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Inside Tesla’s Model 3 Factory

bloomberg.com

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Re: Inside Tesla’s Model 3 Factory

#11

Post by jonknee »

vertline wrote: post #9
dsfyu404ed wrote: post #2

>But relying on suppliers got Tesla into trouble with the Model X, when its engineers designed an extremely difficult-to-make “monopost” seat and an impossible-to-hit timeline. I chuckled a bit when I read this. I can relate to this a lot. For awhile I worked at a university in the mechanical engineering department machine shop. I like to think I know when I'm talking about when I say that everyone makes this mistake…

I think I read somewhere with Tesla that a problem with outside suppliers is that you can't always negotiate the price down to a competitive place. Specifically if the supplier has a patent or something that gives them leverage in pricing. I'm not sure I'm wording what I mean correctly.

Tesla makes relatively few cars and has credit worries, I can definitely imagine suppliers not wanting to hand out big discounts.

Re: Inside Tesla’s Model 3 Factory

#12

Post by 1024core »

kjksf wrote: post #8
sschueller wrote: post #7

I would love to see some videos of the Robots in action.

There are some on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVCCroN7vS0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_lfxPI5ObM And one with more than just factory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KA18tusTgE4

The first 2 videos are from 2015 and 2013, respectively. I'm guessing things have changed a bit since then?

Re: Inside Tesla’s Model 3 Factory

#13

Post by walrus01 »

dsfyu404ed wrote: post #2

>But relying on suppliers got Tesla into trouble with the Model X, when its engineers designed an extremely difficult-to-make “monopost” seat and an impossible-to-hit timeline. I chuckled a bit when I read this. I can relate to this a lot. For awhile I worked at a university in the mechanical engineering department machine shop. I like to think I know when I'm talking about when I say that everyone makes this mistake…

Pretty much everything you just wrote is applicable to the Juicero hardware. Business model set entirely aside for a moment, its hardware is an example of what happens when some C-level decision makers let the engineering staff go wild with no real world constraints:

https://blog.bolt.io/heres-why-juicero-s-press-is-so-expensi...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Cp-BGQfpHQ

Re: Inside Tesla’s Model 3 Factory

#14

Post by jandrese »

dmode wrote: post #4
Odenwaelder wrote: post #3

How do you decide on which brand of robots to use? I remember seeing videos from the Model S production line having only KUKA robots, but for the Model 3, I only see FANUC.

I guess whoever offers better pricing, support, timelines etc

Given how fast they were trying to ramp up production I wouldn't be surprised if they had to buy robots from multiple vendors becauase no single vendor was capable of building and installing the 2,000 robot arms he needed to hit that 5,000 car/week in 2 months target.

Re: Inside Tesla’s Model 3 Factory

#15

Post by zaroth »

dsfyu404ed wrote: post #2

>But relying on suppliers got Tesla into trouble with the Model X, when its engineers designed an extremely difficult-to-make “monopost” seat and an impossible-to-hit timeline. I chuckled a bit when I read this. I can relate to this a lot. For awhile I worked at a university in the mechanical engineering department machine shop. I like to think I know when I'm talking about when I say that everyone makes this mistake…

More on the monopost seats, if you’re curious:

https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-addresses-model-x-2nd-row-se...

Re: Inside Tesla’s Model 3 Factory

#17

Post by dmode »

jandrese wrote: post #14
dmode wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess whoever offers better pricing, support, timelines etc

Given how fast they were trying to ramp up production I wouldn't be surprised if they had to buy robots from multiple vendors becauase no single vendor was capable of building and installing the 2,000 robot arms he needed to hit that 5,000 car/week in 2 months target.

The bottleneck is not so much with robot manufacturers, but actually with the software implementation. There are software consultancies who will program the robot arms per Tesla specs.

Re: Inside Tesla’s Model 3 Factory

#18

Post by woodandsteel »

I understand that Musk comes up with his radical innovations by starting out with first principles and then reasoning from there.

I wonder what was his specific set of thought processes that lead to the radically different approach that Tesla is taking to manufacture the Model 3.

Re: Inside Tesla’s Model 3 Factory

#19

Post by heisenbergs »

Wow. There is so much machinery that it's hard to spot the actual car parts. Would like to know how this compares to other car manufacturers. I've seen pictures from VW where there always seem to be humans around, though that may be part of PR.

I also wonder when the typical Muskian move of in-housing more than is usual (ie car seats) will fall over, or whether this will remain a competitive advantage as Tesla will have more skin in the game than others.

Re: Inside Tesla’s Model 3 Factory

#20

Post by s2g »

woodandsteel wrote: post #18

I understand that Musk comes up with his radical innovations by starting out with first principles and then reasoning from there. I wonder what was his specific set of thought processes that lead to the radically different approach that Tesla is taking to manufacture the Model 3.

> radically different approach that Tesla is taking to manufacture the Model 3.

I thought they gave up and went back to more traditional methods?

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