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Panasonic plans a big increase in lithium ion battery capacity sometime in 2014. The company will add capacity at three sites in Japan and add a fourth line at its Kasai plant in Hyogo prefecture, just west of Osaka. It will add a line at its Sominoe plant in Osaka, which makes cylindrical lithium ion batteries for Tesla. They will also begin cylindrical battery production for cars at its Kaizuka plant, also in Osaka.
Panasonic declined to give capacity figures for cylindrical lithium ion batteries because that capacity targets almost exclusively a single automotive customer: Tesla.
Not really sure how I feel about this...
I mean, it's great that they're getting more Model S out on the roads, but what is happening to quality control when they're pushing out more and more vehicles? I doubt it's still the several hours per vehicle they claimed in an earlier video.
Based on several reports here on the forum, vehicles rushed out for end-of-quarter are already more problematic, so will these issues become more widespread as production ramps up?
Not a stock-holder myself (only a customer) so I'm primarily concerned about Tesla's reputation as a quality automaker, not their profit margin.
Not really sure how I feel about this...
I mean, it's great that they're getting more Model S out on the roads, but what is happening to quality control when they're pushing out more and more vehicles? I doubt it's still the several hours per vehicle they claimed in an earlier video.
Based on several reports here on the forum, vehicles rushed out for end-of-quarter are already more problematic, so will these issues become more widespread as production ramps up?
Not a stock-holder myself (only a customer) so I'm primarily concerned about Tesla's reputation as a quality automaker, not their profit margin.
This will be covered in February during Q4 earnings call. Tesla said they'd release 2014 forecast at Q4 Earnings Call. Given how much time was spent covering battery supply issues at Q3 Earnings call, Tesla will either proactively cover Panasonic's supply problems and/or the analysts will ask countless questions regarding it.In the spirit of transparency and open disclosure, I wish tesla would simply say how many cells are committed to be produced by Panasonic in Q1 and Q2 of 2014. I get that Panasonic is ramping in 2nd half of 2014' but how much is to be produced over the first half of 2014. Clearly TM and Panasonic know this number so why not just tell everyone.
The thing about quality control is that if it's done by lots of inspection and testing of the final product, you've already lost the game. Once a manufacturing process is proven, incremental, hopefully automated, monitoring is by far the best way to ensure quality.Not really sure how I feel about this...
I mean, it's great that they're getting more Model S out on the roads, but what is happening to quality control when they're pushing out more and more vehicles? I doubt it's still the several hours per vehicle they claimed in an earlier video.
Based on several reports here on the forum, vehicles rushed out for end-of-quarter are already more problematic, so will these issues become more widespread as production ramps up?
Not a stock-holder myself (only a customer) so I'm primarily concerned about Tesla's reputation as a quality automaker, not their profit margin.
The thing about quality control is that if it's done by lots of inspection and testing of the final product, you've already lost the game. Once a manufacturing process is proven, incremental, hopefully automated, monitoring is by far the best way to ensure quality.
I hope you're right. Model S is an absolutely fantastic car, but it is plagued by a few little issues that I think could be avoided by improved QC.
That's a very valid point, but more inspections won't fix it. If the same problem is appearing in multiple cars, e.g. windshield cracking, the design and/or manufacturing process either needs to be changed or more closely controlled. I'm not trying to be argumentative, my point is just that with a highly automated manufacturing process, the best (pretty close to only) way to get good product out is to get the process down cold. Fortuitously, while the setup cost is not trivial, it does mean that the incremental cost in money and time can be low.I agree, no car/brand is perfect.
What gives me pause is that some small issues which should have been corrected fairly easily once they were discovered/reported instead seemed to persist over many months and many cars. (water in the taillights comes to mind). This is to say nothing of the more serious persistent problems such as 12V battery failures and factory wheel misalignment. Tesla has been very reactive in dealing with these problems rather than their usual proactive selves.
Just suggesting this may be an area where Tesla could improve. :smile:
That's a very valid point, but more inspections won't fix it. If the same problem is appearing in multiple cars, e.g. windshield cracking, the design and/or manufacturing process either needs to be changed or more closely controlled. I'm not trying to be argumentative, my point is just that with a highly automated manufacturing process, the best (pretty close to only) way to get good product out is to get the process down cold. Fortuitously, while the setup cost is not trivial, it does mean that the incremental cost in money and time can be low.