Forbes: Tesla cited as example of reborn USA manufacturing

[Doug_G]

The End of Chinese Manufacturing and Rebirth of U.S. Industry - Forbes

The world’s most advanced car, the Tesla Model S, is also being manufactured in Silicon Valley, which is one of the most expensive places in the country. Tesla can afford this because it is using robots to do the assembly.

 

[sprediletto]

Jim Cramer and David Faber were very positive this morning about Solar City and Tesla Motors. Jim made comments about his children encouraging him to install solar panels on the family home, how amazing Model S and the buying experience is. He said something about how we need to listen to our kids; solar power and electric cars are the logical choice for their generation. They will be the engineers and consumers in the future and those are the companies to watch. David said this is the type of innovation we need; not the Financial innovation that nearly torpedoed the Global Financial System. I was encouraged.

 

[Zzzz...]

The End of Chinese Manufacturing and Rebirth of U.S. Industry - Forbes

The world’s most advanced car, the Tesla Model S, is also being manufactured in Silicon Valley, which is one of the most expensive places in the country. Tesla can afford this because it is using robots to do the assembly.

I don't think Tesla is doing nearly enough in automation department. They are in a perfect position to implement bleeding edge robotics technologies, they are near Silicon Valley with tons of companies around working on robots, and yes, Tesla's workforce is expansive.

Sure they implemented robotic carts that transport car bodies, and multitool robots, so one robot could perform multiple jobs. But where is autonomous parts delivery robots to assembly line stations? Such robots already deliver medications in hospitals and do work in warehouses. And I saw some already working in some factories in US. Where is fully automated assembly line? Like Philips electric shavers are fully assembled in Europe by robots. Sure Model S is much more complex product compared to shaver, but technology is around, and could be scaled up. I would love to see Tesla getting ahead of the curve and innovate in robotics.

Too bad Elon is not into robots and AI. Just saying

PS. Good article, was an interesting read.

 

[Citizen-T]

Jim Cramer and David Faber were very positive this morning about Solar City and Tesla Motors. Jim made comments about his children encouraging him to install solar panels on the family home, how amazing Model S and the buying experience is. He said something about how we need to listen to our kids; solar power and electric cars are the logical choice for their generation. They will be the engineers and consumers in the future and those are the companies to watch. David said this is the type of innovation we need; not the Financial innovation that nearly torpedoed the Global Financial System. I was encouraged.

Cramer said this??? That is a huge shift. I've been nagging him on Twitter for like 3 years about reconsidering his Tesla calls. He's never budged.

 

[sp4rk]

Zzzz...
I say ... give it time. Time!

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

I don't think Tesla is doing nearly enough in automation department. They are in a perfect position to implement bleeding edge robotics technologies, they are near Silicon Valley with tons of companies around working on robots, and yes, Tesla's workforce is expansive.

Sure they implemented robotic carts that transport car bodies, and multitool robots, so one robot could perform multiple jobs. But where is autonomous parts delivery robots to assembly line stations? Such robots already deliver medications in hospitals and do work in warehouses. And I saw some already working in some factories in US. Where is fully automated assembly line? Like Philips electric shavers are fully assembled in Europe by robots. Sure Model S is much more complex product compared to shaver, but technology is around, and could be scaled up. I would love to see Tesla getting ahead of the curve and innovate in robotics.

Too bad Elon is not into robots and AI. Just saying

PS. Good article, was an interesting read.

The great advantage of robots is unrelenting accuracy. The great advantage of people is flexible intelligence.

Hospitals greatly prize accuracy since the cost of errors is very high.
Warehouses are locations for high volume storage and retrieval so are naturally extremely cost-effective to automate.

Tesla is low volume so there's no profit in automating tasks that require some flexibility and don't require accuracy, like transferring parts received from suppliers to temporary storage and then to the line for robots to handle. If Gen 3 solidifies at volume, expect increased automation as they'd be willing to spend more in advance to save a penny on every unit manufactured.