If you have previously ridiculed investor Andy Rihs and his commitment to BMC as an unrealistic dreamer or megalomaniac cycling fan, you will hardly do so from now on. Because with BMC, Rihs will ride the production of high-end bicycles into a new era. The in-house production of carbon frames has just started in Grenchen. Together with other trade journalists, Ride was given access to the production facilities for the first time and was impressed after an initial tour: the seven-stage production line is fully automated, robots take over the production processes and new production methods enable BMC to achieve previously unattained quality standards. The systems are a complete in-house development by BMC; it was not possible to fall back on existing production processes.

The carbon tubes are manufactured using a specially developed "weaving machine" that produces carbon tubes over a 360-degree radius. Computer control allows BMC to control the arrangement of the carbon fibers down to the smallest detail and adapt them precisely to the requirements of the respective application. The resulting tubes are glued at the ends with carbon shells and thus assembled into a complete bicycle frame.
The production of carbon tubes has never been so precise, but also never so versatile as with the computer-controlled version from BMC. Until now, production in the Far East has been carried out by hand by manually layering several layers of carbon, which entails high quality fluctuations.

BMC's production process will undoubtedly revolutionize bicycle production. BMC is no longer dependent on frame manufacturers in the Far East but is taking production back into its own hands thanks to high-tech production. "Our goal is to be completely independent. We have the production process in our own hands and can now draw on the full potential in the area of development. We no longer have any external limits on production," says company owner Rihs, explaining the advantages. He has invested around 40 million francs in this production process.

Analogy of the bicycle and watch industry

The comparison between BMC's strategy and the watch industry is obvious, especially as Grenchen is a traditional watchmaking town and the production site of BMC. Nicolas Hayek once secured watch production for the region by introducing fully automated production at Swatch, thereby preventing an entire industry from moving abroad. Andy Rhis could now achieve a similar scenario (albeit on a somewhat smaller scale): He is bringing bicycle production back to Switzerland with the ultra-modern production process.

High and fluctuation-free quality

Computer-controlled production at BMC also has tangible benefits for the end consumer. The error rate can be largely reduced to zero as computers can be used to produce very precisely, evenly and without fluctuations. Until now, carbon frames have been produced by hand in the Far East by laying carbon mats on top of each other, with production repeatedly showing alarmingly high fluctuations in quality. For BMC, these uncertainties are now a thing of the past. The reworking of finished carbon frames is no longer necessary with the new production method as human tolerances can be eliminated. Perfect quality comes out of the machine. For the time being, BMC is producing the "Impec" road bike in its own production hall. In the medium term, further models will be added, including mountain bikes. For the time being, BMC is holding back on the prospect of when the first off-road models will be "woven". At the moment, the production facility with a capacity of 25,000 frames per year is running at full speed for the new luxury road bike.