Doing the Munich Factory Tour
By James R. Salazar
(Article first appeared in the July 1999 issue - updated on the Web June 4, 2000)

The last time I was in Munich I had hoped to go on a tour of the BMW factory but I was unable to swing it. This time, I planned ahead (sort of) and called Bob Murphy to find out how he had gone about arranging a tour. From my experience and his, little has changed: send your request in and wait for your confirmation.

Here I am at the BMW factory in Munich, Nikon ready to go with a fast wide-angle lens and my high powered flash mounted. I even went out of my way from the restaurant to the factory to stop by the hotel to pick up my Nikon. Now I find out that no cameras are allowed. Oh, well (at least I wasn’t the only one). Our guide leads us from the BMW Museum to some lockers where we store our cameras and accessories (by the way, the lockers require change). After we store our stuff, we are led to another room where we don blue BMW lab coats (just like the ones Julian wears at Bemer Preventive Maintenance). The coats are to protect us and the finish of the new BMWs. We are also giving a headset to wear – the noise levels can get pretty high so this is the best way for us to hear what our guide has to say.

Once we have our gear on and have been briefed on the factory rules, we are off. Our group has about 30 or so people, all BMW die-hards. We get to see the new E46 Coupes that had just been introduced a few day earlier in Houston (unfortunately, I missed the premiere and instead spent the night packing for my trip) on our way to the factory. I won’t go into the details of the factory, that would take too long. But I do want to say how impressed I was with the operation, the robots and the technology involved.

I had expected to see a factory that concentrated on building one model style at a time. While this factory was only building just 3-Series hardtops, it did not matter that one cutomer ordered a 4-door model while then next model was a ti (the ti was a popular car judging by the assembly line) and the following car a 2-door model. This was made possible thanks to some great robots, databases and computers. Each car, or better yet, each frame had a transponder attached to its front. This transponder relayed to the computers and the assembly line workers what type of car it was, what color it was to be painted and what options and engines to install.

I was also impressed to see the painting process and the way parts are tracked. You see, the entire car is painted at one time. After the paint dries, the car’s doors are removed, making it easier for the workers to climb inside and install the interior. Further down the assembly line the doors appear and they are mated to the car it came off of. I could not help but wonder if things ever got fouled up somehow with, say, blue doors showing up to be installed in a red car. In any case, I am not sure what was more impressive: the way the robots assembled the car, spinning parts around, attaching the engine to the body of the car or watching how the workers made things look so easy.

If you find yourself planning a trip to Munich, consider a tour of the BMW factory (see below for information on making your reservations) – you will not be disappointed.

Two other tips: If you’re flying to Germany, consider booking your flight on Lufthansa or a carrier flying an Airbus. I now realize that the reason I am able to tolerate the long flight is not because I am getting used to them but because of Lufthansa’s Airbuses. The Airbuses feature Recaro seats – just like my 2002 (plus I am properly fed, the entertainment systems and restrooms work and I arrive on time with my luggage – pay attention Continental!).

Tip number two: If you find yourself in Frankfurt and looking for a place to have dinner, try Pié Allegro near the opera house. They have some of the best Italian food I have tried outside of Italy!