I stumbled across this the other night, it's very much worth the watch, especially when they talk about how big the factory they bought is, and their future expansion plans
I'm surprised at how the robots can work so closely to the employees without protection cages. They must have strong fail-safe systems in place. Most impressive!
Except that they seem to be making and assembling larger/fewer parts, this doesn't look substantially different from the Toyota plant I worked at 10 years ago.
Of course it isn’t. It would be very surprising if what they did were substantially different. I think it’s very unlikely that large leaps in productivity are possible. Given the competition, all of these processes already have to be pretty optimised.
I did an internship at Audi a few years ago and it looked exactly the same.
The one thing that was much more impressive at Audi however is that, as opposed to Tesla, where one line seems to produce one type of car, at Audi, the same line (i.e. the same robots) would sequentially work on different models. A robot might, for example, attach an A4 windshield, then a Q5 windshield, etc. That was very impressive. The required identification information (model, type, options,...) was contained on a small transmitter attached on the transporter carrying the semi-finished vehicle.
This is obviously not necessary at Tesla since they only have two models, but it was nonetheless the thing that most impressed me.
From what I gather the general workflow is similar, but there were apparently specific customizations needed to deal with the fact that Tesla body panels aren't magnetic; apparently most car assembly lines use magnetic arms to move panels from one part of the line to another, because most car bodies are made of steel. I think Tesla uses a mix of suction and clamps instead, depending on the part.
I don't have any specifics, but after touring the River Rouge plant (Ford) about a month ago, it looks very, very similar (except that the Ford plant is much bigger). Robots everywhere, working in tandem with humans.
Interestingly, when you tour the Ford plant, they also focus on the same things: automated movement of the car through the factory, robot that installs seats, robot that installs the windshield.
I've heard from the CTO that they have a fraction of the amount of workers than most other car plants, and they've intentionally developed it this way so that their factory is programmable to make it more flexible for other cars.
What's also REALLY cool is that their whole car is programmable, in other words, they can push software updates to it and have that affect your driving experience. So, if there are defects, you don't have to be stuck with a crappy car -- you just get a software update.
Saab utilizes this through Tech2. Just to turn the Aux Out component on my stereo would cost $150-300. Disable the Alarm system beep? $150-300. Disable the airbag warning? $150-300. Replace the stereo? $150-300. Disable daytime running headlights? $150-300. List goes on.
Had Saab made these options available through menus, I would bless their innovation. Instead, the menus are 'hidden' and only accessible with a DRM yearly license and a device.
I know these aren't driving experience based updates, but it is a testament of how a car's configuration can lead to thousands of dollars of waste and customer dissatisfaction.
The difference is that Tesla doesn't charge for any of these features, and all of this is configurable via their onboard system (of course, only when your car isn't driving ;) ).
You can even configure your car to "creep" forward or to stay put when your foot is off the break but the car is on. This is also done via the menu.
I think what you mentioned is more of a testament to how Saab overcharges for small features on their product. Just because Saab does this, it doesn't mean Tesla does. I'd love to have more configuration options come with my car.
They claim 3000 workers. A typical B&A plant has about 4000 employees and produces 3000 cars per week, and Tesla is building about 500. I'd say the CTO is blowing smoke.
I also don't understand the point about software. Very few car defects are related to software. It is stuff like rattles, and wind noise (NVH) that are common problems due to build issues. It is quite hard to fix a dashboard rattle with a firmware change.
It seems they utilize it (from what I could gather from the video) much more than German automakers. German companies are hesitant to push the automation boundary, at least at home, since it means lowering human jobs. They won't ever fully automate since they have a social responsibility to their factory workers.
Mega Factories - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0GtKfOPZRg