Invitation Only Event La Area

[Ekh]

Yes. It's absolutely possible to make that many cars at that plant. I'd like to take a moment and explain how. I'll keep the math minimal.

Assembling vehicles is a more appropriate way to look at what Elio will be doing versus thinking of them as a manufacturer. Suppliers will do most of the manufacturing - everything from door skins to steering wheels...

Each assembly line has a series of jobs that are done one right after the other. As soon as a person at, say, station 100 puts the headlights in place, they get ready to put headlights on the next vehicle. While that person is doing that one job, up and down the line people are doing all the other jobs that go into making a vehicle. When you think about it, if you were to walk next to your Elio from the first station till it was driven out the doors, you may be walking for a few hours watching each person putting something else on your Elio or connecting something that was put on by someone else. You might come away from the experience thinking "Wow, it took them three hours to build my Elio so they can probably make less than 3 of them per 8 hour shift" You would be right IF only one process can be done at a time. Obviously, each worker will repeat their small part of the assembly over and over all day long as cars pass by them.

My job at GM was to make sure that each job on the assembly line took less than 52 seconds to accomplish. Now, at the time, GM ran the line a little slower but only by a couple of seconds. When it comes to serial production (or assembly in this case), you can only build cars as fast as the slowest station (if the process takes too long, they'll just add another of the same work station next to the first on the line so that each station works on every other car). In other words, if it takes 2 minutes to install a windshield and you can only do 1 at a time, you can only produce one car every 2 minutes. In Elio's case, they will be able to produce at least one vehicle every 52 seconds. (I haven't been there in a while but surely the line isn't SLOWER than it used to be.

So, Elio can at least make one vehicle every 54 seconds just like we did with GM. Elio says they'll run at 70% capacity which is a fancy way of saying 70% of the line's top speed. That means they'll make one Elio every 77 seconds. That's 46 per hour or 368 per shift. T(Theoretical top speed would put out one Elio per 54 seconds or 533 per shift which is 1066 per two shifts * 5 days * 50 weeks = 266,500 per year.)

Some people may be saying "But, it'll take a long time for the assembly workers to get up to speed." Those people are wrong. If you perform a job 368 times in a day, how many days would it take before you "got it"? Here's a stupid case... IF Elio ran the line at 10% capacity for one day, each person on the line would have done their job 36 times. It's absurd to think it would take someone that many times to complete a 54 second automotive assembly job correctly. Anyway, the ramp-up period is more about figuring out just HOW to get all the parts to the line in time and where to park all those brand new Elios.

Because the Elios will come in two configurations, (the line workers aren't affected by color) there won't be a single complicated job on the line. There was only one complicated job at the GM facility that I saw and that was assembling the cross body harness because it was a two person job that involved threading the harness through the firewall from the engine bay into the interior. The Elio will be much more simple.

Bonus info:
*Parts are delivered from the line via a little train-like tug from a central "grocery store".
*There is a train spur right in the building where GM would receive many parts.
*There was a supervisor for about every 10 or so line jobs. That person would take over for someone who "couldn't hold it any longer" to prevent line shut-downs
*The windshield installation station was the neatest to me to watch as there was a robot that ran a bead of adhesive around the thing.
*The air bags were scanned more than a couple times along with the VIN to ensure they tracked which ones were with which vehicle.
*They parked all the cars ON the left hand white lines in the parking lot to ensure even spacing.
*I drove a Ford Probe while I worked there.
*No one ever messed with it.
*I'm retiring from the Air Force in the next year and would love to do industrial engineering for Elio though I know I wouldn't be the best choice.

This is an exceptionally clear (and obviously authentic!) description. Thank you so much for de-mystifing modern auto assembly. Elio would be nuts NOT to hire you, at least as a consultant.

 

[Ty]

This is an exceptionally clear (and obviously authentic!) description. Thank you so much for de-mystifing modern auto assembly. Elio would be nuts NOT to hire you, at least as a consultant.

Thanks. I tend to ramble a bit sometimes.

 

[Ty]

Ty thank you for your service. 2A353 here. U-2 planes .

2W151 who then spent the last 14 years as a 21M. Thank you.

 

[Ty]

Aren't they suppose to build the motors at the plant from scratch? They are suppose to have some company teach them how, then slowly kick them out and do it there self. (Paul said so in a speech)

Can't see how they are going to build that number of engines at the speed they can assemble the bodies that can be just stuck together.

You are correct and THAT is my single greatest concern, too.

 

[skygazer6033]

Assembly of the engines is no big deal. Machining of the engines raw castings will be a nightmare. I've counted over 100 separate machining operations on the head alone. Plus shrinking in the valve guides and seats. Probably 40 or 50 machining operations on the block plus the flame spray. More machining on the cam cover, timing cover, oil pan and many other accessory parts. Probably half the space in that huge building will be needed just for engine machining and assembly.

 

[Robert7841]

There I am

It was nice to see PistonBoy and Bliokart. I got a pic of the new "Tiger" Paint Scheme :

 

[skygazer6033]

In an assembly line it's not how many man hours per unit but how many units in the "pipe" at any given time. From bare frame to being driven to the lot may take 3 1/2 hours and 200 stations on the assembly line. In order to have an assembled engine to install every 54 seconds is going to require many, many millions of dollars in machining equipment. I just hope iAV and Comau can get this all set up in a manner that the engine doesn't hold up vehicle assembly.

 

[Jeff Porter]

Yes. It's absolutely possible to make that many cars at that plant. I'd like to take a moment and explain how. I'll keep the math minimal.

Assembling vehicles is a more appropriate way to look at what Elio will be doing versus thinking of them as a manufacturer. Suppliers will do most of the manufacturing - everything from door skins to steering wheels...

Each assembly line has a series of jobs that are done one right after the other. As soon as a person at, say, station 100 puts the headlights in place, they get ready to put headlights on the next vehicle. While that person is doing that one job, up and down the line people are doing all the other jobs that go into making a vehicle. When you think about it, if you were to walk next to your Elio from the first station till it was driven out the doors, you may be walking for a few hours watching each person putting something else on your Elio or connecting something that was put on by someone else. You might come away from the experience thinking "Wow, it took them three hours to build my Elio so they can probably make less than 3 of them per 8 hour shift" You would be right IF only one process can be done at a time. Obviously, each worker will repeat their small part of the assembly over and over all day long as cars pass by them.

My job at GM was to make sure that each job on the assembly line took less than 52 seconds to accomplish. Now, at the time, GM ran the line a little slower but only by a couple of seconds. When it comes to serial production (or assembly in this case), you can only build cars as fast as the slowest station (if the process takes too long, they'll just add another of the same work station next to the first on the line so that each station works on every other car). In other words, if it takes 2 minutes to install a windshield and you can only do 1 at a time, you can only produce one car every 2 minutes. In Elio's case, they will be able to produce at least one vehicle every 52 seconds. (I haven't been there in a while but surely the line isn't SLOWER than it used to be.

So, Elio can at least make one vehicle every 54 seconds just like we did with GM. Elio says they'll run at 70% capacity which is a fancy way of saying 70% of the line's top speed. That means they'll make one Elio every 77 seconds. That's 46 per hour or 368 per shift. T(Theoretical top speed would put out one Elio per 54 seconds or 533 per shift which is 1066 per two shifts * 5 days * 50 weeks = 266,500 per year.)

Some people may be saying "But, it'll take a long time for the assembly workers to get up to speed." Those people are wrong. If you perform a job 368 times in a day, how many days would it take before you "got it"? Here's a stupid case... IF Elio ran the line at 10% capacity for one day, each person on the line would have done their job 36 times. It's absurd to think it would take someone that many times to complete a 54 second automotive assembly job correctly. Anyway, the ramp-up period is more about figuring out just HOW to get all the parts to the line in time and where to park all those brand new Elios.

Because the Elios will come in two configurations, (the line workers aren't affected by color) there won't be a single complicated job on the line. There was only one complicated job at the GM facility that I saw and that was assembling the cross body harness because it was a two person job that involved threading the harness through the firewall from the engine bay into the interior. The Elio will be much more simple.

Bonus info:
*Parts are delivered from the line via a little train-like tug from a central "grocery store".
*There is a train spur right in the building where GM would receive many parts.
*There was a supervisor for about every 10 or so line jobs. That person would take over for someone who "couldn't hold it any longer" to prevent line shut-downs
*The windshield installation station was the neatest to me to watch as there was a robot that ran a bead of adhesive around the thing.
*The air bags were scanned more than a couple times along with the VIN to ensure they tracked which ones were with which vehicle.
*They parked all the cars ON the left hand white lines in the parking lot to ensure even spacing.
*I drove a Ford Probe while I worked there.
*No one ever messed with it.
*I'm retiring from the Air Force in the next year and would love to do industrial engineering for Elio though I know I wouldn't be the best choice.

Good stuff Ty, thank you!! I know you've given a lot of this information before, thanks for your patience.

368 vehicles per 8-hr shift is 70% line speed, interesting. One thing that I do have a good grasp, is the difficulty of getting the parts to the line in time. That's where I see circumstances beyond their control not allowing those parts to be there. 34 different suppliers if I remember correctly, some suppliers providing multiple parts for each vehicle.

An amazing feat, if/when they make it happen. I'm hoping for the best.

 

[Ty]

Good stuff Ty, thank you!! I know you've given a lot of this information before, thanks for your patience.

368 vehicles per 8-hr shift is 70% line speed, interesting. One thing that I do have a good grasp, is the difficulty of getting the parts to the line in time. That's where I see circumstances beyond their control not allowing those parts to be there. 34 different suppliers if I remember correctly, some suppliers providing multiple parts for each vehicle.

An amazing feat, if/when they make it happen. I'm hoping for the best.

As a quick aside, before working at GM, I worked at Johnson Controls where we assembled the seats for the S-10/hombre. We once shut down the GM assembly line for over an hour accidentally from a simple flat tire on a truck delivering our seats across town to the GM plant. Imagine all the things that can go wrong if the supplier is across the country!

 

[Coss]

This is one place I would hate to work inventory control; the logistics would be maddening.
Especially in the beginning until you get the providers schedules in sync with yours.