Manufacturing Rate

[John Painter]

I want to throw something into the logistics question that was recently brought up.

The question was basically how Elio was going to ship so many vehicles.

I don't profess to being the smartest logistician out there nor even a particularly good one. But, I DO have experience with General Motors at that manufacturing plant that Elio is going to be using.

How will Elio ship so many vehicles? The same way GM did... rail, truck, etc. This is no logistical trick. It's been done before at one vehicle per 54 seconds for many years. Elio will be able to follow suit to get the vehicles to the marshalling centers.

From the marshalling centers, it'll be an overnight drive to every store. Every store will have to sell 625 per week 50 weeks of the year. Optimistic? Yes. But, that's not the purpose of this discussion. 625 per week/6 days a week = 104 per day. So, that's 10 truck loads per store, right? Well, some of the stores are close. The Albuquerque distribution point can deliver to the Albuquerque store quite easily. (In fact, why not offer a $40 off an accessory if you pick it up at the distribution point vs. the store?) Anyway, since orders will be taken all day, all they have to do is wait till they have a truckload of orders for the Albuquerque store, prep them (it'll take a minute or so per car if they have a mini-production line set up where each station takes a minute or two. They could almost just roll the car to each station.), and load them on a truck. All the Albuquerque store Elios could actually be delivered by one truck going back and forth. The same goes for 6 other stores. 43 stores will need dedicated trucks delivering to them and that could be considerable.

Someone mentioned dead head trips where the truck comes back empty. Well, that could well be the situation with Elio. What do the other manufacturers do on the return trip? I see a lot of empty rail cars on trains. I would hope there would be no need to haul Elios BACK to Shreveport. Perhaps there are some manufacturers who need things shipped to Shreveport. I KNOW there are a ton of GM vehicles across the road from the Elio Plant as they still use it as a distribution plant.

Now that I'm thinking about it, perhaps it would be prudent for Elio to ship base models directly to the store on an as-required basis. Suppose BOB comes in and orders a bone-stock Red Hot Elio in manual. Could the Elio store say something like "Thanks for your order, Bob. It will be ready tomorrow by 5PM unless you would be willing to wait three days at which time we will take $100 off the price."? Of course, I used the 3 days as an example. Would Elio save by shipping directly to the store? Perhaps only if they had a truckful. What if the truck stopped at the distribution point, dropped most cars there, and then made a stop by the store on the way back to the factory?

Points to ponder, for sure.

Exactly. Presumably everyone here knows how to Google, and Google map by extension. One look at the yard behind the plant and it's clear how the logistics can work, no different than it did for GM.

 

[John-b-gone]

Could you give us the address of the plant?

 

[RUCRAYZE]

I want to throw something into the logistics question that was recently brought up.

The question was basically how Elio was going to ship so many vehicles.

I don't profess to being the smartest logistician out there nor even a particularly good one. But, I DO have experience with General Motors at that manufacturing plant that Elio is going to be using.

How will Elio ship so many vehicles? The same way GM did... rail, truck, etc. This is no logistical trick. It's been done before at one vehicle per 54 seconds for many years. Elio will be able to follow suit to get the vehicles to the marshalling centers.

From the marshalling centers, it'll be an overnight drive to every store. Every store will have to sell 625 per week 50 weeks of the year. Optimistic? Yes. But, that's not the purpose of this discussion. 625 per week/6 days a week = 104 per day. So, that's 10 truck loads per store, right? Well, some of the stores are close. The Albuquerque distribution point can deliver to the Albuquerque store quite easily. (In fact, why not offer a $40 off an accessory if you pick it up at the distribution point vs. the store?) Anyway, since orders will be taken all day, all they have to do is wait till they have a truckload of orders for the Albuquerque store, prep them (it'll take a minute or so per car if they have a mini-production line set up where each station takes a minute or two. They could almost just roll the car to each station.), and load them on a truck. All the Albuquerque store Elios could actually be delivered by one truck going back and forth. The same goes for 6 other stores. 43 stores will need dedicated trucks delivering to them and that could be considerable.

Someone mentioned dead head trips where the truck comes back empty. Well, that could well be the situation with Elio. What do the other manufacturers do on the return trip? I see a lot of empty rail cars on trains. I would hope there would be no need to haul Elios BACK to Shreveport. Perhaps there are some manufacturers who need things shipped to Shreveport. I KNOW there are a ton of GM vehicles across the road from the Elio Plant as they still use it as a distribution plant.

Now that I'm thinking about it, perhaps it would be prudent for Elio to ship base models directly to the store on an as-required basis. Suppose BOB comes in and orders a bone-stock Red Hot Elio in manual. Could the Elio store say something like "Thanks for your order, Bob. It will be ready tomorrow by 5PM unless you would be willing to wait three days at which time we will take $100 off the price."? Of course, I used the 3 days as an example. Would Elio save by shipping directly to the store? Perhaps only if they had a truckful. What if the truck stopped at the distribution point, dropped most cars there, and then made a stop by the store on the way back to the factory?

Points to ponder, for sure.

all good- I also see the big guys shipping/ swapping between dealerships while they are "on the road". E's too could be swapped between centers...depending on need.
These centers, cannot be small storefront in drive in street malls. Not with needing the 14 base models on hand minimum Thinking they'll probably need 2-3 each model- 24x 2= 48 units, place for the accessories, and a roof to work under.
I for one remain puzzled why the 24 hour window. They will have enough problems the first year.
I ordered a party platter, and they need the same 24 hrs.

 

[WilliamH]

all good- I also see the big guys shipping/ swapping between dealerships while they are "on the road". E's too could be swapped between centers...depending on need.
These centers, cannot be small storefront in drive in street malls. Not with needing the 14 base models on hand minimum Thinking they'll probably need 2-3 each model- 24x 2= 48 units, place for the accessories, and a roof to work under.
I for one remain puzzled why the 24 hour window. They will have enough problems the first year.
I ordered a party platter, and they need the same 24 hrs.

I seem to remember seven or nine marshaling centers.
The plant will produce the 14 basic models.
They will ship to the marshaling center where the options will be added.
From there they will be shipped for delivery.
The sales centers will have one display model and two test drive models. (One automatic and one manual)

 

[Ty]

additional factor that might need to be added to the equation would be that it is highly unlikely that all stores will sell the same number of vehicles each day

Very true. Plus, there will be quite a few of the bare bones models sold that won't require any work at the marshaling centers... perhaps direct shipping to the stores makes sense for some vehicles if it can be done economically. Perhaps, the trucks delivering Elios to the Marshalling centers will simply load up on Elios that are prepped and simply deliver them to the stores before heading back to the factory for a fresh batch.

 

[Coss]

Very true. Plus, there will be quite a few of the bare bones models sold that won't require any work at the marshaling centers... perhaps direct shipping to the stores makes sense for some vehicles if it can be done economically. Perhaps, the trucks delivering Elios to the Marshalling centers will simply load up on Elios that are prepped and simply deliver them to the stores before heading back to the factory for a fresh batch.

There will also be the "to your door" delivery option. That in it's self will draw a crowd in the neighborhood.

 

[Ty]

I seem to remember seven or nine marshaling centers.
The plant will produce the 14 basic models.
They will ship to the marshaling center where the options will be added.
From there they will be shipped for delivery.
The sales centers will have one display model and two test drive models. (One automatic and one manual)

True. Each store will have 3 Elios that they keep on hand. I'm betting one that is optioned to the max and two testers.

IF you set a marshalling center up so that an Elio entered one side and was rolled (or pulled by a simple battery operated pull (like a pallet jack), you could have 10 or 20 stations each performing one operation (one may be for lighted door sill and radio installation, for instance) that takes a minute or two, you'd have a mini-production line. Each car could be started basically as soon as the order cleared at the store... taking even 2 hours to go through a mini-line that had 3 minute stations (an extremely S-L-O-W line), would produce one Elio every 3 minutes... 20 per hour... or 120 in a 6 hour shift from 5pm to 10pm. Trucks could then be loaded (they would be loaded as Elios came off the line. If they did it right, they'd put them through the line in store-order so each truck would only have one store to visit and you wouldn't have to shuffle the Elios around. Also, you could take them straight from the line to the waiting truck.

Actually, it is doubtful that each Elio would have 20 add-ons so the line could probably be shorter.

If the line method doesn't sit easy enough, think of 5 assembly stations and two person teams. Each station would have to put out 4 Elios per hour.

Anyway, it's quite doable (that's an official word there).

What I really don't see is a store selling 105 Elios per day. Maybe... I just don't see it.

 

[Ty]

There will also be the "to your door" delivery option. That in it's self will draw a crowd in the neighborhood.

You are right. I forgot about that. Talk about a birthday present! It has to be exciting to go out and watch your new car be unloaded.

 

[Ty]

Exactly. Presumably everyone here knows how to Google, and Google map by extension. One look at the yard behind the plant and it's clear how the logistics can work, no different than it did for GM.

Here's a little Holy Crap moment... I just went to google and it's set at map (not satellite) and when I entered General Motors BLVD. Shreveport, LA, the building that centered on my map was "Elio Motors"! How cool is that?

 

[Ty]

Ugh... I can't paste them larger? Okay, google it to see it larger. This is the Elio plant on General Motors Blvd (which is actually Antoine Dr.)
The left little red square is where I see vehicles. The right one is the GM distribution area. I'll make that one larger below.

The text is small... eyes hurt... the upper right area has a bunch of rail cars that are on the spur there to load up vehicles. The other text basically says that GM has their employees park the cars with the left wheels on the lines of the spots. This gives them consistent spacing between cars.

Google now shows "Elio Motors Assembly Plant" and "Elio Motors"