment) level.
In addition, the US market research institute,
J.D. Power and Associates, underlined the consis-
BMW Group apprentices at 31 December
5,500
5,000
4,500
4,000
3,500
3,000
2,500
2,000
1,500
1,000
*excluding Rover Group apprentices
99*00 01
3,483 3,698 3,829
02
4,199
03
4,306