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I spent 20+ years working as an automation consultant in automotive manufacturing. All the technology that Tesla has available to them, is being used by the ot

by jaarse 5y ago

I spent 20+ years working as an automation consultant in automotive manufacturing. All the technology that Tesla has available to them, is being used by the other manufacturers as well. Tesla sometimes is less cautious on when they deploy that technology but that’s about it. From a manufacturing standpoint, this will only impact stamping/casting and BIW (body in white) operations. Both are highly automated already with very few people (think the robotic lines you would see in a movie). Casting just takes work about from the stamping press and welding/riveting robots. As a last point, from the plants I’ve been in (including Tesla), Tesla is actuality LESS automated than their counterparts in a lot of areas, because they are willing to “throw labor” at a problem at the expense of cost and quality in order to get parts made. You can do things way less efficient when the stock markets doesn’t care about your bottom line profits.

davnn 5y ago
I‘ve often heard that Tesla had to built much of their automation machinery themselves because there were no suppliers that could build „the machine that builds the machine“. This seems contradictory to your statement, do you think there is no truth to this kind of stories? Edit: I’m also wondering why Tesla is supposedly able to produce a car in 10 hours vs. about 30 ours for the traditional manufacturers? E.g. https://www.torquenews.com/14335/elon-musk-manufacturing-will-be-teslas-long-term-competitive-strength/amp https://www.torquenews.com/14335/elon-musk-manufacturing-wil...
- jaarse 5y ago
  The only thing different between Tesla’s and GM/Toyota/Volkswagens manufacturing processes is the marketing. They all use the same equipment. Most manufacturing lines (robots, presses, equipment) etc are built by dedicated machine builders (not unlike ASML for chip fabs). This is a very mature industry. GM, Volkswagen, Toyota, etc, would build 8M vehicles a year, across dozens of products lines, and refresh their vehicles ever 3-4 years. Tesla just approached 1M last year. Tesla is not a major customer in this space yet, so in some cases they just bought a small machine builder to make there lines for them. (Although granted equipment manufacturers do love to list’s them as a customer for the “cool” factor). An electric car is way simpler to manufacture. Think of how many moving parts are in an engine and transmission alone. So many in fact that engine plants and transmission plants are there own separate 3M+ sq ft facilities. I would think the decreased manufacturing time would come down to this, because from what I have seen Tesla plants run way less efficient than any of the established auto manufacturers.
stunt 5y ago
Indeed, what other manufacturers do not have is a Twitter account the size of @elonmusk

by jaarse 5y ago

davnn 5y ago

I‘ve often heard that Tesla had to built much of their automation machinery themselves because there were no suppliers that could build „the machine that builds the machine“. This seems contradictory to your statement, do you think there is no truth to this kind of stories? Edit: I’m also wondering why Tesla is supposedly able to produce a car in 10 hours vs. about 30 ours for the traditional manufacturers? E.g. https://www.torquenews.com/14335/elon-musk-manufacturing-will-be-teslas-long-term-competitive-strength/amp https://www.torquenews.com/14335/elon-musk-manufacturing-wil...

jaarse 5y ago
The only thing different between Tesla’s and GM/Toyota/Volkswagens manufacturing processes is the marketing. They all use the same equipment. Most manufacturing lines (robots, presses, equipment) etc are built by dedicated machine builders (not unlike ASML for chip fabs). This is a very mature industry. GM, Volkswagen, Toyota, etc, would build 8M vehicles a year, across dozens of products lines, and refresh their vehicles ever 3-4 years. Tesla just approached 1M last year. Tesla is not a major customer in this space yet, so in some cases they just bought a small machine builder to make there lines for them. (Although granted equipment manufacturers do love to list’s them as a customer for the “cool” factor). An electric car is way simpler to manufacture. Think of how many moving parts are in an engine and transmission alone. So many in fact that engine plants and transmission plants are there own separate 3M+ sq ft facilities. I would think the decreased manufacturing time would come down to this, because from what I have seen Tesla plants run way less efficient than any of the established auto manufacturers.

stunt 5y ago

Indeed, what other manufacturers do not have is a Twitter account the size of @elonmusk