Does anyone know how production is organised in the factory? Is it all one line, or are there multiple, parallel lines? If multiple, how many?
Based on taking the factory tour, there is one final line for assembly. It isn't that big either, only occupies a tiny portion of the building. - - - Updated - - - I guess I should point out that the building is huge and was told it is 3 stories tall, the chassis and drive train are assembled up stairs and the tour doesn't get to see that.
I thought they said they only use 5% of the factory before. Either way it's a tiny percentage of the space they have to grow. Truly a bargain for such a big factory.
I took the tour on a Saturday and the main assembly line wasn't running. But there was still lots of activity- the huge aluminum stamping press was running, we saw a bunch of people making seats, and cars were running on the test track. The tour I was on didn't get to see the batteries or drivetrains being assembled so those may or may not be built on smaller assembly lines. The main assembly line itself was also really cool. Each chassis was on a robotic sled and the robots followed black lines on the floor. If they need to reconfigure the assembly line, they just have to repaint the lines on the floor. Definitely more high tech than the GM plant I toured in the 80s on a school field trip!
My perception when I took the factory tour, was it looked far less than 20%. Before you get to the part of the plant they are using, you walk through a huge portion of the old factory that the are using for storage and parts inventory. It looked like the giant warehouse at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Imagine dark, gloomy, rows and rows of pallets and crates everywhere. Then we finally hit the section of the plant that is all painted white, shiny, new and bright. While we walked through various areas of stamping, plastics, etc, it actually felt like they were just using a tiny portion of the factory. Now they didn't take us to the battery, drivetrain, or painting sections so we did not get a feel for the size of those areas. It's possible that the paint section is capable of handling Gen III production, which would reduce the need for another paint department.
For those not familiar, NUMMI is the old (generic) name of the factory building. This matches with the tour guide who said the plant at one point could produce 6,000 cars a week. I just can't imagine what it must have been like.... 12 times the output of Tesla's current rate.
If you have 45 minutes, this video is an awesome overview of the factory! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUgDcA1pZAM J