TESLA Model Y – Revolution in Manufacturing. Elon Musk has said for several years that the way to improve efficiencies is to build the machine that makes the machine. Elon has been espousing that one of the legacy things that Tesla will be remembered for is their manufacturing prowess.
The Model 3 initially was one of the hardest manufacturing challenges that Tesla had to contend with. This was due to several assumptions and processes that were redundant and or too complex for a machine.
So, in recent years Tesla and Elon have spent many hours, days, weeks, and months working to find better ways to manufacture. The outcomes of this work are on display at the Giga Texas Opening.
The introduction of the Model Y being built out of Giga Berlin and the most recently opened Giga Texas is the beginning of the new way to build Electric vehicles with influence from how Matchbox Cars are created.
Giga Texas Opening
Giga Texas is the newest Factory created by Tesla. This last week saw the opening of the new Giga Texas factory. Texas is a big state and they do everything big, the party that Tesla put on was no exception.
The scale of the attendees and the size of the building were open for all to see. With drones in the sky and cars on the ground and over 15000 people enjoying the facilities it was by all accounts one of the best parties of the year.
In attendance was the one and only Sandy Munro. Sandy is known around the globe as a clarion voice regarding the engineering of cars.
He has on several occasions deconstructed vehicles to see how they were built and designed. This has led to some interesting observations and feedback.
Sandy has deconstructed several Tesla’s over the years and Tesla has listened. So, to see him at the Cyber Rodeo (Giga Texas opening) was not a surprise.
Matchbox influence
Matchbox cars have been built for many years by injecting metal into a mold.
This design has for many years been the holy grail for car manufacturing but when scaled always was impossible.
Elon has been a big believer in taking an idea and going back to first principles. It was this thinking that helped tesla get to a point of trying to create the same process at scale for EV manufacturing.
TESLA Model Y – Revolution in Manufacturing, The opening of the Giga Texas really puts this on display. As Sandy Munro highlighted in his video, the original vehicles had many parts that made up the front and back ends of the vehicle, as shown it now is one piece.
The benefits include the ability for the piece to be constructed exactly the same every time. When many parts are part of the construction variation can occur this can cause challenges with construction consistency and quality.
The injection mold of the castings is a revolution in saving time and effort. Was it an easy problem to overcome? No, as Elon has said in the presentation at Giga Texas, we asked 6 companies 5 said “no” and the 6th said “maybe”.
Well, the proof is in the pudding, the production of the Model Y will be a revelation to the industry.
With the opening of The Giga Berlin and The Giga Texas both have several giga presses that can produce these vehicles. When they ramp up it will become one of the most popular Tesla’s around the world.
The future of manufacturing.
Recently I came across a story about Metal 3D printing. This printing machine, as shown in the link produces complex and unusual shaped pieces. These pieces could be, in combination with the Giga Press and Castings combined to reduce the production time of vehicles into the future.
Giga factories will become the heartbeat of the Electric Vehicle Industry. Their sheer size and rethinking of how a factory is constructed only helps to invigorate the people around and an industry that needed a fresh start.
The Model Y will be the highest selling and most sort after electric vehicle in the coming years. Just as Sandy Munro said Tesla is revolutionizing the car industry and through the change in thinking and acting upon new ideas and innovation helps to make them the leader of the industry
Dave
