Car giant expands in Spartanburg

  • 2022-07-14
BMW will be expanding its operations on its campus in Spartanburg by constructing a new press shop.

The press shop will span 219,000 square feet and will convert and stamp raw coils of steel into sheet metal parts for future models of BMW cars. These parts include exterior body sides, fenders, lift gates, and doors. The investment of $200m is expected to create 200 new jobs, some of which may require business card printing services.

There will be five stamping stations in the new plant. Servo technology will equip the line, which will enable BMW to significantly increase the performance of the stamping stations. Each station will have an overhead crane equipped with the correct press tool. The first press station will be fed the blank, which will then be transferred from one station to the next by a robot programmed to perform additional trimming and forming operations. Once the parts are stamped, quality control will inspect the parts, which will then be stacking into racks to be delivered to the production line in the body shop.

The BMW Group has invested close to $12bn in its operations in South Carolina since 1992. BMW Manufacturing is the largest plant of the BMW Group in the world, as it produces over 1,500 vehicles daily.

The press shop is expected to be fully operational in the summer of 2024.