AZ Desert Driver
Rare combination
I am guessing here- that the "uncorking" does the same thing that buying a "P" car gets. So, do I now have a P car? That is what I'm claiming, but I could be wrong.
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Tesla Gigafactory
- Thread starter domenick
- Start date
AZ Desert Driver
Rare combination
You are right to call me on posting in the GF thread. Where would I post my new avatar - where I'm complimenting the GF expansion and how it has helped my old sled?Beautiful car. Is this the GF thread?
Anyone have access to a recent drone fly by? Thanks
dgpcolorado
high altitude member
That sure doesn't sound like good news! I was hoping that the battery pack bottleneck had been solved. Guess not.
Nice picture of "lennies"* though. I see them frequently over my mountains here.
* [lennies = lenticular clouds caused by mountain airflow waves, used by sailplanes to achieve very high altitudes]
Just guessing here... Maybe the new hardware that is required for the automated module stuffing has arrived and Elon is just there to make sure that things don't go "sideways" again with the new hardware installation. So this could actually be good news.
RT
mspohr
Well-Known Member
I'm just to the West of the Gigafactory at Lake Tahoe. We get these lenticular clouds a lot because of the mountains.
dgpcolorado
high altitude member
For some years the altitude record for gliders, of about 49,000 feet, had been set in the mountain wave of your Sierra Nevada Mountains. (The current record seems to be 52,000 feet, set in Argentina, also in mountain wave, of course. Mighty cold up that high...)
Yeah, the plane that did the 49,009 foot record is now hanging at the Udvar Hazy center of the Air and Space Museum near DC. The only reason he stopped climbing is that his oxygen system iced over.
I was hoping to see some developments too, but looking at the latest satellite images, there doesn't seem to be any new construction
dc_h
Active Member
Any new development is interior with new machinery. Need someone watching the inbound trucks and more reports of new hardware from Panasonic. And then more reports of trucks shipping packs to Fremont and power packs to everywhere.
Garlan Garner
Banned
purplewalt
Active Member
All of the foundations, steel columns, beams, exterior walls, floors, roofs (possibly including solar panels) and doors do not make a building habitable and allow it to function.
That is what one can see from outside via a fly-over or a drone or a satellite.
What you CANNOT see is inside the building:
Buildings are extremely sophisticated and complicated machines, with requirements for power, lights, HVAC, more wall, more floors, restrooms, break rooms, cafeterias, racks, fire protection, security, racks, ovens, waste storage, removal and recycling areas, robots, pathways for roaming robots, thousands of computers, computer rooms with access floors, etc.
IF they were building a McDonald's, and they had already built 20 or 100 of the same design: they would pretty much have it figured out by now.
They are building the prototype, and what they are learning and developing inside has NEVER been done before.
And certainly not at this scale.
So, even with the best 3-D computer modeling of systems integration, they are still learning and improving on how to better build the FIRST Gigafactory.
Three years ago, they might have thought (or dreamed) about some of what they are accomplishing.
Since March 31, 2016 with all the reservations for the Model 3, they have been under a tremendous microscope to build not just the batteries, and the packs, but now also the motors and drive units for the Model 3 (additional 500-600 workers).
The location (20 miles East of Reno) is NOT premium to draw upon vast population resources of (required) skilled technicians and certified labor.
And then the transportation to get the quantity (a small City) of employees to the Gigafactory every day.
And keep them motivated and engaged.
How and where they are finding and retaining enough qualified employees is a miracle all by itself.
And these people probably have families...
So for the first THIRD of the building that is visible, there is a LOT more yet to come.
And be built.
And then finished out on the inside, and those spaces will also be filled with Workers, thousands of Workers.
That is what one can see from outside via a fly-over or a drone or a satellite.
What you CANNOT see is inside the building:
Buildings are extremely sophisticated and complicated machines, with requirements for power, lights, HVAC, more wall, more floors, restrooms, break rooms, cafeterias, racks, fire protection, security, racks, ovens, waste storage, removal and recycling areas, robots, pathways for roaming robots, thousands of computers, computer rooms with access floors, etc.
IF they were building a McDonald's, and they had already built 20 or 100 of the same design: they would pretty much have it figured out by now.
They are building the prototype, and what they are learning and developing inside has NEVER been done before.
And certainly not at this scale.
So, even with the best 3-D computer modeling of systems integration, they are still learning and improving on how to better build the FIRST Gigafactory.
Three years ago, they might have thought (or dreamed) about some of what they are accomplishing.
Since March 31, 2016 with all the reservations for the Model 3, they have been under a tremendous microscope to build not just the batteries, and the packs, but now also the motors and drive units for the Model 3 (additional 500-600 workers).
The location (20 miles East of Reno) is NOT premium to draw upon vast population resources of (required) skilled technicians and certified labor.
And then the transportation to get the quantity (a small City) of employees to the Gigafactory every day.
And keep them motivated and engaged.
How and where they are finding and retaining enough qualified employees is a miracle all by itself.
And these people probably have families...
So for the first THIRD of the building that is visible, there is a LOT more yet to come.
And be built.
And then finished out on the inside, and those spaces will also be filled with Workers, thousands of Workers.
JRP3
Hyperactive Member
Garlan Garner
Banned
You are making some tremendous claims. Do you work for Tesla or are you speculating?
What is so "tremendous" about those statements? Those are just basic common sense observations that anyone should already know.
purplewalt
Active Member
Since you "asked":
I had an Opportunity to attend the Gigafactory Opening Party Last July 2016.
And toured it, at least the parts that were open to the Tour groups.
Our group toured Building "A" had some robots and Assembly going on in Level 1 (it is three Levels high.)
Buildings "B" and "C" were being built out as part of the Panasonic Battery manufacturing plant. Lots of work was still being done, some two and three story racks were being build for battery storage. A couple of the self-guided Robots were running around (in operation). Saw a couple of the first 2170 batteries.
We were dropped off from the bus deep inside Building "D", right at the door to Building "C". Two outer side walls were up, base for the roof was on. No slab or any of the floor were installed. There was a huge open area (no wall) to attach to future Building "E".
Since then, Buildings "E", "F", "G" and "H" have been fully erected.
Walls are on.
Roofs are on.
The numbers of cars and trucks in parking lots has quadrupled: some Workers are still Building the Buildings and further developing the site.
Some Workers are Panasonic employees, manufacturing Batteries.
Some are Tesla employees
No: I do not work for Tesla.
But, I do have almost 40 years professional experience in Design and Construction: this is a HUGE project.
And I have worked as part of several teams building very large projects, have spent a lot of time both in the office working on the drawings AND in the field at the project site working in the Job Site trailers.
I view the Gigafactory as a series of large Horizontal Buildings, and because of the operations and manufacturing process, many of the functions can be independent functions from other buildings.
I have toured the Fremont Factory three times.
It is bursting at the seams.
And they are landlocked. They can warehouse lots of materials around Fremont, but between new parking structures for full employee parking lots, they are space constrained.
I have toured SpaceX.
It is landlocked, except for the Boring Company initial test site. My friend took me to top of their four story parking garage.
Everything is scheduled as "nick of time" for manufacturing and delivery."
Elon and JB spoke about "Buildings Building Buildings", where raw materials are brought to one end of the building, and the finished product comes out of the other end of the building.
Not just battery packs or drive units: fully finished cars.
It takes a small army of design professionals to get each of these buildings DESIGNED.
Then it takes and even larger army of skilled and dedicated Construction Firms to manufacture and erect and assemble all the pieces, pull all the miles of wire and cable, etc.
And LOTS of Money to pay for land, material and Labor.
LOTS.
2 + 2 + 2 is kinda easy to figure out.
Tesla has announced Model Y as a future project. I really doubt Fremont can fit all the stamping and storage for the parts and additional employees and the parking for the Model Y @ Fremont.
Maybe, but probably not.
Probably see it in Sparks.
Tesla has also announced and presented the Semi, which they are taking orders for.
Sparks (Reno) is probably a great place to manufacture them entirely.
Tesla has announced their Pickup Truck.
Same conclusion.
All from Sparks.
I was in Line (too) early morning for my Model 3 Reservation on March 31, 2016.
Still Eagerly waiting on my Invitation.
Have seen several, and have had a chance to sit in one and explore some of its nooks and crannies.
Driving one (or my own) is next on the list...
When you are a Tesla Owner (or can go as an Owner's guest), schedule a trip, go, visit and tour Fremont. You will learn a lot.
You probably will not have access to get inside the Gigafactory.
At least for a while.
Maybe someday.
It is still too much of an active Construction Zone.
If you know someone, you might have the opportunity to tour SpaceX.
Same with Boring Company.
Best Wishes!
dc_h
Active Member
I think specially about the Y, they will build it in Fremont. I think they will work on improving the design of the S&X and as part of the redesign they will improve assembly productivity enough to consolitectgecrwo lines used for S&X. Small details like robots installing seats and a dozen othe bottlenecks will increase line speed and reduce the staffing bedded for SX.
I think a 20-30% productivity gain on the SX line is critical.
I think the semi will be assembled in Sparks, but the Roadster will be done in a smaller Site near Fremont. Lower volume and high price reduce pressure on productivity for the Roadster.
AZ Desert Driver
Rare combination
As I look at the parking lot at GF - those folks commute in from where? Presume Sparks, but were there that many empty houses and apartments for the influx of new GF talent? Did Tesla build a housing community to support the GF talent? If you were developing an oil field in North Dakota, you might have a fleet of mobile homes and bunk houses built for the worker bees. Would high priced engineers with families put up with this living arrangement for a long time? I looked at going to Saudi and living in an ARAMCO camp. The pay was astronomical, but the living conditions were not worth it to me.
I am being nosy - but just how does Tesla manage the human logistics - housing, commute, life style of the bees and studs?
I am being nosy - but just how does Tesla manage the human logistics - housing, commute, life style of the bees and studs?
FlatSix911
Porsche 918 Hybrid
More information on the hiring challenges at the GF: Tesla increases hiring effort at Gigafactory 1 to reach goal of 35 GWh of battery production
Earlier this year, Tesla said that over 1,000 people already work at Gigafactory 1, but the company expects the workforce to grow significantly as they ramp up production. The company previously guided up to 10,000 employees when at full production around 2020. This week, Tesla promoted a new page advertising working at Gigafactory 1 and listed dozens of positions at the plant.
Both Tesla and CEO Elon Musk shared the page to their millions of followers:
On the page, Tesla also promotes the Tahoe – Sparks region. The Gigafactory is quickly running out of local talent for its staff and they have a quota of Nevada residents to respect. Tesla and other companies based at Gigafactory 1, like Panasonic, have been known to recruit from other regions of Nevada and bring people to the Tahoe – Sparks region.
Speaking as a newer transplant here in the last 5 years. The Reno-Sparks region has experienced new construction housing boom before the gigafactory announcement but the pace has accelerated drastically since then. Apartments are in really short supply. They are in a housing competition with quite a few data centers newhires as well. Most people that I know that got hired to Gigafactory are living near Spanish spring (northeast portion of Sparks) area so commute time is probably around 25 minutes range. The traffic when I first moved here was not bad at all, you can get from far south end of Reno-Sparks to north end around 15 minutes (similar time from Somersett to east Sparks in the west-eastward fashion), now it would be at least 25 minutes when you are not in rush hour. The living standard is IMHO not bad at all coming from DFW. It depends on your location to affect your perception of how true the roaming Mustangs problems are. From my area they are definitely roaming, but where I am located has closed to 45 minutes commute to Gigafactory so I presume most Gigafactory people really won’t be having this experience.
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