Spartanburg, S.C. – BMW Manufacturing announced today that Manfred Erlacher, a 29-year veteran with the company, has assumed responsibility for the Spartanburg factory. Erlacher succeeds Josef Kerscher who has returned to Germany to run the plant in Dingolfing.
“I feel very fortunate to have been selected to lead this plant. Spartanburg is a significant contributor to BMW’s global production network and I am excited about the opportunity to direct future growth and expansion in South Carolina’s automotive manufacturing industry,” said Manfred Erlacher, President of BMW Manufacturing.
Most recently, Erlacher led BMW’s plant in Leipzig, Germany through a major expansion in preparation to begin production of the BMW i3 and i8. An engineer by training, Erlacher has extensive experience in BMW production having led both Assembly and Body Shop operations at Plant Munich before becoming Managing Director of the plant.
BMW Manufacturing is in the midst of a $900 million expansion to add a new model, 1.6 million square feet of production space to the plant and increase capacity to 350,000 vehicles annually by the end of 2014.