BIRMINGHAM: The BMW Hams Hall engine plant near Birmingham is ramping up its production of new three and four-cylinder engines on brand-new production lines, and over one million components will be machined at the plant for the first time this year.
A large investment programme to develop the BMW Hams Hall engine plant has ensured the site remains a state-of-the-art facility.
Plant director Markus Fallboehmer says: “The transformation in our plant has been huge. Over the last few years we have completely re-developed our two main production areas and installed over 600 brand-new pieces of equipment and machinery."
“Our new engine family of highly efficient three, four and six-cylinder engines have a standard design, a high number of similar parts and a uniform process for manufacture,” explains Ilka Horstmeier, who heads up BMW Group’s global production network for engines and electrified powertrain.
Production of a small number of new engines was first introduced at Hams Hall last year. Three-cylinder BMW TwinPower Turbo technology 1.5-litre petrol engines are hand-built exclusively at Hams Hall on a special production line for the BMW i8, the first purpose-built, plug-in hybrid sports car.
Overall, the new Efficient Dynamics high-tech engine family includes petrol and diesel engines, all employing TwinPower Turbo technology and ranging from 1.5 to 3.0 litres.
Commonality across the engines makes it possible to be extremely flexible in achieving significant efficiencies at high production volumes.
