How Long Will It Take For An Elio To Transit The Assembly Line?

[ccryder]

250k/year? I think it's 250/day.

I'm sure they would like to grow to 250k/year but that volume is the size of a major auto manufacturing plant. For reference, Nissan's Smyrna, TN plant will produce around 500k this year.

I also heard, from a reliable source, that when GM left their plant they left a lot of automation equipment such as many robots, material handling equipment and various storage related equipment. When I was last doing my MFg Engineering work, a good estimate for one Robot was $1,000,000.00. This is a real advantage to setting up an assembly line.

 

[Kuda]

The one thing that I'm uncertained about is engine manufacture. I gather from reading the forums that Elio wants to fabricate it's engines from scratch, and not buy preassembled (off site) engines, is that right?

Right. IAV Design. Comau fabrication. My understanding (per Jerome) is that Comau did
the engine machining for GM at the Shreveport plant & they have surveyed the exisiting
space, tooling, etc. & are satisfied they can perform.....
PS: Number of current reservations: 16,822
(As of May 04, 2014)

 

[Ty]

I can't answer about the engine but I have read in some of EM information, that "just in time method" of assembly line supply is the plan. The way it was presented was that it was less expensive this way than to have to buy and store a lot parts. It certainly makes sense to me. Oddly enough, since I reserved my Elio, (I apologize to those who dislike anything the least off topic), I have started shopping this way. I find even though I am paying more for food because I am eating more organics, my money is going further. No additional money is coming in but I am able to get more with the money I have. The "just in time method" plan even works on my very small scale without my going into debt and I am saving some towards my reservation upgrade. That gives me even more faith and confidence in EM. Z

It isn't quite that simple, Z. But, I'm gathering you figured that out. For instance, it wouldn't make sense that every time you wanted a glass of tea that you'd drive across town to get one. Shipping is always a cost and Elio will have to have in-house storage of some sort. Now, they can't just pile up arm rests at the arm rest station because you'd end up making your poor arm rest assembler person doing a lot of walking... In fact (I saw this several times), adding a few short feet to a station can be the difference in one person being able to complete the task in their 52 seconds or having to hire a 2nd person to go get the arm rest. You double your cost at that one station. On the other hand, you don't want so little on hand that a small hiccup in delivery (At Johnson Controls, we had a truck get a flat tire on the 5-10 mile trip from there to the GM plant which shut the plant down for about an hour). There's a balance in that Kanban system that can be tricky to find. And that balance is why they'll have industrial engineers to figure out what the magic numbers are.
In your example though, I agree that buying fruit, say, a couple days from usage and then using it all is better than buying a bunch of bananas only to watch some get too mushy for even banana bread!

 

[zelio]

It isn't quite that simple, Z. But, I'm gathering you figured that out. For instance, it wouldn't make sense that every time you wanted a glass of tea that you'd drive across town to get one. Shipping is always a cost and Elio will have to have in-house storage of some sort. Now, they can't just pile up arm rests at the arm rest station because you'd end up making your poor arm rest assembler person doing a lot of walking... In fact (I saw this several times), adding a few short feet to a station can be the difference in one person being able to complete the task in their 52 seconds or having to hire a 2nd person to go get the arm rest. You double your cost at that one station. On the other hand, you don't want so little on hand that a small hiccup in delivery (At Johnson Controls, we had a truck get a flat tire on the 5-10 mile trip from there to the GM plant which shut the plant down for about an hour). There's a balance in that Kanban system that can be tricky to find. And that balance is why they'll have industrial engineers to figure out what the magic numbers are.
In your example though, I agree that buying fruit, say, a couple days from usage and then using it all is better than buying a bunch of bananas only to watch some get too mushy for even banana bread!

The one thing I won't buy "just in time" is . . . . . . . . TP. I bet Elio Motors won't either. LOL :-) Z

 

[Craig]

I can't answer about the engine but I have read in some of EM information, that "just in time method" of assembly line supply is the plan. The way it was presented was that it was less expensive this way than to have to buy and store a lot parts. It certainly makes sense to me. Oddly enough, since I reserved my Elio, (I apologize to those who dislike anything the least off topic), I have started shopping this way. I find even though I am paying more for food because I am eating more organics, my money is going further. No additional money is coming in but I am able to get more with the money I have. The "just in time method" plan even works on my very small scale without my going into debt and I am saving some towards my reservation upgrade. That gives me even more faith and confidence in EM. Z

I lived in Germany for all most seven years. Even to this day, most homes have those mini bar type refrigerators that hold all most nothing. They use very little energy. Long story short, most of them take a basket and go shopping in the morning for what they are going to have that day. They very seldom have any left overs that get throne out like they do here. As for the basket, plastic is available but you must pay for each bag, plus you must but a dollar coin into a slot on the cart to release a chain. When you put the cart back in the store you plug in the chain and your coin pops out.
Just a whole lot about nothing.

 

[Bill Tyson]

Back in ancient history, 1991, I was the program manager for Ford Econoline Parking Brake System for a tier 1 supplier. I can say that every minute an Econoline rolled off the end of the assembly line. However, it was just that “an assembly line” nothing was fabricated on line. The line, which I walked one evening waiting for a prototype build was long and winding with many side assembly lines feeding into it. This plant was also producing only, at that time, 250 thousand a year.
By the way, are we all “former Automotive Engineers?” Seems to be a lot of experience in this group. Perhaps, Elio should tap some of us for help?

 

[ccryder]

There sure are a number of us out from that industry. I opted for something a little more stable, yeah right. It does give you satisfaction when the final product rolls off the line for the first time. How many times did triple and quadruple check 10 skids of parts just to make sure you had good ones that day.
I was on the line when the first Northstar engine was being assembled with our first all plastic fuel rail. The second rail that the assembler picked up, he dropped it on the floor instead dropping his PB& J sandwhich. LOL!