The BMW factory and showroom visit was the culmination of every company tour we had been on so far. There were facets of production from each company and it was nice to see how they all work together to produce the final product. The BMW showroom was a sight to behold, there was everything from racing games to V12 Rolls-Royces to a Mini Cooper lounge. The architecture, layout, and even showroom store screamed high class and advanced.

This theme continued into the factory tour which was like a maze of conveyor belts, elevators, and assembly lines. Car parts would move across the plant through a transport system in the upper levels and legions of KUKA robots would wield, screw, and glue parts together below. The guide stressed the importance of optimization as even a 3 minute delay to change the parts of an automatic press was considered a hindrance to production. Innovation was everywhere in the BMW factory. Every detail was thought out and perfected. The paint nozzles used to paint the cars were using electric fields to create a charge in the particles of the paint so they would attract to the metal bodies of the car, and the entire room was over pressured so excess paint would fall down below and not simple spray everywhere. Much like the Faurecia tour, seeing the BMW factory inspired me and makes me look forward to my future as an engineer, so I may one day be able to drive a Rolls-Royce out of the showroom for myself.

In the afternoon we visited Munich’s Olympic Park from 1972. There we ventured to the top of the highest building in Munich and got a fantastic view of the entire city. Tomorrow we’ll visit the Neuschwanstein Castle in the Alps and hopefully get more amazing views.