BMW boss Zipse: "6000 additional jobs next year" - and a promise to Munich

Created: 12/29/2021, 09:03 AM

From: Thomas Schmidtutz

Oliver Zipse: The BMW boss is looking to the new year with confidence - and wants to build up a lot of staff.

© Astrid Schmidhuber

The Munich-based car manufacturer BMW is planning a significant increase in staff in the coming year in view of the booming sales figures.

This was announced by BMW boss Oliver Zipse in an interview with Münchner Merkur.

Munich - 2021 was a difficult year for the auto industry.

The switch to electromobility, a lack of chips, disrupted supply chains and high prices for important raw materials made life difficult for vehicle manufacturers.

How serious the situation is for the industry and what challenges BMW * is preparing for in the medium term, Group boss Oliver Zipse * explained to

.

Mr. Zipse, the auto industry is suffering from a shortage.

Above all, it is about missing chips and disrupted supply chains.

How is BMW doing?

It is of course a challenge to stabilize the supply chains.

On the other hand, there is also a balancing effect: the demand is currently higher than the supply.

This leads to price stabilization.

The problem for us is not the deficiency itself, but rather the unpredictability.

If we knew three months in advance that certain chips were not available, that would be less of a problem.

In some cases, however, we only know a few days in advance.

Can you convert a production facility in a few days?

Yes, BMW has adjusted to it.

The short-term nature is a real challenge, but we are set up so flexibly that we can deal with it.

We have agreed with our social partners that we can cancel shifts at short notice in such cases, and working hours will then be reduced via the working time accounts.

And we can start up again just as quickly.

For decades we have geared the company towards maximum flexibility.

It's no walk in the park, but we have a team that moves with us - because they recognize the need.

That makes BMW strong.

But you are currently unable to meet demand in the short term.

We could sell more cars, that's right.

How long do you have to wait to order a new car?

That cannot be said across the board, it depends very much on the market situation and model.

We have such strong demand for the i4 and iX that it can currently take a few months longer.

What is the cause now?

The shortage or the high demand?

The combination of both.

Here at the Munich plant, we are planning extra shifts for the i4 because the market demand is so high.

Do you have any indications as to when the shortage in semiconductors will be remedied?

That depends on the investment cycles of the semiconductor industry.

If the demand is greater than the production capacities, investments are made.

These cycles are 18 to 36 months.

So the situation should slowly relax from the second quarter of 2022.

And I assume that by the end of next year we will see largely normality.

There is also a lack of important raw materials.

Will that be the bigger problem in the long run?

It is not new that individual raw materials cannot be delivered; there have always been market fluctuations.

The topic of supply chains has come into focus for several reasons.

The first is the discussion about semiconductors.

The second is the focus on sustainability: where are the components made?

Where do the raw materials come from?

That is why we no longer source cobalt from the Congo, but from Australia.

But we do not see any bottlenecks in either battery raw materials or classic raw materials that cannot be resolved.

Interview: BMW boss Oliver Zipse (right) with Merkur editor Martin Prem.

© Astrid Schmidhuber

BMW boss Zipse: the proportion of recycling will increase significantly

You showed a completely recyclable concept vehicle at the IAA.

Is that the near future?

It doesn't work overnight.

But what is happening is a rethinking: 40 years ago, for example, hardly anyone thought about insulating houses.

Today this is a matter of course.

The first thing that happens when we have a shortage in one place is: You use it more sparingly.

Regardless of whether it is heating energy or raw materials.

That is why circular economy is a megatrend for us.

We cannot do without all raw materials, but we are increasingly reusing them.

Is it worth it?

Humanity consumes around 100 billion tons of raw materials each year, almost all of which are taken from the upper layer of the earth.

For reasons of sustainability, but also from an economic point of view, we cannot continue doing this forever.

Efficiency, avoiding waste is a basic principle of industrialization.

We are driving this topic forward and are now expanding it to include supply chains and raw materials.

Up until now, a car had to be as light as possible and as stable as possible.

Soon it will also have to be recyclable.

It's not that new.

In 1991 BMW already had a dismantling line at the Landshut plant.

We pushed the topic once again with the i3, already included recyclates in the product design and thought ahead about recycling batteries.

Now we are taking that experience to the next level.

That is why we presented the BMW iVision Circular at the IAA, which is made from 100 percent sustainable raw materials and can also be 100 percent recycled.

By when will it be marketable?

Today we have a 30 percent share of recycled material in the vehicle.

With the new class and our next vehicle architecture, we are moving towards 50 percent.

And in perspective I can even imagine 70 or 80 percent.

What is the biggest problem?

The availability of recycled materials is currently the bottleneck.

The necessary scaling has not yet been achieved here.

Coated materials that cannot be separated again are particularly difficult in the recycling process.

This is why vehicle development is so important for later recycling.

We try - wherever possible - to do without coatings and to rely more on monomaterials.

What role do renewable raw materials play?

That is the second important aspect: that we have an alternative to non-renewable raw materials.

In the vehicle structure it will hardly be possible because the crash requirements are so high.

But wherever it comes to fibers, textiles, haptics, that's where we will use them.

Does that mean: fields and forests are also part of your supply chain?

I've never heard the phrase like this before.

But now that you have said it: Definitely yes.

Why not?

How far do you have to think ahead with such developments?

Everything we decide now has to last beyond 2030.

Because you cannot radically change a basic product strategy every few months.

At the same time, the framework conditions are changing faster than ever.

With the ramp-up of electromobility, we are, for the first time, directly dependent on the infrastructure.

In the past, our customers never had to worry about whether there were enough petrol stations.

The topic of sustainability will also have a completely different relevance: In future, the auditor will determine whether statements on sustainability are really reliable or just greenwashing.

On the electrical infrastructure: is it growing fast enough?

Our i4 is sold out for months, as is the iX.

The electric 7 Series is coming next year, so it won't be any different.

The market is currently growing rapidly, but if the infrastructure doesn't keep up, this growth will be stifled.

That is why we have analyzed for ourselves: What is the sum of public charging, private charging and charging at the workplace in Europe and worldwide?

This data has not yet been available.

But they are decisive for us.

What came out

In Europe, the number of electric cars is currently growing five times as fast as the infrastructure.

Given this imbalance, it would be a mistake to ban the modern and constantly improving internal combustion engines.

That would inevitably lead the largest industry in Germany into a contraction scenario.

I warn against that.

Rather, we advocate combining the CO2 targets with binding targets for the charging infrastructure.

When will it get tight: 2025?

We are investing in the infrastructure ourselves and are even bringing additional investors on board.

The public mostly looks at long cross-country journeys, i.e. the highways.

We are on the right track with our Ionity joint venture.

However, public charging only accounts for around 20 percent of people's charging behavior.

Private charging at home has by far the largest share.

And there are still significant hurdles.

Not only with the charging boxes, but also with the medium and low-voltage networks, i.e. the 'last mile'.

Charging infrastructure is expensive for investors.

It takes time for the business model to be profitable.

That could mean: the road to electromobility is still long?

We are driving electromobility at high speed.

For example, we could build 100 percent electric cars in our Munich plant from 2026 if the market demands it.

But we can still cover other drives.

I assume that the market demand in 2026 will be so high that the plant will mainly build electric cars.

Provided that the charging infrastructure moves along.

i4 production at BMW's main plant in Munich.

The new Stromer got off to a strong start.

Shortly after the start of production, the delivery times are already several months.

© BMW

BMW boss Zipse: a clear commitment to the Munich parent plant

Its main plant is the only automobile plant in the world in the middle of a metropolis.

And thus a future model.

Ten years ago one would have thought differently about it: Industry on the greenfield for maximum efficiency.

But a modern city caters to all groups of society.

In this respect, industrial work also belongs in the big city - also to shorten distances.

We have people who walk to work in the factory.

This is a future model, also to avoid gentrification and to keep all sections of the population in the city.

A city that is only based on service is not a modern city.

There used to be conflicts with the surrounding residential development, for example because of the paint shop.

And today?

The criticism at the time was justified.

Ten years ago there was an old press here.

When she made her strokes, the BMW skyscraper shook.

Today there is a much larger press, but you can no longer feel anything.

Because the foundation is now decoupled.

The new paint shop emits almost nothing, and odor pollution is no longer an issue.

You need different employees today than you did 50 years ago.

Artificial intelligence is part of everyday life in production today.

You need new qualifications.

Classic industrial work is combined with software skills, and the division into commercial and non-commercial work is increasingly disappearing.

We invest up to 370 million euros annually in training and further education.

For example, for people who are completing a commercial training and studying at the same time.

And every year we continue to employ 1200 apprentices in Germany.

What they learn changes significantly.

Academic training and the commercial profession are growing closer together.

This is the only way to create production structures that can be highly flexible.

You mentioned artificial intelligence.

Will you need less human work in the future?

We won't need that much less.

Heavy physical work is already largely automated.

Humans will stay - less because of their physical labor, but because of their high flexibility and their unique ability to cognitive perception.

The human brain is so good at reacting, at the speed with which it can assess a situation.

No computer can recognize a person's intentions to act as well as another person.

In the industry there is discussion about downsizing, at Volkswagen there are more than 30,000 employees.

How is employment developing at BMW?

Two years ago we started restructuring our staff and, ultimately, cut jobs to a significant extent through natural fluctuation and voluntary agreements. At the same time, there were over 10,000 new hires and takeovers from training and our own trainee programs, with which we have further developed the skills of the workforce. Now we're at a point where it's all about building again. We are well on the way through the transformation, have prepared our plants for e-mobility and expect further growth in sales in 2022. That is why we will increase our number of employees by up to five percent next year. This is also an expression of our confidence that BMW is properly positioned for the future. With a current workforce of around 120,000 people, this corresponds to up to 6.000 employees.

What qualifications do you expect?

In addition to a large part directly in global production, this is heavily influenced by IT.

It's not just programmers, though.

It's about using programs, for example on artificial intelligence.

We are also hiring many new developers in Munich, for example experts in battery cell chemistry.

The competition for these talents is great.

But we are at the forefront.

What should not be underestimated: Software engineers are also enthusiastic when their applications come into their own in an emotional product like the iX or the new 7 Series.

That means, whoever wants to come in with you has to make an effort.

It has always been like this.

BMW is a demanding employer with correspondingly good consideration.

It's not just money.

These are also opportunities for further development for young talents.

And we have very interesting and tailor-made models for different needs.

What role does home office play for you?

This reduction to home office does not go far enough.

It's about mobile, flexible forms of work that are suitable for different life situations.

We now have hybrid work in almost every activity.

But the belief that you could make the home office the center of all work does not apply to many functions at BMW.

Here is a plant in which thousands of employees have to be present.

It is important that the top management is visible and approachable.

We have a lot of activities that rely on presence, a designer who builds a model, a development team.

One should not underestimate the many chance encounters that lead to ideas and innovation.

They are missing in the home office.

Does work always involve collaboration for you?

Absolutely.

I believe in the creative power of people who work together.

Work has to be enjoyable, but that is not a contradiction in terms of high performance.

Work has to be fulfilling.

The most recent employee survey showed us: people want to take on meaningful work, want to advance the company and mobility as a whole.

It's not just about the money.

And what was the opinion of the employees about the board of directors?

We got a good testimonial.

Even better than we hoped and expected.

But that's not something we can rest on.

* Merkur.de is part of IPPEN.MEDIA