Wiring harnesses supply issue forces BMW to pause European assembly lines

BMW will pause production at its plants in Munich and Dingolfing in Germany due to a shortage of some critical components. The MINI assembly line in England's Oxford will also halt production because of the same issue. It comes after Leoni, a German cable producer with its plants in Ukraine, could not anymore keep up with the demand as Russia launched an invasion on Ukraine, causing a severe crisis in the country. “Logistics in and out of Ukraine are a particular challenge, especially because of the partly chaotic situation at the border points within the EU,” a spokesperson from Leoni said in a statement.

Leoni is now striving to up the production numbers at its other facilities to meet the demand due to the shortfall induced by the Ukraine crisis. VDA, a German auto lobby group, stated that most German auto companies and suppliers have around 50% of their production facilities in Russia and Ukraine. “The conflict in Ukraine is having a far-reaching impact on production in the supplier industry there. The resulting production stoppages will lead to successive production adjustments and interruptions at several BMW plants,” a company spokesperson said.

Following in the footsteps of Volkswagen and Stellantis, BMW has also curated a crisis team that will oversee the supply issues. Special departments are in talks with suppliers and negotiating with them to procure the components from alternate facilities in order to commence production at the earliest. The BMW spokesperson said that the carmaker’s Leipzig and Regensburg plants will rework their shifts, with the former cutting one shift and the latter limiting the entire operations to one shift.

BMW has already stopped exporting vehicles to Russia. Moreover, the German car giant is also set to stop producing automobiles in the Putin-led country. Besides, BMW plants in China, Mexico, and the US remain unaffected as they procure components from different suppliers.

Source: Automotive News Europe

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