[Mister Dave]

Tesla lagging on Model 3 production, workers say

“Paint can’t handle the load right now because they have the Model S and X that they normally do and now they have all these Model 3s,” the worker told Reuters. “The paint department just can’t keep up.”

This weakness was highlighted last year. The bay area has very tough restrictions limiting the emissions from painting activities.

Read the rest a Reuters.

This report is backed up by Bloomberg via the tracker which is as of today reporting 3998/week.

 

[FI Spyder]

I guess with the bay restrictions, they can't spray them in tents like the production .

Oooh, that's so mean. You'd think somebody would have thought of that.

 

[Qinsp]

Time for the DeLorean School of Painting!

They can even charge a premium for it.

And yeah, California is only surpassed by Antarctica as the most hostile environment for automakers.

 

[Mister Dave]

This is the article I read about the paint limitations last year:

400,000 Tesla Model 3 Cars In 2018? It's Just Not Possible

This article puts the cap at 230K. Throw in S and X production and......


This was reported earlier in the month:

Tesla workers say paint shop fires worse than reported

Two Tesla employees say that vehicle production goals have been the highest priority in recent months, sometimes at the expense of fire and environmental considerations. They said, for example, months before the April fire, the sprinkler heads were clogged and coated at least an inch thick with paint and clear-coat. Filters below the paint booths and exhaust systems that clean and carry air into and out of the building were also visibly coated, they added.

Don't let the state inspectors see that. They'll shut you down in a heartbeat. Funny because the fire chief should have gone inside but didn't:

Tesla handled the April 3 fire with its own internal brigade. It did not report the incident to the Fremont Fire Department, a spokesperson for the department confirmed.

However, a citizen did call after seeing reports about the fire on social media that day, the fire department spokesperson said. Tesla security greeted a fire department battalion chief who went to investigate and said they had no internal reports of fire at the facility. The chief toured the exterior of the Fremont factory looking for signs of fire, and seeing nothing but a "cloud formation" outside, left without going inside.

A week and a half later, Tesla would announce it was shutting down its Fremont factory operations temporarily to make some improvements. (Tesla also shut down its factory for a week in May for planned upgrades.)

Was that the factory upgrade, the paint shop?

 

[Ladogaboy]

Oy vey. Maybe they can enlist the help of local paint shops like Maaco?

 

[sosmerc]

Just make the whole thing out of carbon fibre and leave it "natural" ! If you really need a specific color you can take it to the paint shop of your choice .........

 

[scottf200]

https://electrek.co/2018/07/01/tesla-model-3-production-rate-5000-units-employees-celebrate/

 

[Mister Dave]

Bloomberg tracker now says 4533/week.

 

[Foxtrot]

Bloomberg tracker now says 4533/week.

Musk says 5000 plus 2000 X and S.

https://electrek.co/2018/07/01/tesla-model-3-production-milestone-record-total-production-elon-musk/

I guess that means they will lose that much more money!

 

[scottf200]

Musk says 5000 plus 2000 X and S.

https://electrek.co/2018/07/01/tesla-model-3-production-milestone-record-total-production-elon-musk/

I guess that means they will lose that much more money!

From twitter 11 minutes ago.

 

[Steverino]

One thing Tesla did to increase Model 3 production was to eliminate 300 welds on the car. It was decided those welds were not needed. Assuming they really were not needed, this is the type of thing that pre-production test tooling helps with. Of course that step was eliminated in favor of the machine that builds the machine Alien Dreadnaught approach.

 

[Mister Dave]

One thing Tesla did to increase Model 3 production was to eliminate 300 welds on the car. It was decided those welds were not needed. Assuming they really were not needed, this is the type of thing that pre-production test tooling helps with. Of course that step was eliminated in favor of the machine that builds the machine Alien Dreadnaught approach.

Not only that, but they discovered the 'lead-in' bolt.

For months, Tesla engineers struggled to get a robot to guide a bolt through a hole accurately to secure part of the rear brake. They found a maddeningly simple solution: Instead of using a bolt with a flat tip on its threaded end, engineers switched to a bolt with a tapered point, known as a “lead-in,” that can be guided through the hole even if the robot is a millimeter off dead center.

Unfortunately, the lead-in bolt is not a new discovery. They're also overclocking robots.

Tesla at times pulls robots off the line and tests them operating at speeds greater than specified by the supplier, said Charles Mwangi, Tesla’s director of body engineering.

“We are actually breaking them to see what the maximum limit is,” Mr. Mwangi said. The idea is to find ways of accelerating production without spending capital on new machinery. In the future, rather than adding more machines to increase output, “we can just dial up our equipment,” he said.

Not a highly recommended practice. Automated equipment (last time I checked) is slated for 2 year life cycles. These machines may not see that ripe old age.

https://www.theverge.com/2018/6/30/17520832/tesla-model-3-manufacturing-changes-tent-robots-welds

 

[Ladogaboy]

One thing Tesla did to increase Model 3 production was to eliminate 300 welds on the car. It was decided those welds were not needed. Assuming they really were not needed, this is the type of thing that pre-production test tooling helps with. Of course that step was eliminated in favor of the machine that builds the machine Alien Dreadnaught approach.

Does that mean the car needs to go through a new set of crash testing?

 

[scottf200]

It is odd that everytime Tesla ...
has another success then naysayers say but but what 'bout ...
then another success then naysayers say but but what 'bout ...
then another success then naysayers say but but what 'bout ...
then another success then naysayers say but but what 'bout ...
rinse and repeat --- and rarely compliment on the successes

One thing Tesla did to increase Model 3 production was to eliminate 300 welds on the car. It was decided those welds were not needed. Assuming they really were not needed, this is the type of thing that pre-production test tooling helps with. Of course that step was eliminated in favor of the machine that builds the machine Alien Dreadnaught approach.

From a related article: "In recent weeks, company executives concluded they could produce Model 3 underbodies with fewer spot welds than they had been using. The car is still held together by about 5,000 welds, but engineers concluded that some 300 were unnecessary and reprogrammed robots to assemble the steel underbody without them."

 

[Qinsp]

Does that mean the car needs to go through a new set of crash testing?

It hasn't been tested.

And I don't think they do internal testing. Otherwise things like erratic braking distances would have shown up on the logs.

 

[sosmerc]

The whole Tesla approach has been "out of the box" thinking from the very beginning. They are learning as they go and this is different and producing both positive and negative results. For the most part they have been setting new standards and expectations and clearly advancing EV technology. I think Tesla is still on their way to meeting their mission goals, and for other major oem's that makes them uncomfortable because they now have to step up their game if they want to remain relevant going forward. In my mind it is all good and despite the many issues facing Tesla, I wish them the best. And I wish for the best with other oem's as well. The sooner we get off fossil fuel the better.....everyone wins in the end.

 

[Qinsp]

The whole Tesla approach has been "out of the box" thinking from the very beginning. They are learning as they go and this is different and producing both positive and negative results. For the most part they have been setting new standards and expectations and clearly advancing EV technology. I think Tesla is still on their way to meeting their mission goals, and for other major oem's that makes them uncomfortable because they now have to step up their game if they want to remain relevant going forward. In my mind it is all good and despite the many issues facing Tesla, I wish them the best. And I wish for the best with other oem's as well. The sooner we get off fossil fuel the better.....everyone wins in the end.

Let's just say... THANK GOD FOR THE FAA!!!

Selling untested 155mph cars is one thing, but selling 600mph jetliners without knowing if they work is a whole different level of pain.

The 'let the buyer beware' Quality Management System will eventually cause the company to collapse if they continue to use it. They will end up killing someone important, and the party will be over.

 

[Steverino]

The whole Tesla approach has been "out of the box" thinking from the very beginning.

It's the hubris that rubs me the wrong way.

Tesla's "out of the box" thinking led them to believe that mass manufacturing cars was rocket science (many pointed to SpaceX to show that Tesla had a better way). It turns out, it's not rocket science, it's way harder. Telsa struggled mightily to squeeze out 5,000 cars in June. In contrast Ford does 38,000 Escapes a month at its Kansas City plant. But I remember being told that Tesla would show the old dinosaur how its done. Instead they showed how not to do it. They didn't know better, they knew less. Like I said, its the arrogance that turns me off.

 

[Qinsp]

It's the hubris that rubs me the wrong way.

Tesla's "out of the box" thinking led them to believe that mass manufacturing cars was rocket science (many pointed to SpaceX to show that Tesla had a better way). It turns out, it's not rocket science, it's way harder. Telsa struggled mightily to squeeze out 5,000 cars in June. In contrast Ford does 38,000 Escapes a month at its Kansas City plant. But I remember being told that Tesla would show the old dinosaur how its done. Instead they showed how not to do it. They didn't know better, they knew less. Like I said, its the arrogance that turns me off.

It's the arrogance though that sells stock. Tesla has been very, very good at producing equity where none exists using only the internet social networks.

If Tesla says, "We will build a car for half the price that other companies can!" and make people believe it, that's big money. Even if they can't do it.

Notice I say Tesla, not EM. Because it's a culture now, with religious followers and donors. EM is merely the pastor of a mega-church. If EM vanished, they could replace him, it happens to churches all the time. They eventually find a new orator.

 

[Ladogaboy]

It hasn't been tested.

And I don't think they do internal testing. Otherwise things like erratic braking distances would have shown up on the logs.

I was under the impression that it has been crash tested. If the 300 welds were removed after this testing, I would think the vehicle would need to be tested again:

https://insideevs.com/tesla-model-3-initial-crash-test-results-released-by-iihs/