BUSINESS AT BMW
Junior Delaney Clinton gets lesson in BMW's business practices
For the past two days in Munich—or, as the locals say, “München”—we have explored BMW.
On the first day, we went to the BMW museum and showrooms in Munich, Germany. Here, we saw a lot of old, new and future BMW models. This was a very interesting experience because I was shocked by how many different types of cars have been created over time.
Today, we went to the production plant in Regensburg. Even though I am not particularly interested in cars, I thought it was amazing. My tour guide told me that in 2017, there were 38,200 cars produced and there were zero cars that rolled off the production line that were the exact same!
I brought PeeDee with me for the entire trip through the museum, and you can see his adventures in the pictures.
I also learned that BWM really cares about their employees.
For my English 3880 class, I wrote my research paper on workaholics in America. I learned that employees do not perform well when they are overworked and stressed; overworked employees also tend to suffer from health problems.
At BMW in Regensburg, they are attempting to avoid those problems. They focus on giving their employees, or associates as they call them, a healthy and comfortable work environment.
The BMW Museum in Munich, Germany (Contributed photos)
They give the food in their café a “traffic light rating”—green for healthy food, yellow for moderately healthy meals and snacks, and red for unhealthy items. Along with the traffic light system, they have posters around the workshops that encourage healthy eating and exercise. They even have ping-pong tables and gyms on the premises.
They also make their workspaces ergonomically friendly for the benefit of their employees. With small robots to assist the associates’ arms, padded floors and assistive conveyer belts that adapt to the associates’ height and reach, it is not hard to see that they are working hard for their employees. All the efforts BMW puts into making a better environment shows me that it is possible to change the way we work in America and that overworked doesn’t mean the best work.
I look forward to more days in Europe and the opportunity to not only see how I can improve myself but also what we as a university and country can learn as well.
Delaney Clinton
-by Delaney Clinton, junior from Charlotte majoring in business management
June 4, 2018