Raising Money From The Sale Of Surplus Equipment At The Shreveport Facility.

[Tomg3rd]

Just food for thought...and discussion...

Most GM equipment at the Shreveport Assembly & Stamping plant (1981-2012) was "purpose built" and may be outdated...such that the actual value is more than likely scrap metal...and hard to monetize...

Any stamping dies are specific to the parts being built for the specific vehicle being built. They are useless (and worthless) for anything else...

Any fixture that was used for holding sheet metal parts in place while they were being welded is specific to the vehicle being built...worthless if you are building a different vehicle...

Welding cells normally have a layout specific to the order of operations needed...which are also rather specific to the vehicle being built...can't use them for a different vehicle without substantial rework....

That means the assembly cells as a whole are pretty much useless to anyone...you can scavenge them for low-value parts like air cylinders..valves...etc. But the labor involved in disassembling the equipment often doesn't make this a viable exercise....

That leaves bits and pieces such as assembly line robots...

Robot installations are required to conform to a safety standard...the current American one is called ANSI/RIA R15.06-2012 which is a new standard. That standard took effect 1 January 2015...and because of the various new technical requirements contained therein...it pretty much makes any robot built before somewhere near 2007 give or take a few years (depends on robot manufacturer) useless for any application where it has to interact with an operator. They would lack certain compliance documentation which is now required...and any robot built before 2000-ish (depends on robot manufacturer) is absolutely useless because they are incapable of being "control reliable"...

So more than likely...all of the robots in that plant with the possible exception of some that might have been installed very late in that plant's operating life are scrap. Someone who doesn't care about compliance with safety standards may buy them ...and then have a plant compliance inspector would come along and tell them they have to replace them because they are non-conforming....

Stamping presses...not the tooling...but the presses themselves are likely high-value...but that equipment weighs thousands of tonnes and costs millions just to move it...

Shreveport doesn't have an engine plant...and it doesn't have a transmission plant...

And if the robots are current and valuable why wouldn't Elio just keep them??

 

[JEBar]

And if the robots are current and valuable why wouldn't Elio just keep them??

they say they are keeping the equipment that can be used in producing their trikes .... they are selling equipment that doesn't .... I can see it taking a great deal more gizmos to produce a Hummer than it does to produce an Elio

 

[TexasElio]

This may be the first or second post of yours that I like and agree with! Wait a minute you must be an engineer or as likely sarcasm or both.

Please be careful...agreeing with any of my postings might be dangerous to your health! LOL

But...my high regards for any individual that would use a "Engineer" title to describe their job description...is absolutely sincere!

 

[Hotscoots]

Who do they plan on selling this stuff to ? I'm concerned that no one wants old , used automobile building equipment .

 

[Ty]

And if the robots are current and valuable why wouldn't Elio just keep them??

Elio won't need many of the body stamping stuff as they are going to use composite panels made off site (I believe that's what they said). They may have changed but when I was there, there wasn't a whole lot of fully automated stations. Paint, welding, applying the adhesive for the windshield. I'm sure there were a few more but most stations had an operator who used hand held controls... sort of like holding motorcycle handlebars connected to a machine that augmented movement.

 

[AriLea]

Who do they plan on selling this stuff to ? I'm concerned that no one wants old , used automobile building equipment .

Given to understand they have sold 10% already, and at 90% of what they asked. If that keeps up, IMHO, should be no problem financing through the 25 crash test vehicles and then some.

 

[Ty]

Who do they plan on selling this stuff to ? I'm concerned that no one wants old , used automobile building equipment .

How about slightly used, most current/modern equipment GM has? Well, had. This was GM's most advanced plant just before they were forced to shutter the plant. They were not allowed to remove any equipment at the time either. That stuff represents GM's best. Now, the question is who is building a plant and needs some equipment?

 

[CheeseheadEarl]

Not necessarily even building a plant, Ty. The company I work for upgraded a lot of equipment at dirt cheap prices with good used stuff from shuttered plants over the last few years.

Still some things I want them to upgrade, which is a longer list than theirs, unfortunately.

To quote a commercial, "Why buy new, when slightly used will do?"

PhD in Applied Hillbilly Engineerin, Duct Tape U.

 

[Jeff Porter]

Please be careful...agreeing with any of my postings might be dangerous to your health! LOL

But...my high regards for any individual that would use a "Engineer" title to describe their job description...is absolutely sincere!

Software Engineer here! Check that.... Sincere Software Engineer here.

 

[Smitty901]

Maybe the people that are making the hummer now could use the equipment