The Customer Workshop project: a network for BMW classics.
Faced with projects like these, it is easy to see that the capacity of the Classic Center is limited. In order to cope with the rising demand, BMW Group Classic launched the “Customer Workshop” project: “We’ve had enquiries from Romania, Spain and even from a collector in Brazil, who is interested in a restoration. We are now looking for partners abroad with whom we can work in future,” says Dr Thomas Tischler, Service Team Manager at BMW Classic and responsible for the project. The first of these are already on board: in 2009 the BMW Classic Center opened its first branch in Switzerland. For quite some time the BMW branch in Zurich’s Dielsdorf district had noticed a growing number of BMW classics in its catchment area and consequently an increased demand for professional servicing for the vehicles. That was followed by the BMW branch in Düsseldorf, which goes by the name of BMW Classic Center NRW [North Rhine-Westphalia] and looks after a large stock of BMW classics in the region.
Parts supply: focus on postwar classics.
For decades BMW Classic has been steadily expanding the range of original BMW parts for classic vehicles. The catalogue currently comprises some 30,000 components. The vast majority are parts for the classics that took to the road after 1948. Today, anyone who wants to realise a youthful dream of owning a BMW 2002 or a BMW R 75/5 has no need to worry about maintenance and repairs: “Every BMW classic with two, three or four wheels is to get its TÜV* seal of approval”. That is the declared aim of Georg Blumoser, Team Manager Parts Sales. (*Technischer Überwachungs-Verein: Technical Inspection Association)
A valuable cache: highly complex tools are kept in storage.
At the very top of the priority list of production facilities that are worth keeping are body presses and highly complex moulds for model-specific components. Every part of the tooling that is relevant for subsequent fabrication is put into storage.
Remanufacturing is teamwork.
This system has been functioning very successfully since 1994. It was in that year that the BMW Group founded BMW Mobile Tradition, the forerunner of BMW Classic, with a clear objective: only a roadworthy and visually impeccable classic vehicle can be a credible representative of its era. Admittedly, with those dating from the earlier years of manufacture, it is not always so easy to guarantee this. The older the model series, the greater the challenge to the specialists to produce a new set of parts. This is where teamwork is required: in cooperation with Sales, Parts Technology, Scheduling and Purchasing, a precise production plan is drawn up – similar to that of a new series.
100 per cent original: material, surface and quality.
The first thing to be done is to assemble all information about the part. Here, the most important basic data includes the material from which the element was originally made, how it was processed and whether the structure or surface were treated in a special way. Particularly where engine or transmission parts are concerned, the quality of material is of critical importance if the replicated component is to operate smoothly with the old, existing parts.
New life for old engines: BMW supplies replacement units for classics too.
Defective or worn vehicle components do not always need replacing by new parts. Engines and transmissions, dynamos and electronic controls lend themselves extremely well to reconditioning. In this case, a classic engine in need of an overhaul receives no less attention and expenditure than one of today’s units: both are dismantled and overhauled at the Landshut plant. And every engine reconditioned by BMW always carries a two-year guarantee, irrespective of production year and car model. What applies here is the exchange principle: in return for the defective engine, the customer is given a replacement unit which, in terms of quality and functioning, is as good as a new engine. Independent tests certify not only the engine’s flawless quality but also the best value: to repair serious engine damage often works out more expensive than a replacement unit from BMW. The supply of dynamos and electronic components operates in the same way. In this case, however, it is not BMW that does the reconditioning, but the original supplier.
Faced with projects like these, it is easy to see that the capacity of the Classic Center is limited. In order to cope with the rising demand, BMW Group Classic launched the “Customer Workshop” project: “We’ve had enquiries from Romania, Spain and even from a collector in Brazil, who is interested in a restoration. We are now looking for partners abroad with whom we can work in future,” says Dr Thomas Tischler, Service Team Manager at BMW Classic and responsible for the project. The first of these are already on board: in 2009 the BMW Classic Center opened its first branch in Switzerland. For quite some time the BMW branch in Zurich’s Dielsdorf district had noticed a growing number of BMW classics in its catchment area and consequently an increased demand for professional servicing for the vehicles. That was followed by the BMW branch in Düsseldorf, which goes by the name of BMW Classic Center NRW [North Rhine-Westphalia] and looks after a large stock of BMW classics in the region.
Parts supply: focus on postwar classics.
For decades BMW Classic has been steadily expanding the range of original BMW parts for classic vehicles. The catalogue currently comprises some 30,000 components. The vast majority are parts for the classics that took to the road after 1948. Today, anyone who wants to realise a youthful dream of owning a BMW 2002 or a BMW R 75/5 has no need to worry about maintenance and repairs: “Every BMW classic with two, three or four wheels is to get its TÜV* seal of approval”. That is the declared aim of Georg Blumoser, Team Manager Parts Sales. (*Technischer Überwachungs-Verein: Technical Inspection Association)
A valuable cache: highly complex tools are kept in storage.
At the very top of the priority list of production facilities that are worth keeping are body presses and highly complex moulds for model-specific components. Every part of the tooling that is relevant for subsequent fabrication is put into storage.
Remanufacturing is teamwork.
This system has been functioning very successfully since 1994. It was in that year that the BMW Group founded BMW Mobile Tradition, the forerunner of BMW Classic, with a clear objective: only a roadworthy and visually impeccable classic vehicle can be a credible representative of its era. Admittedly, with those dating from the earlier years of manufacture, it is not always so easy to guarantee this. The older the model series, the greater the challenge to the specialists to produce a new set of parts. This is where teamwork is required: in cooperation with Sales, Parts Technology, Scheduling and Purchasing, a precise production plan is drawn up – similar to that of a new series.
100 per cent original: material, surface and quality.
The first thing to be done is to assemble all information about the part. Here, the most important basic data includes the material from which the element was originally made, how it was processed and whether the structure or surface were treated in a special way. Particularly where engine or transmission parts are concerned, the quality of material is of critical importance if the replicated component is to operate smoothly with the old, existing parts.
New life for old engines: BMW supplies replacement units for classics too.
Defective or worn vehicle components do not always need replacing by new parts. Engines and transmissions, dynamos and electronic controls lend themselves extremely well to reconditioning. In this case, a classic engine in need of an overhaul receives no less attention and expenditure than one of today’s units: both are dismantled and overhauled at the Landshut plant. And every engine reconditioned by BMW always carries a two-year guarantee, irrespective of production year and car model. What applies here is the exchange principle: in return for the defective engine, the customer is given a replacement unit which, in terms of quality and functioning, is as good as a new engine. Independent tests certify not only the engine’s flawless quality but also the best value: to repair serious engine damage often works out more expensive than a replacement unit from BMW. The supply of dynamos and electronic components operates in the same way. In this case, however, it is not BMW that does the reconditioning, but the original supplier.
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