DVD Video ISBN: 1-872-631-81-9, Latest Version: 1.0

Title: This is where the MINI is made: Final Assembly by Professor Paul G. Ranky, PhD, NJIT, USA. This publication is dedicated with thanks to the following (in alphabetic order) Harry Briggs, Communications Manager, BMW (UK) Manufacturing Ltd., MINI, Oxford, UK, Robin Charlton, Manager, BMW (UK) Manufacturing Ltd., MINI, Oxford, UK, Andrew Cutler, MINI Press and Marketing Manager, BMW, USA, and Frank Ludwig, Technology Manager, Framing, BMW (UK) Manufacturing Ltd., MINI, Oxford, UK

Level: Aimed at enthusiastic MINI friends, and customers, engineers, managers, IT experts, product/process designers, quality control engineers, factory designers, and others interested in learning about advanced automotive design, manufacturing and assembly. Several sections and cases could be ideal for quality marketing, for undergraduate and graduate education, and even for high school students and technicians learning/ exploring product / process design, teamwork, factory automation principles, and related automotive technology.

Industrial Sponsors/ Contributors include with special thanks to BMW (UK and USA), CIMware Ltd. UK, CIMware USA, Inc., and others.

Contents: This electronic publication is a virtual factory tour of the BMW MINI plant in Oxford, England, focusing on final assembly, including manual and automated assembly processes, smart sensory-feedback tools, robots, windshield assembly, final inspection, and other lean methods, tools and technologies, not missing out all those excellent people who work in this factory. The 3D eBook CD-ROM contains a browser readable, open source, 3D interactive multimedia Case / Problem / Context- Based eLearning & Marketing Program with text, images, interactive diagrams, animations, 2D and 3D videos, 3DVR objects, panoramas, templates, tutorials, active code so that you can calculate with your own data, research and industrial examples. The DVD video contains a high quality factory video tour of the final assembly area, professionally produced for large projected or regular TV screens, or for computers with a DVD drive. Other modules of this series cover further aspects of this modern factory. (Also available as separate packages.)

What you will learn: Having worked through the material in this eBook, you will be able to understand the way a complex, modern automotive factory works. You will learn about some integrated product / process design, total quality, manufacturing, and assembly principles, methods, technologies, and tools. You will also learn about requirements analysis, process failure risk analysis methods and other useful open source software tools. Furthermore, it covers Case-based learning and marketing methods; Major Review Questions & Problems; References; Case documentation guidelines; Useful spreadsheet templates for educators and students; A Major Glossary of Terms; Customizable, open-source process modeling templates, MS-Excel Tools & Templates to perform your own process modeling, requirements analysis and process failure risk analysis calculations. Furthermore we offer a large Gallery of images and objects of MINIs and the factory in Oxford, England.

System Requirements: CD-ROM: Multimedia Mac, PC or Linux. Use a 500 MHz CPU or faster, and 16 bit, 800 x 600 dpi, or better screen resolution. Runs off-line and/ or on-line the web using a web-browser and QuickTime ver. 6 or later available FREE from: http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download. DVD-ROM: DVD player for TV, or computer.

Available in different 3D eBook packages, with exactly the same electronic content, as follows:

1. ISBN: 1-872-631-79-7: 90001: for the professional market as a Hi-Resolution, full color printed Book-CD-combo (see image below), as well as
2. ISBN: 1-872-631-79-7: 90002: as an eBook on CD-ROM in a professional DVD box with inserts (see image below)
3. ISBN: 1-872-631-79-7: 90003: for the educational market (available for students and faculty with a current academic ID) as a jewel-case packaged CD-ROM , see image below)
4. ISBN: 1-872-631-79-7: 90004: for Server-based, multi-user 3D eBook solutions for both the professional, as well as the educational markets, offering various group licenses depending on the region of use. Consider the freedom, and the power of knowledge, when accessing our 3D interactive multimedia eBooks (and DVD videos) on your laptops and powerbook computers, or even mobile phones, over a fast wireless intranet... We have this solution available now! (Please contact us by Email: cimware@mac.com, or call. Thanks.)

Available in different DVD video packages, with exactly the same electronic content, as follows:

1. ISBN: 1-872631-81-9: 90001: for the professional market packaged in a high quality DVD box, and
2. Various laboratory package deals with huge discounts for education. See our (USA Dollar Pricelist) (UK Pound Sterling Pricelist)
3. Server-based, streamed DVD video solutions for broadband computer networks, and/or just-in-time, on-demand broadband cell-phone/mobile-phone delivery solutions (please contact us by Email: cimware@mac.com, or call. Thanks.)

Available as a combo dual CD/DVD package, including the 3D eBook, as well as the DVD video, with exactly the same electronic content, as above:

1. ISBN: 1-872631-49-5: for the professional market packaged in a high quality combo DVD box
2. Server-based, streamed DVD video solutions for broadband computer networks, and/or just-in-time, on-demand broadband cell-phone/mobile-phone delivery solutions (please contact us by Email: cimware@mac.com, or call. Thanks.)

In the 3D eBooks active code, open source code, and customizable MS-Excel templates are included!

(More about the Author/ Editor) or (View sample screen image segments) or (sample video clip in small size (8.9 Mbytes) Quicktime format) or (About Our Professional Development Seminars & Workshops)

3D eBook Contents in More Detail: This electronic publication is a virtual factory tour of the BMW MINI plant in Oxford, England, focusing on final assembly, including manual and automated assembly processes, smart sensory-feedback tools, robots, windshield assembly, final inspection, and other lean methods, tools and technologies, not missing out all those excellent people who work in this factory. The CD-ROM contains a browser readable, open source, 3D interactive multimedia Case / Problem / Context- Based eLearning & Marketing Program with text, images, interactive diagrams, animations, 2D and 3D videos, 3DVR objects, panoramas, templates, tutorials, active code so that you can calculate with your own data, research and industrial examples.

The over 300 interactive screens, and more than 25 minutes of digital videos and highly interactive 3DVR object screens cover:

• Introduction
• A Total Quality focus on product/process design with MINI examples
• Virtual factory tour discussed in detail with field experts focusing on final assembly methods, tools, technologies and those excellent people who perform the tasks manually and with robots
• A large Gallery of over 100 professional MINI images
• Case-based learning and marketing methods; Major Review Questions & Problems
• References
• Case documentation guidelines
• Useful spreadsheet templates for educators and students
• A Major Glossary of Terms
• Customizable, open-source MS-Excel Tools & Templates to perform your own requirements analysis, and
• Process failure risk analysis calculations.

Furthermore, we cover a section of Advanced 3DVR Object Demos and Beautiful Images/ Videos to relax.

Please note, that this multimedia case publication includes several open source, customizable spreadsheet (i.e. active code) templates in MS-Excel. (A Summary of the Key Features of our Multimedia Library).

Assuming that you have MS-Excel, or a compatible spreadsheet tool on your machine, all you have to do is to click on these links, then the spreadsheet template becomes active, and then you can use it as a tool to calculate with your input data. These programs can be used as analysis / simulation tools offering excellent opportunities for professional engineering, management, and IT teams to improve their designs, and processes, as well as for educators and students to learn and employ our techniques.

Many of the Library Cases discuss and teach the methods and the principles how these active code spreadsheet programs work, other Cases just offer them for use and refer to those cases that explain their algorithms in detail. This way redundancy is minimized.

The purpose of these generic, customizable, open source active code templates is to provide software tools for one, or more of the following:

• User requirements analysis: included in this case as an executable template. (This program helps you 'to find out what the customer/ user needs, regarding a specified product and/or service, and how this need could be / should be satisfied in a competitive market'),
• Process related failure risk analysis: included in this case as an executable template. (This program helps you 'to find and calculate the risks, and cost of failure of processes that could go wrong during an assembly, or disassembly, or manufacturing, or design or any other process, including marketing, maintenance, etc. in an enterprise'. Note, that this program is fully explained, including the methods and algorithms, an electronic User Manual, and several examples using 3D interactive multimedia in the Component Oriented Failure Risk Analysis Case).
• Self evaluation: included in this case as an executable template, and
• Course grading templates: included in this case as an executable template for distance learners, teams, and team managers who are responsible for managing learning/ educational activities and have to evaluate their own, or other learners' knowledge level in a particular field of interest.

To summarize, our user-friendly active code templates add analysis, optimization and evaluation opportunities to our Library, often with 3D interactive objects, and video clips.

Copyright, Programming & Design Rights by CIMware USA, Inc., and CIMware Ltd., UK an amazon.com Advantage Member Publisher, IEE Approved Multimedia Developer. Single User LICENSE per CD-ROM, or DVD-ROM! Not to be put on servers, although the entire program is 100 percent Internet/ server enabled, and the 3D eBooks are browser readable with QuickTime plug-in, unless the user is authorized to do so by CIMware USA, Inc. or CIMware Ltd. UK. Site and lab. licenses are available.

Please contact Us by Email: cimware@mac.com, or call

Please note, that in order to keep our products up-to-date, eBook contents, DVD video contents, cover designs, and packaging options are subject to change without any prior notice. DVD Video Regions: Note, that CIMware DVDs are internationally copyrighted and encoded to be playable in computers with DVD players, and on most TVs with DVD players in the following regions: 1. North America, 2. Europe, South Africa, Japan, 3. Far East, 4. Latin America, Australia, 5. Africa, India, Russia, 6. China, 7. Reserved for future use, 8. In-flight Entertainment Systems. (Our DVDs can be played as any other professional DVD video, and are best viewed on high-quality computers screens, or large TV screens, or projected video screens.)

BMW Press Release: Autocar names MINI Car Manufacturer of the Year

11/15/2005
 

Autocar magazine has named MINI Car Manufacturer of the Year 2005 at its annual award ceremony held in London on Monday 14th November 2005.

Presenting the award, Autocar editor Rob Aherne said: “MINI has been a towering success every week of every year of its short life. The cars, which began production in 2001, have brilliantly echoed the appeal of the Issigonis original, while offering buyers a thoroughly modern design.”

The MINI Plant has achieved a reputation for production efficiency by managing to build its 500,000th vehicle nearly two years ahead of schedule. The Oxford plant employs 4,500 staff.

Dr Anton Heiss, Managing Director of BMW Group Plant Oxford, said: "Winning the Autocar award for Manufacturer of the year is an enormous compliment to MINI and the associates working at BMW Group Plant Oxford."

"We're delighted to receive such recognition for consistent excellence in the manufacturing of one of Britain's best-loved cars. The real winners of this are Plant Oxford's associates and it's thanks to their hard work, flexibility and commitment to quality that we're here today."

Autocar editor Rob Aherne said: “Sales in the UK now exceed 170,000 units, and MINI makes an important contribution to the British economy by exporting to 70 markets worldwide. These British-built products have also made a huge impact in the notoriously difficult United States market.”

The MINI success looks to continue with the impressive unveiling of the MINI Traveller concept at this year’s Frankfurt Motorshow.

“The MINI’s achievement is exceptionally well-founded and long-lasting and this is why it stands head and shoulders above other car makers in the industry. It is a thoroughly well deserved winner,” said Aherne.