Filed under: Plants/Manufacturing, Technology, BMW
BMW has just announced that the company will join forces with Seattle-based SGL Automotive Carbon Fibers LLC to build a
new manufacturing facility in Moses Lake, Washington. Don't get too excited just yet. The plant won't be cranking out CF bits for your
3 Series so that you can have a roof that looks like the one on your neighbor's
M3 (shown above). Instead, BMW says the $100 million facility will be creating carbon-fiber reinforced plastics for the upcoming
Megacity vehicle. At the same time, SGL and BMW will be creating 80 jobs in the Moses Lake area.
The Megacity vehicle is slated for launch in 2015, and will get stitched together at BMW's plant in Lepzig, Germany. Since that's the case, you may be asking yourself why the Bavarian automaker would bother investing in a facility nestled half way around the globe in the sticks of Washington State. Turns out the answer is that the location has plenty of things going for it, including clean hydro electric power, a capable work force and a government that was willing to work with both SGL and BMW.
Both companies have made a point of saying that this is a big step for the democratization of carbon fiber in auto manufacturing. Let's hope they're right.
[Source: BMW]
Continue reading BMW, SGL announce new carbon fiber plant in Moses Lake, WA
BMW, SGL announce new carbon fiber plant in Moses Lake, WA originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 16 Apr 2010 14:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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