The BMW factory in Leipzig puts emphasis on sustainability and worker health with lots of natural light in the building and wooden floors that are easier to walk on.
The BMW factory in Leipzig puts emphasis on sustainability and worker health with lots of natural light in the building and wooden floors that are easier to walk on.
On a recent trip to Germany, Herald writer Grant Bradley checked out one of the most advanced automotive factories in the world.
Close to where millions of one of the worst ever mass-produced vehicles were made, BMW is crafting some of the most advanced cars in the world.
More than 3 million Trabants were churned out by the East German regime at Zwickau which with their two-stroke motor were described as having more in common with a lawn mower than a modern car.
Now 80km north, near Leipzig, 120 electric i-cars a day are rolling off BMW's production line to meet hot demand around the world.
They're made in part of a sprawling plant where the corporate area resembles a futuristic film set and the factory appears in parts to be from a Transformers movie.
The central administration building serves as a hub to the production areas where "sheet metal cars", the BMW 1 and 2 series, glide quietly along a 600m section of the assembly line just above offices in the atrium of the building.
Blue lit from below, 750 cars a day in various stages of manufacture snake their way from the body shop to the paint shop.
According to BMW this is aimed at following the guiding principles of complete transparency - workers can observe what they're building even from the cafeteria, and offices are open plan to encourage the rapid exchange of ideas.
The building by British-Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid has won German awards, in a country where public and industrial building design can be spectacular.
The next part of our visit took us through part of the 230ha area covered by the plant to the building where the company's electric cars have been made since 2013.
The sporty i8 is popular with wealthy rap stars on both sides of the Atlantic. Photo / Dean Taylor
BMW has dabbled in electric vehicles since the late 1960's, producing prototype demonstration models for the 1972 Munich Olympics, but has moved to mass production along with the other car manufacturers this decade.
Cameras are forbidden in the i-car manufacturing building. It's aircraft manufacturing scale, and in the interests of saving weight, uses many of the same principles and materials used in making composite plastic planes. The composite used for the cars is 50 per cent lighter than steel and 30 per cent lighter than aluminium.
Before painting (with many more water based paints than normal) the outer skin is exposed to a gas flame to remove burrs and it chemically activates the surface, stabilises the joints and makes the surface smooth.
Blue lit from below, 750 cars a day in various stages of manufacture snake their way from the body shop to the paint shop.
There are two assembly lines, one making the sporty i8 which sells for $278,000 here. The model is popular with wealthy rap stars on both sides of the Atlantic. It has gull-wing doors and like the Tesla has staggering acceleration of 0-100kph in as little as 4.5 seconds. Ten have been sold in New Zealand so far.
The more sedate i3 is popular in this country with early adopters and businesses interested in solidifying their sustainability credentials. It sells for here for $83,500 and 30 are on the road.
Although there are around 4500 workers, the lines make heavy use of robots for heavy or dangerous works. Huge hydraulic arms grab parts of the car and apply glue in precise amounts to the carbon fibre.
The lines make heavy use of robots for heavy or dangerous works. Huge hydraulic arms grab parts of the car and apply glue in precise amounts to the carbon fibre.
For an i8 exactly 3kg of adhesive is used to glue the life unit (the passenger cabin) to the drive unit (batteries, motors and wheels). Ten bolts are also used.
There's no welding on parts of the line where it would be common in traditional vehicle manufacture. That means the fire risk is reduced so instead of steel cages around the robot stations bamboo and timber screening is used.
The emphasis is on sustainability and worker health with lots of natural light in the building and wooden floors that are easier to walk on. The paint scheme of the assembly building is also deliberate, coded to help orientation and brighter than typical factories.
Our guide says the workers face walls painted in traditional BMW blue and white when they arrive and as they leave for home pass walls with more restful colours such as green.
The award-winning central building in the BMW Leipzig plant, designed by architect Zaha Hadid.
It takes about 20 hours to make an i3, which passes through numerous work stations where staff do their job for around two minutes per car.
Our guide tells us a car body a day is stress tested and wrecked to check adhesives and joints and up to one in 10 cars coming off the assembly line a day are road tested on a track.
Leipzig BMW was built a decade ago and it is about 20 per cent energy self sufficient from large wind turbines on the grounds. That's enough electricity to power the i-car line. There are also 2000 apple trees on the grounds, which BMW staff pick and are used for juice in staff canteens.
And the company is using natural control methods to keep down the number of pigeons - which can make a mess of the 1000s of gleaming new cars in parking areas around the plant. On roofs of buildings around the plant the company has put 10 nests for falcons which prey on pigeons.
• You can tour the plant on some days, entrance fees start at €6.
Grant Bradley travelled to Leipzig courtesy of the International Transport Forum.
