Today I finally got to go to my company visit! We went to the BMW factory today, which much much more organized and busy than some of the other visits we went on. The first thing we saw when we got close was the Olympic stadium from 1972 and the Olympia tower. Then we saw the BMW 4- cylinder tower, the BMW museum, and the BMW factory itself, all of which were extremely modern and impressive looking.

When we entered the BMW building we were faced with a bunch of luxury cars and lots of tourists taking pictures. Thankfully, Brad gave us 15 minutes to run around and take pictures in some cars.

Next we had the factory tour, led by a young person studying industrial engineering. It was a really cool experience. We weren’t able to see the whole assembly line, because it’s multiple kilometers long, but we were able to see a surprising amount of it. They showed us parts of the initial process, like pressing sheet metal into shape, and the process called “the marriage” which is when the frame of the car is added to the chassis. My favorite part was the painting station, because they use a process where they atomize the paint into molecules and then ionize the paint to it is attracted to the car, resulting in much less overspray and more accurate painting.

After the factory tour and a quick lunch in the BMW building, we were planning to go to the BMW museum. Unfortunately, it was closed, but we were able to go to the Olympia tower Instead, and take the elevator (thankfully) to the top. The view from there was amazing, and we got to see the whole city of Munich and a glimpse inside the stadium. After the tower, we took a quick walk (and brief run) to the top of a hill we had spotted on the way in, and enjoyed the view and took some cute pictures. It was amazing to me how clean and beautiful a place it was, even though it was in a city and right next to a factory.

I really enjoyed the day and the company visit, and I look forward to everyone’s presentations about the companies!