[wdb]

Originally Posted by ASBSECU E93

You get all four seasons without any one being too harsh...

You've never been there in August apparently.

[ASBSECU E93]

Originally Posted by wdb

You've never been there in August apparently.

I lived in Greenville/Spartanburg area for 4 years.....

[MKSixer]

Originally Posted by ASBSECU E93

I lived in Greenville/Spartanburg area for 4 years.....

I will retire to NC/SC. I cannot think of a better place to live. I was really sad when I left back in 2009 but, "I'll Be Back!!"

[MKSixer]

Originally Posted by wdb

You've never been there in August apparently.

Come to S. Louisiana or Mississippi. It will change your perspective.

[Axius]

Originally Posted by MKSixer

I will retire to NC/SC. I cannot think of a better place to live. I was really sad when I left back in 2009 but, "I'll Be Back!!"

Honestly, never thought I'd leave Detroit but all aspects of NC have been pretty incredible, making the new work situation very hard to decide upon. Ocean, mountains, inbreds, amazing BBQ, great hunting, nice weather rotation, etc.

[ASBSECU E93]

Originally Posted by MKSixer

Come to S. Louisiana or Mississippi. It will change your perspective.

Nah man - try living/running track at South Carolina.....the arm pit of the south?!?!

Us distance guys ran year round......

August.
In Cola, SC.
Running 12 miles.

What you talking about

[ASBSECU E93]

Originally Posted by MKSixer

I will retire to NC/SC. I cannot think of a better place to live. I was really sad when I left back in 2009 but, "I'll Be Back!!"

I'll always call the Carolinas home!!

With a winter or 5 in Florida from time to time

[wdb]

Originally Posted by MKSixer

Come to S. Louisiana or Mississippi. It will change your perspective.

BTDT. Just because there's somewhere worse doesn't mean it's not brutally hot there.

[Zajac1]

Originally Posted by 08njSTEP

Contact your local community college and see what certification programs they have. Usually arc(stick) is offered and will get you set up for bridge and highway work. They will probably have an automotive welding as part of a body shop program but there won't be any certificate for welding. ICAR is the only automotive welding certification and holds very little value.

They got welding classes in my college, but still looking around, because these classes start in September. I want to choose the right school and best certificate at least for a start new career.

[nyalpine90]

it would be interesting to work for BMW, even if you had to learn whole process from parts, design,sales, tech etc

[F32Fleet]

Originally Posted by Wolf 335

Unfortunately the nature of the job can be somewhat tedious and very very repetitive. Automotive manufacturing industry, regardless of brand, jobs are very repetitive and boring.

They see numbers number numbers. Production has to keep moving. You will work overtime like a dog.
Expect 50 to 60 hour work weeks, and of course rotating shifts (days, afternoons and nights). Shifts alone do so much harm to your body internal clock that honestly it is not worth it. You will notice you are more prone to getting sick.

Only thing that keeps people there is the pay and benefits. They know that and that's why they pay so good.

Don't confuse your love and enthusiasm for Bmw car with working for Bmw manufacturing. You will notice right away that it is not the same thing.

Oh and I have been in automotive manufacturing for years in different positions, so I have seen it all first hand. After I left that god damn industry I will never go back to it, ever!

Still love my bmw tho!

+1. I had a summer job at an assembly plant that made axles for OTR trucks. It was a combination of boring and stressful (Especially after I almost ruined a $20k cutting head for ring gears).

[terryd5150]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

I didn't saw your 8,000 in the production video above , so where are they ?
The only thing I saw are robots...

Start watching the video at the 8 minute mark to get an idea of the headcounts involved. Now multiply that times the number of components that need to be installed to make a complete vehicle.

Keep in mind, that video is showing the construction of the body-in-white (pre-paint); the assembly lines that occur post-paint are much more populated.

Also, the 7 series isn't made at BMW's South Carolina plant; I suspect that video is from their Dingolfing facility.

[pz619]

I've been the SC plant multiple times on both a personal and professional level. I can't speak to the other plants but I'm assuming they operate on similar level.

1. There is a lot of staff that work inventory/demand planning as they use the JIT inventory strategy. JIT reduces your on-hand inventory (cost savings) but generally increases staff count that does the planning/forecasting on the front end.
2. The car is mostly hand assembled after the body work, including pretty much the entire interior. The only thing that I can think of that is robot done after that point is the marriage of chassis/motor.
3. The robots require extensive maintenance which is obviously done by people. There was an entire section dedicated to this where they are taken offline, repaired, etc.

In all there are a ton of people at the plant. I would estimate about half do the assembly/QC (value added production) and the others are administrative.