Manufacturing Capacity

[asadanaga]

Hi Everyone,

I'm pretty clear on how many cars Tesla is delivering each month, but does anyone have a clear view on how many S models Tesla has the ability to produce monthly? Are they running the plant 24/7? I was just reading an article about expansion plans in Europe and Asia and I was just curious how they would meet the demand. All I know about the manufacturing process is what I've seen on Discovery channel. What's involved in turning up the volume? Where are the choke points? Are the stamping machines and robots a major capital expense, or can you "easily" bring new ones online to meet production. I understand the cars will be partially assembled in Europe, which I'm sure helps. Anyway, excuse my ignorance. If anyone would care to comment, that would be great.

Al

 

[serkol]

It looks like they run the final assembly and something else in 2 shifts, and the rest in 1 shift. So they produce 1 shift worth of cars, despite running some stations in 2 shifts, because those slow stations need 2 shifts to work through the 1 shift volume. Their goal is to speed up those slow stations, so that the whole plant can make 1 shift worth of cars in just one shift. After that they can double the volume by going 2 shifts.