J U L Y 2 0 1 4
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Weber Manufacturing Technologies Inc
Tel 705.526.7896 • Midland, ON
www.webermfg.ca
Precision Tooling and CNC Machining
for the Composites Industry
Invar
Steel
NVD Nickel
Precision
ompositesWorld got the unique
chance in March to visit BMW
Group's manufacturing and assem-
bly facility in Leipzig, Germany, where its
i3 all-electric, four-door passenger car
now rolls out at a rate of 100 vehicles per
day. Located just northwest of the city in
an open, sprawling industrial park, the
BMW campus hosts 10 buildings and is
bordered on one side by four 2.5-MW
wind turbines, which provide some of
the facility's electric power. An imposing
three-story, vaulted glass-and-concrete
structure that serves as the main en-
trance and architectural focal point of
the complex is made all the more strik-
ing by an overhead conveyor system that
moves BMW's production bodies-in-
white from an adjacent assembly plant
to paint booths elsewhere. Four of the 10
buildings house i3 production, including
all aspects of molding and assembling
its carbon fber composite Life Module
(passenger cell).
Manufacture of every carbon fber
part produced for the i3 actually begins
Plant Tour: An inside look at BMW's i3 production
in Otake, Japan, where a joint venture
of Mitsubishi Rayon Co. Ltd. (Otake)
and carbon fber maker SGL Group (Wi-
esbaden, Germany), called MRC SGL
Precursor Co. Ltd. (MSP), produces the
PAN precursor required for the manu-
facture of the carbon fber used in the
car. The precursor is delivered to anoth-
er joint venture, this one between BMW
and SGL, called SGL Automotive Car-
bon Fibers (SGL ACF). Based in Moses
Lake, Wash., to take advantage of rela-
tively inexpensive hydroelectric power
there, the SGL ACF
C
Source:
BMW
AG
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