BMW Spartanburg Plant Gets Extra Workforce

German manufacturer BMW revealed that it has added shifts and hired some extra 700 workers at its American plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina. According to some sources close to the matter, this could lift the economic activity in many sectors of the region.

As senior economist with Wells Fargo Economics Group Mark Vitner said, suppliers are most likely to increase workforce in order to keep up with BMW’s demand.

“Obviously we'll have spinoff impact that will ripple throughout the whole Upstate,” said David Cordeau, president and chief executive officer of the Spartanburg Chamber of Commerce. “It adds a note of confidence to the economy with thousands of people that have some type of direct or indirect relationship to the success of the BMW operation."

According to greenvilleonline.com, BMW’s workforce consists of both permanent employees and contract workers to give the plant the flexibility to face the changes in the market. The new 700 jobs come to complete the production and logistics workforce, which have to keep up with the customer’s demand.

This is also a part of BMW’s future development plans for the Spartanburg plant, which include the production of the BMW ActiveHybrid X6, BMW's first hybrid vehicle, later this year and completing the $750 million expansion to allow the manufacturing of the next generation BMW X3.

Currently, the plant is producing about 620 vehicles a day and the two shifts will increase total production hours to about 100/week in November. Recently, the plant reached an important milestone when the 1.5 millionth BMW vehicle rolled off its assembly line.