BMW, Ford Advance Paint Shops

BMW Mfg. Co. LLC's Plant in Spartanburg, SC, will have the most advanced paint shop in the world dedicated to producing BMW luxury vehicles, while Ford Motor Co. is rolling out its new paint process on a global basis.

The German auto maker announced plans 18 months ago to expand the South Carolina plant, which opened in 1994 and has assembled 1.5 million vehicles.

“One and a half years later, the building is finished,” BMW Manufacturing President Josef Kerscher says at the World Class Manufacturing session at MBS.

Equipment now is being installed in the new portion of the plant, which takes annual capacity from 150,000 units to 200,000.

Kerscher is particularly proud of the new paint shop, which is being installed around the original one. It will take two years to complete the installation, and the work is being done while the current shop runs at full capacity.

The integrated paint process eliminates the application of a primer coat, saving time and money and reducing energy use while achieving the same quality.

Meanwhile, Ford is hoping to maintain what it considers a competitive edge in vehicle painting and has launched another innovative process for coating vehicles cost effectively, with minimal environmental impact and outstanding durability.

Bruce Hettle, executive director-manufacturing engineering at Ford, discusses the new Compact Painting Process at MBS.

The process further leverages Ford's application of its “3-Wet” paint technology, which allows coatings to be applied wet, instead of heating and drying each layer individually with energy-consuming ovens. A simple integrated booth replaces multiple stages in the paint shop.

The Dearborn, MI, auto maker, along with its suppliers, launched the Compact Painting Process more than a year ago at the company's Econoline van plant in Avon Lake, OH.

Other Ford plants are deploying the system in Nanjing, China; Cuautitlan, Mexico; Craiova, Romania; India; and Michigan Assembly complex (formerly Michigan Truck Plant).

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