Within his division, Dr. Burkhard Göschel, Member of the Board, responsible for Development, will be concentrating on two main points: research and preliminary development will be strengthened to be able to incorporate innovations quickly and specifically into vehicles and thus onto the market. In addition, areas of responsibility in the development of the entire vehicle will be grouped together across different departments so that one hand will "hold the reins", thus creating transparency and efficient processes for the teams of employees.   

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Dr. Burkhard Göschel

Photo: BMW

Responsible for the new "Research, Pre-development, Concepts" division is Dr. Burkhard Göschel. This division covers all the functions that operate in the "early phase": "Vehicle Concepts, Configurations, Innovations", "Package", "BMW Technology" and Vehicle Research. 

With the newly created "Science and Transport Policy" division, the BMW Group is increasing its focus on the synthesis of scientific research and its incorporation into daily mobility requirements. Under the management of Detlef Frank, the "father" of the BMW hydrogen engine and of transport research at BMW, this division will become the germinating cell for new mobility concepts. In view of the increasing interlinking between transport systems, this area is of increasing strategic significance. Frank will be the Board's representative in ensuring that the BMW Group's social responsibilities are incorporated into the political decision-making processes. 

To strengthen the BMW product offensive, the original organisation, which was strictly divided by model series, will be changed into an overall product line strategy. Product development will be run on the basis of market-oriented, forward-looking indicators, rather than internal classifications. The head of the "Small Models Product Line", i.e. the strategic overall manager of the new "small BMW" and all the variants of the BMW 3 series, will be Wilhelm Becker, formerly Purchasing Manager. He will be succeeded by Dr. Gerhard Schuff, currently Manager of the Engines and Driving Gear Division. 

Dr. Gerhard Schmidt will be in charge of the "Overall Vehicle" division in future. Klaus Borgmann, one of the senior developers of the new BMW V8 diesel engine, will be moving up to replace him as Head of Engine Development. 

The Production Division is also getting geared up for the future: increasingly individual customer requirements require more flexible workflow processes. 

The "Customer Process, Logistics and IT" division will be the interface in future between the factories and the Sales division and will thus be responsible for the process chain from the ordering of the vehicle by the customer to its transport. The aim is to supply the customer with his vehicle even faster, including any change requests that might have been received shortly beforehand. Günter Klamer will be in charge of this division. 

The new "Painted Bodywork" division will combine the "Pressing" and "Tools and Equipment Design", plus the planning of the body shell and the paintshop. These synergies will open up new opportunities for reducing manufacturing costs and create optimised solutions across a range of technologies in the pre-development and concept phase of the products. This division will be headed by Prof. Dr. Clemens Schmitz-Justen. 

The "Technical Integration" division will now cover production strategies, planning assembly structures as well as planning construction and energy requirements. The traditional proximity to "Trial vehicle construction" and the "Start-up" organisational unit will be retained. This division, which will be run by Franz Cremer in the future, will be the element that integrates the entire production of the BMW Group.  

(July, 26 2000)