BMW 2007 Annual Report Download - page 22

20 Group Management Report
10 Group Management Report
10 A Review of the Financial Year
13 General Economic Environment
17 Review of Operations
41 BMW Stock and Bonds
44 Disclosures relating to Takeover
Regulations and Explanatory Report
47 Financial Analysis
47 – Internal Management System
49 – Earnings Performance
51 – Financial Position
52 – Net Assets Position
55 – Subsequent Events Report
55 – Value Added Statement
57 – Key Performance Figures
58 – Comments on BMW AG
62 Risk Management
68 Outlook
B MW cars during a two-hour visit. Since it opened,
some 20 tours (with up to 30 visitors) take place each
day. The production mile, which starts and finishes in
the BMW Welt, runs through the pressing plant, chas-
sis construction, paint shop, engine construction and
assembly areas. This will enable up to 150,000 guests
to visit the BMW plant in Munich each year.
The BMW plant Dingolfing celebrated its 40th
anniversary in March 2007. More than seven million
BMW brand cars have rolled off the production lines
since it opened. In 2007, a total of 282,867 vehicles
left the plant. In addition to the model revisions of
the BMW 5 Series Sedan, the BMW 5 Series Touring
and the two M5 models in March, the revised BMW
6 Series rolled off the production lines for the first
time in September. Construction work began in mid-
November on a new building in which, from 2009
onwards, a completely new method of pressing com-
ponents will be introduced, namely hot forming.
Compared to conventional techniques, hot forming
increases the stability of components by a factor of
two to three. Depending on the specifications for
their intended functions, components can be made
thinner and therefore lighter.
The BMW plant Landshut has also been operat-
ing as a BMW production site for 40 years, supplying
innovative vehicle components to the production
network. In January, a new highly automated pro-
duction line was commissioned to produce the light-
weight roof for the new BMW M3. The BMW Group
is thus setting new standards in the industrialised
production of vehicle components made of carbon
reinforced plastic (CRP). Following completion of
the second construction phase, the new replace-
ment engine production facilities in Landshut were
commissioned in May 2007. The new structures are
enabling
the process chain to be optimised further
by eliminating activities which do not add value and
by reducing set-up and throughput times. A new
building for the production of car interior compo-
nents for future models also went into operation to-
wards the end of 2007.
The new Vocational and Further Training Centre
at the BMW Landshut plant also took up activities in
July 2007. Approximately 100 apprentices and their
trainers at the plant now have access to a modern
training workshop with additional space for teaching.
The further training and adult education facilities
comprise four training and seminar rooms. The new
centre will ensure the long-term supply of suitably
trained high-quality staff for the Landshut plant.
Three new start-ups were implemented at the
BMW plant Regensburg in 2007, namely the model
revision of the BMW 1 Series five-door version in
March, the new M3 Coupé in June and the new
M3 Sedan in December. In total, 303,766 BMW cars
were manufactured at the site in the course of
2007. In August, the BMW plant Regensburg was
presented the J. D. Power Plant Award for the best
plant in Europe. In December, construction com-
menced on the extension of the pressing plant
which will have 80 % more capacity and will start
operations at the end of 2009. This will increase
the
Group ’s own share of value-added to the
vehicle and at the same time reduce logistics
costs.
In total, 158,974 vehicles were produced at
the BMW plant Leipzig in 2007. Following the
production start-ups for the new BMW 1 Series
models (three-door version, Coupé and Conver t-
ible), several model variants are now being manu-
factured at the
Leipzig plant. Rapid and flexible
processes have made
it possible to achieve the
planned daily production volume after only three
months. In September, the decision was taken
to expand the BMW plant Leipzig by the end of
2009 with a planned capital expenditure volume
of approximately euro 100 million. Over the coming
two years, a pressing plant and component manu-
facturing facilities for door, bonnet and boot panels
will be built at the BMW site.
816,900 engines were built at the BMW Group’s
largest engine plant in Steyr, Austria, in 2007, two
thirds (67 %) of which were diesel engines. Since
starting operations 25 years ago, more than ten
million BMW engines have left the plant. January
saw the start of production of the fourth genera-
tion of four-cylinder diesel engines, an important
Automobile production of the BMW Group by plant in 2007
in 1,000 units
Regensburg
Dingolfing
Oxford
Munich
Leipzig
Spartanburg
Rosslyn
Goodwood
Shenyang ( joint venture)
Contract production Magna Steyr
158.9
205.0
157.5
32.8
1.0
237.7
282.9
303.8
111.7
50.2