BMW Group Underlines Leading Position In Sustainable Automobile Production

MUNICH (Germany) 19. 2. 2003 (ots/APROTEXT) - BMW DingolfingPlant builds its millionth car with trendsetting powder clearpaint - environmentally-friendly paint application technology tobe used in future also at BMW's Regensburg and Leipzig Plants.

Yesterday the millionth BMW with powder clear paint came offthe production lines at BMW's Dingolfing Plant, a BMW 7 Series.

Back in the early '90s when the paintwork specialists at theDingolfing Plant, joining forces with scientists and researchersat BMW's Research and Innovation Centre in Munich, started todevelop and test this technology, it was impossible to forecastthe long-term, lasting success of powder clear paint. Todaypowder clear paint, acting as a leading technology in preservingresources, still ranks alone worldwide in the car paint sprayingprocess. This process has been used very successfully for morethan five years in series production at the BMW Group's largestcar production plant in Dingolfing. Apart from preservingresources, this technology also results in highest colourbrilliance and flair of the car.

The BMW Group will be expanding the use of this technologystep-by-step in its production network, powder clear paint beingintroduced next at the Regensburg Plant where, with the Plantcurrently being expanded, this trendsetting technology willaccount for approximately half of daily car production by mid-2004. By 2006 the complete production capacity of the RegensburgPlant will be changed over to powder clear coat finishing. And atthe BMW Leipzig Plant currently under construction, this uniquepaint application technology will be applied from the start ofseries production in 2005.

In the words of Dr Norbert Reithofer, Board Member Productionof BMW AG, "we use our know-how not only for innovations in ourcars, but also in the development of extremely efficient, high-performance technologies in automobile production. The exampleof powder clear paint underlines the BMW Group's leadership intechnology ensuring sustainable production able to preserve theworld's resources".

Clear paint - unbeatable protection and gloss provided bypowder

The clear paint forms the last or topmost function layer inpainting a car. Expressed in simple terms, this layer of paintserves to protect the entire surface of the car and gives it itsbrilliant look and appeal. Applied in the form of powder, clearpaint of thisa kind is unbeatable in protecting the environment,neither water nor solvents being required in the applicationprocess and thus not leaving any effluent behind. Chemicalcleaning agents otherwise required for cleaning the paintapplication facilities are also a thing of the past. A furtheradvantage is application of the paint with spray mist reduced toa minimum, more than 97 per cent of the powder being used withthe help of direct material recycling in a complete, self-contained system. So virtually no waste or residue at all isleft behind.

But even this is not all, since the BMW Group is workingconsistently on the ongoing improvement and refinement of thistechnology.

Clean Production

The use of powder clear paint is only one of many measurestaken by the BMW Group to ensure sustainable car production alsoreferred to as Clean Production. Using self-contained recyclingsystems combined with the most advanced plant facilities, forexample, BMW has also succeeded in significantly reducing theconsumption of energy and the discharge of process effluents.

An example: The amount of process effluents generated onaverage per car by the BMW Group has dropped from 1.3 cubicmetres in 1996 - already a very low level - to approximately 1.0cubic metre in 2002. And, by consistently using new technologiessuch as heat recycling and power-efficient production systems,the BMW Group has been able in the same period to decreaseenergy consumption per unit manufactured by well over 20 percent.

More on production and sustainability in the internet

www.bmwgroup.com/production

www.bmwgroup.com/sustainability/

www.bmw-werk-dingolfing.de

www.bmwgroup.com - and then move to Current Factbook

Pictures, photographs and artwork available in the BMWPressclub:

www.press.bmwgroup.com/

Picture No: P0008603

ots Original Text Service: BMW Group Internet:http://www.naeurope.co.uk

For questions, please contact: Press and CommunicationsMichael Blabst, AK-21, Technology Communications, Production andResearch Tel: +49 89-382-24697, Fax: +49 89-382-27563. Dr. TobiasNickel, AK-21, Technology Communications Tel: +49 89-382-27072,Fax: +49 89-382-25763. Media website: www.press.bmwgroup.com E-mail: presse@bmw.de

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