Pulling up to the BMW facility, I was the most excited I have been the whole trip so far. This was the company that me and my fellow groupmates were assigned to, so I had to pay extra attention today. We started by hearing a presentation from a guest speaker at BMW and she provided us with some key information about the overview of BMW as well as their sustainability and their future plans within the industry. She especially touched on their sustainability roadmap and electric future saying that they want to present themselves as a leader in those areas. She then talked about the production of new EV models such as the BMW i4 and the Neue Klasse model that demonstrate the transition into EV is already happening inside the Munich plant.
After the brief presentation, we went onto the factory for a factory tour, which to this point was definitely the highlight of my trip. We were about 45 minutes late for our tour, so what was supposed to be about a 2 hour tour was cut down 45 minutes for us so we weren’t able to see everything we were supposed to. But, if anyone can do a speed run of a company tour, it was our guide from what I could tell. Walking into the factory it felt ginormous, but at the same time it was extremely organized and efficient. The one thing that stood out to me immediately was how integrated the production process was – mainly done by robots and the final assembly done by humans. The robots did all the welding and assembling the main parts of the car which was very surprising to me. They said about 90% of the process is done by robots and the remaining 10% by humans.
We made our way to the museum after, which was a treat. There were 23 different areas to see of the museum and it was filled with all the different cars from the past all the way back to when it was founded in 1916. Walking through and taking everything in from the day, the architecture, branding, and presentation style emphasized precision, quality, and technological leadership. They projected themselves as more than a car company, but as a symbol of modern Germany – combining industrial strength with design and innovation.
Overall, after learning so much about BMW today, I believe that they do have a realistic path forward despite the current turbulence in the automotive industry. They seem financially strong, technologically advanced, and adaptable enough to compete with the ongoing shift toward EVs in the market despite gas-powered vehicles being a large part of their production currently. While they still face major challenges, I believe that BMW can adapt to the changes in the market and still stay on top. I had a great time at my company visit today and gained some key insights that we should be able to use in our presentation at the end of the trip.
