Press Release
Page 1 - Overview
Page 2 - Flexible and efficient
Page 3 - Plant Hams Hall
Page 4 - Plant Oxford
Page 5 - Plant Swindon
Page 6 - Associates
Page 7 - Sustainable Production
Page 8 - Community involvement
Page 9 - History
Page 10 - Contribution to UK
Plant Hams Hall
MINI engines in the production programme
Since opening in 2001, the Hams Hall plant near Birmingham has developed into the competence centre for the production of four-cylinder petrol engines within the worldwide BMW Group Production Network. The plant, which already produces all four-cylinder petrol engines for BMW brands, now takes over the assembly process of MINI engines for the first time.
About £30 million has been invested in the plant for the production of the new family of MINI petrol engines. The production facilities for the new MINI engines were integrated into existing buildings and extend the current product range of Hams Hall and will take annual total production volume to over 300,000 units. At the same time, the number of associates at the Hams Hall plant will also increase from 750 to approximately 1,000.
Synergies resulting from the production of both BMW and MINI engines at one plant will enable partial joint assembly and function testing of different engine families using the same facilities thanks to the flexible layout and management of the plant’s engine final assembly. However, the sub-assembly of the cylinder head and certain other assembly operations require dedicated facilities.
At the beginning of the production process, each engine first receives its specific “passport� with exact technical data, the list of components and specifications for the assembly process. During the first assembly stage, a conventional conveyor system is used for the engines. Afterwards, the engines are transported by Automatic Guided Vehicles (AGVs), which are loaded with the corresponding parts depending on type and customer specification. The AGVs then automatically proceed to the correct workstations designated for specific assembly tasks and operations.
After completion in the final assembly area and undergoing the concluding function tests, both MINI and BMW engines come together in an automated engine store that can accommodate up to 4,500 finished engines.
The engines for MINI are delivered from Hams Hall just-in-sequence to the assembly line in Oxford exactly in line with production requirements. Specially developed IT and logistics systems are used to manage the production and quality assurance of the 16 different country-specific variants of the two main petrol versions of the new MINI engines (naturally aspirated and turbocharged versions).
Four days before the assembly of a customer’s order at the Oxford plant, Hams Hall is informed which engine variants are required for the vehicles by means of electronic data transmission. The data is updated daily in order to guarantee that the engines arrive in the right order and at the right time.
The high level of flexibility of the engine production can also be seen in the material supply. The 264 engine components can be ordered from the suppliers with a lead-time of just five days. The entire production process, from the delivery of the engine components, right up to the complete assembly in the finished vehicle, is around seven days.
Specialists from Plant Hams Hall were integrated early into the developmental stages of the new MINI thereby preparing for technical integration and diversification of the production range at Hams Hall. This allowed for an initial pilot run with MINI engines several months before the start of series production to ensure the best quality and well-coordinated processes upon commencement of series production.
