When BMW’s Sky Foster first arrived at Plant Spartanburg as only its fifth hire more than 25 years ago, she knew everything was about to change.
Today, she’s BMW Manufacturing’s Corporate Communications Manager but back then, she was tasked with hiring Plant Spartanburg’s first team of shop-floor employees.
“On that day, my first day, I walked into this room and there was a stack of 160,000 resumes from all over the world for the first 100 jobs,” Foster said Monday. “I knew at that time, having the greatest feeling I’ve ever had, that I was about to embark upon something unique, a unique phenomenon was about to happen in the state of South Carolina.”
Plans for Plant Spartanburg became public in 1992, when BMW officials announced the Upstate would be the home of the company’s first full-scale production facility outside Germany. Two years later, in September 1994 the company’s first locally built production model, a 318i, rolled off the assembly line with associate Ryan Childers at the wheel.
Since then, the company has invested some $10.6 billion into the facility, which has grown to become the company’s largest production facility anywhere in the world. The campus includes two massive body shops, two paint shops, two assembly halls, an array of robots and logistics equipment and employs approximately 11,000 men and women.
It produces some 1,500 BMWs each day, including the company’s core X model lineup, and more than 4.75 million BMWs since production launched 25 years ago.
“It’s incredible how BMW Manufacturing has transformed from a small Roadster plant to the largest BMW plant in the world,” Childers said Monday. “We take great pride in the accomplishments of the BMW Plant Spartanburg team over the past 25 years.”
The company said in a release, the Upstate won the company over because of its proximity to Charleston’s deep water port – the company has exported more than 3 million BMWs since production launched – South Carolina’s technical education system and the pride and work ethic of the state’s workers.
“This plant has been successful because of our people – their performance, passion and pride,” according to Knudt Flor, BMW Manufacturing’s President and CEO. “Over the past 25 years, we have had continuous investment, excellent facilities and the best equipment. What makes the difference is the spirit of our associates, their passion for excellence and the pride they have in their work.”
Bobby Hitt, today South Carolina’s Secretary of Commerce, was among those first employees at Plant Spartanburg. He said the company has brought major changes to South Carolina and its people.
“Twenty five plus years ago we were a Three Ts state – textiles, tobacco and tourism. That was our signature,” Hitt said. “Today we’re known as an automotive and aerospace state, with big pharma and many other complex advanced manufacturing companies here.”
Hitt said the reaction to BMW’s initial 1992 announcement was sometimes skeptical, recounting a phone call with a New York Times reporter asking why a sophisticated manufacturer like BMW would decide to launch an operation in a “backwater place.”
“My dad always used to tell me rather than get angry to be humorous,” Hitt said Monday. “My response was well, you know, after we got all these boys and girls wearing shoes they turned out to be pretty good auto workers. So I think we’ve shown the world the quality of the workforce in South Carolina.”
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster called the launch of BMW production in 1994 a “game changer,” for South Carolina.
“In the quarter century since, we have seen BMW spur economic development across the state,” according to a release from BMW. “Now the largest BMW production facility in the world, BMW Plant Spartanburg continues to be a shining example of the premier workforce and manufacturing excellence that has become synonymous with South Carolina.”