BMW Ramps Up X5

Production of the '07 X5 cross/utility vehicle at BMW Mfg. Co.'s plant in Spartanburg, SC, is ramping up slowly, but the auto maker expects to have its pipeline full by the time the CUV goes on sale this month.

In the past, only 40% of X5 volume was sold domestically. This time, initial production is exclusively for the U.S. Export models go into production next year.

When the ramp-up is complete, the Spartanburg plant expects to build as many as 450 X5s per day. Overall plant production capacity is 590 units daily, including 120 Z4 sports cars.

The facility now has one assembly line instead of the two originally installed. This allows for the X5 and Z4 to be built on the same line for easy seasonal adjustments. BMW now trains all line employees to build either vehicle.

“We moved from being a niche facility to a mass-production plant,” says Clemens Schmitz-Justen, CEO of BMW Mfg.

There are 3,500 production workers, earning an average of $24 per hour, plus an annual bonus of 9.5%-10%. The company says this helps keep annual employee turnover to about 1.5%.

There still is a great deal of attention to products. “We build each BMW for a waiting customer,” Schmitz-Justen says.

When the plant first opened to build the Z3, about 70% of the work was performed manually. Automation soared to 70% to add the X5. Today, there is nearly 100% automation in the body shop.

“It takes four to five days to build a car here, but we could do it in 12 hours if we worked straight through,” a plant spokesman says.

Customers can change their order up to six days before assembly begins and can pick up their car at the plant's delivery facility.

The plant operates on two 10-hour shifts five days per week, with 8-18 Saturdays scheduled a year and no Sundays.

Spartanburg produced more than 600,000 units of the original X5 from September 1994 until output was halted last month — double original estimates. After a 4-day shutdown, production of the second-generation X5 began.