The press shop will supply BMW's biggest manufacturing operation that produces its SUVs

BMW announced that it will be adding a new 219,000-square-foot (20,345-square-meter) press shop at its plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina. The shop will require a $200 million investment and is set to open in 2024. Metal Punch Press

BMW Will Build A $200 Million Press Shop At Its Spartanburg, South Carolina Plant | Carscoops

The plant will take raw coils of steel, cut them into blanks, and stamp sheet metal parts for BMW models. The components will include hang-on parts, such as the doors, fenders, exterior body sides, and the liftgate.

“The BMW Group is known worldwide for the outstanding quality produced by its press shops. We are excited to add this new technology to Plant Spartanburg,” said Dr. Robert Engelhorn, BMW’s manufacturing president. “This investment reinforces BMW’s commitment in the United States and South Carolina. We continue to play a major role in the region’s economic strength as well as workforce development and job training.”

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The press shop will require 55-ton overhead cranes to unload trucks and it will have five stamping stations. The line will be equipped with servo technology to increase the output performance of the presses, and, in all, will be operated by 200 employees.

“Having a press shop on site is part of BMW’s localization strategy where we produce our major parts at the location where we need them,” said Dr. Engelhorn. “This ensures the highest quality, efficiency, and consistency in body shop parts for our customers.”

The parts will be installed on the SUVs coming out of the plant, which will eventually find their way into more than 120 markets around the globe.

Machine Punch Press The Spartanburg plant, currently BMW’s largest manufacturing operation in the world, builds the BMW X3, X3 M, X4, X4 M, X5, X5 M, X6, X6 M, and the X7. In 2021, it produced a total of 433,810 vehicles, nearly 260,000 of which were exported to markets outside the U.S. That plant alone helped make BMW the biggest vehicle exporter from the U.S. last year.