BMW Korea fulfills social responsibility

By Jhoo Dong-chan

BMW Korea is making efforts for sustainable growth and producing social values through its aggressive investment in Korean society.

Besides its direct donations to the underprivileged, the German automaker’s local affiliate in Korea has suggested a set of exemplary standards through its various corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities, including establishing cultural infrastructure and building the group’s core facilities here.

As part of its commitment to society, BMW Korea opened a new auto parts distribution center south of Seoul, May.

The German carmaker's affiliate here invested 130 billion won ($115.6 million) to build the BMW Regional Distribution Center (RDC) in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province, in March 2016. It took 15 months to complete the facility.

The BMW group’s largest RDC outside Germany sits on a 57,103 square-meter site, 30 times larger than a regular football field. A BMW Korea official said the center is expected to be expanded by 10,000 square meters soon.

The center is made up of six buildings that include a main warehouse, two warehouses for inflammables and explosives, a welcome house and a security post.

"The BMW RDC will hold 86,000 different types of auto parts for BMWs," a BMW Korea official said during the opening ceremony for the center. "The center will also contribute to society. For example, it will hire about 600 workers."

Compared to other BMW RDCs, the Anseong facility has better storage space that can accommodate bigger auto parts. It also has easy access to Incheon International Airport and Pyeongtaek Port, and is close to highways, which is expected to shorten the auto parts service responses.

Currently, BMW Group has about 40 RDCs around the world stocking more than 400,000 different types of parts for any possible customer need. The official added that the Anseong RDC will enable the group to provide over 2 million auto parts for its customers in the region every year.

This is not the first time for BMW Korea to invest big money to build facilities here. BMW is one of the leading foreign automotive brands together with Mercedes-Benz. The two have waged an uphill battle to take the top position.

Unlike other foreign automakers which reportedly only paid heavy dividends to their headquarters without any social contributions, BMW Korea has actively engaged itself in various projects to contribute to society.

It invested three billion won for the BMW Korea Future Fund established in 2011 as a part of the company's efforts to find and train future global leaders. In 2014, BMW Korea spent 77 billion won to build a BMW Driving Center in Incheon, the nation's first cultural complex exclusively for cars.

The official also said the firm will spend 20 billion won to build BMW Group's fifth research center here by 2020 while funneling another 20 billion won to expand its Pyeongtaek vehicle distribution center.