BMW 2012 Annual Report Download - page 28

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18 COMBINED GROUP AND COMPANY
MANAGEMENT REPORT
18 A Review of the Financial Year
21 General Economic Environment
24 Review of Operations
24 Automotive segment
30 Motorcycles segment
31 Financial Services segment
33 Research and development
36 Purchasing
37 Sales and Marketing
39 Workforce
41 Sustainability
44 BMW Stock and Capital Market
47 Disclosures relevant for takeovers
and explanatory comments
50 Financial Analysis
65 Internal Control System and
explanatory comments
66 Risk Management
74 Outlook
Also in summer 2012, the five-millionth car rolled
off
the production line since manufacturing at the
Regensburg plant began in 1986. The plant has been
undergoing extensive expansion work since the pre-
vious autumn. The pressing plant has been enlarged
and a second main production line set up for making
car bodies. We have also built an additional logistics
centre to handle increased material volumes. These
measures all contributed towards boosting the efficiency,
flexibility and start-up expertise at the Regensburg
plant, which is borne out by the numerous awards won
in 2012.
Electromobility production network
almost completed
Preparations for the series production of the BMW i
models represented an important focal point of activi-
ties at the Leipzig, Dingolfing and Landshut plants
during the year under report. These plants are being
built into a competence network for e-mobility, in which
the BMW i models will be produced in a multi-plant
system. Lightweight construction using carbon-fibre-
reinforced plastics (CFRP) plays a key role in the pro-
duction process.
The Leipzig plant is destined to play a major role in the
production and assembly of the BMW i models. The
building phase, as well as the enlargement of the body-
making and pressing plant, are proceeding according
to plan. In spring 2013, four wind turbines installed at
the plant’s premises will be put into operation to supply
the production of BMW i models with clean, renewable
energy. A total of 400 new employees have been recruited
to manufacture
the BMW i models and also take up con-
ventional production duties.
Series production of the
new five-door BMW 1 Series
also commenced with great
success in Leipzig.
In summer, the first assembly line for high-voltage bat-
teries designed for use in the new BMW i models went
into operation at the Dingolfing plant
, thus signalling
a further milestone on the
road to the series production
of BMW electric vehicles. The battery, the e-transmis-
sion and the aluminium
chassis for the BMW i3 will all
be built in Dingolfing.
Various components for the
BMW i8 will also be produced at the plant. Parallel to
preparations for the
BMW i vehicles, the Dingolfing
plant also mastered the successful start-ups of the BMW
6 Series Gran Coupé
and the BMW M6 Convertible.
In addition to all these activities, the BMW 6 Series as
well as various 5 and 7 Series models continue to be
manufactured at the plant.
A new production system for ultra-lightweight, high-
strength carbon parts went into operation at the Lands-
hut component plant in spring 2012. The carbon fibre
cores produced at the Wackersdorf plant are processed
in Landshut and Leipzig to form
CFRP body parts and
subsequently delivered to the CFRP body making unit
at the
BMW plant in Leipzig. The new, highly innova-
tive
CFRP production set-up in the two plants makes it
possible
for the first time to manufacture vehicle body
sections from carbon fibre parts in an automated, large-
scale production system.
The ceremony to celebrate the start of construction of
an expanded high-pressure die-casting foundry as well
as a core-moulding plant also took place in
Lands hut in
April 2012. As the demand for die-cast lightweight alloy
parts is continually growing, production capacity will be
boosted from the current 58,000 tonnes
to 69,000 tonnes
per year in future. In addition, a new
resource-saving
smelting plant was commissioned in Landshut in the
autumn. The BMW Group is thereby demonstrating how
economically viable production can be successfully
combined with ecological sustain ability. Conversion
from liquid to solid metal delivery is helping to achieve
a 10 % reduction in the total
volume of CO
2
emitted
from the aluminium smelter
through to completion of
the die-cast part.
Global presence being strengthened
The BMW Group’s production network has meanwhile
grown to a total of 29 sites located in 14 countries. In
May the second carmaking plant of the BMW Brilliance
Automotive joint venture was opened at the Tiexi* site
in
Shenyang (China) and a local engine production plant
was also commissioned. The extended-wheelbase ver-
sions of both the BMW X1 and of the BMW 3 Series Se-
dan for the Chinese market are being built exclusively
in Tiexi*. The new plant sets standards in terms of tech-
nology and sustainability. Over 41,000 BMW vehicles
rolled off the production lines there in 2012. The ex-
tended-wheelbase version of the BMW 5 Series Sedan
is produced at the Dadong* plant in China.
The BMW Group’s global production presence has also
been reinforced by the enlargement of the plant at
Spartanburg in the USA. At the beginning of 2012 we
announced that the plant’s capacity would be extended
to up to 350,000 units by 2014. The BMW X models X3,
X5 and X6 as well as the X5 M and X6 M are currently
manufactured at the plant. During the year under report
the BMW Group decided that the BMW X4 will also be
* Joint venture BMW Brilliance