Shreveport Plant Operations And Personnel Questions

[zelio]

If this were true then Shreveport would be in full swing getting tooled up and not just the contents sold off. I really hope you are right but somehow I see a delay announcement attached to this.

I'm afraid you are putting the cart before the horse. Development is still going on and it is being done in Michigan where most of the resources are currently located. There is no sense in moving down to Shreveport until they are ready for production. The fact they are getting ready to sell off unneeded equipment means, to me in my totally biased and completely not humble opinion, they are getting ready to set up shot there but are not quite there yet. What is your rush? Do you want the Elio to fail because it has not had time for full development and testing. The big 3 can get away with that but not a startup. It absolutely must be right in the beginning or it won't survive. :-) Z

 

[Charlie G]

If this were true then Shreveport would be in full swing getting tooled up and not just the contents sold off. I really hope you are right but somehow I see a delay announcement attached to this.

Not if my other assumption holds true. I think they are hoping to get the ATVM loan to increase ROI for investors.
The interest rate on the ATVM loan is only 2-4%, if they pay for first year production with that capital, the investors don't actually have to pay out nearly as much for nearly as long.
My assumption is that they have production funds 'committed and non-contingent' but not actually liquid. That way they can say "yes, we have the funds for production - give us the loan" and then they don't actually have to 'pull' from those funds once they get the loan. At that point, the investors are off the hook and can invest elsewhere while still collecting profits on sales. In this scenario, the investors would wait until the last minute to dump the liquid funds into Elio as the less they can put in, the higher potential ROI after the loan is approved.

 

[nthawk68]

If this were true then Shreveport would be in full swing getting tooled up and not just the contents sold off. I really hope you are right but somehow I see a delay announcement attached to this.

At this point it would be a waste of capital bring the line up... I imagine the line will take 3 -4 months to tool up, but to tool up they have to have the final design finished and in stone. I dont expect to see work, other than getting rid of the unnecessary equipment early to mid 2015. I would be surprised to see a lot of production occur in the first part of the 4th quarter as they will be fine tuning the process and have a lot of wrinkles that need ironing. I am #6190 and dont really expect to see my elio until Jan or feb if I am lucky. I am happy sipping on a beer and imagining tooling around the mountain passes, Saying "Sucks to be you" as I pass others in normal cars....

 

[trock59]

If this were true then Shreveport would be in full swing getting tooled up and not just the contents sold off. I really hope you are right but somehow I see a delay announcement attached to this.

Just moving existing equipment around to plan the line takes time. Unused equipment must be moved out of the way first to be sold to create more capital. Before the Shreveport plant even starts getting tooled up Elio must build at least 15-25 cars in their present location and use those for final tooling, production runs and crash testing. I'm expecting mine next year unless I move to Shreveport to help build them!

 

[Truett Collins]

If this were true then Shreveport would be in full swing getting tooled up and not just the contents sold off. I really hope you are right but somehow I see a delay announcement attached to this.

You don't tool up till you have the finalized product. If you tool too early you only wind up re-tooling because of some small change in development costing more money....with till development is finished then tool it right the first time.

 

[Tre']

Lots of good points made here. Better to wait then waste capitol on retooling.
On selling and moving the equipment out:
Some of the tools and equipment are HUGE and have been in place for a very long time. Takes time to get it organized and cleaned up the way they want also. If they were closer I would volunteer and be try to be more involved with the process. It would be fun!

 

[Elio1]

I am happy sipping on a beer and imagining tooling around the mountain passes, Saying "Sucks to be you" as I pass others in normal cars....

You took the words right out of my mouth. I can't wait to see high-performance versions. I'm planning on getting a 2nd just to throw around the curves, & dominating the twisty roads like no other.

 

[RMClubfitter]

I'm afraid you are putting the cart before the horse. Development is still going on and it is being done in Michigan where most of the resources are currently located. There is no sense in moving down to Shreveport until they are ready for production. The fact they are getting ready to sell off unneeded equipment means, to me in my totally biased and completely not humble opinion, they are getting ready to set up shot there but are not quite there yet. What is your rush? Do you want the Elio to fail because it has not had time for full development and testing. The big 3 can get away with that but not a startup. It absolutely must be right in the beginning or it won't survive. Z

Your best post ever!!!

 

[Ty]

They may not have the final tooling solution but they can easily set up the assembly line. The door will still be assembled to the car in the same spot regardless of its final shape. There are an awful lot of parts that already exist that the Shreveport Plant will not be making. The regular assembly line isn't so automatic that they'll have to program robots to do anything. The big challenge will be getting the right number of parts to each work station where humans do the calculating job of assembly. There were calibrated torque guns and the windshield assembly machine was automatic. Well, the glue applicator was. A person still operated the sucker cups lift though machine power assisted his movements. Elio can place machines in the right order (assembly should be close already) and hammer out details as they come in. Molding body panels, building the frame, and casting the engine are operations I don't recall seeing. I remember the welding room but I can't remember what they were welding. Hoods and fenders and stamped steel stuff arrived at assembly already formed. That will probably be a change. Seat assemblies arrived from Johnson Controls down the road a bit. I actually started my Industrial Engineering career there making line adjustments so they could produce seats at the same rate GM was producing trucks. Anyway, I hope Elio nails the line balance and material delivery because getting parts to the line late will stop production just as fast as a machine breaking.

 

[goofyone]

What Paul Elio told us at the town hall meeting is that this first step, of moving equipment out to be sold, will take a little while because the equipment is large and complex and needs to be moved carefully to ensure it is not damaged. He also told us that it is very likely that not only will equipment be moved for sale but also that they will take advantage of having the crews to move the larger pieces that EM will need to their expected final positions on the line. One again this is EM thinking ahead and taking advantage of the cost savings considering they already will have people and moving equipment in place.

After the the equipment is rearranged the plant will go quiet again until about six months out from production where Comau will spend a couple of months getting everything in place and getting everything tested and ready to go in preparation for tooling being locked down and delivered. Elio Motors needs to lock down the hardware about three months out to allow their suppliers the time they need to ramp up their tooling and people for production and this also allows EM time to get their final tooling produced and in place ahead of final line testing and pre-production/training builds.

From their own statements it is likely Elio Motors will begin hiring about six months out for some positions however they have said they will hire line workers about 3-4 months out and expect them to start about two months ahead of production. In the last month or so before production officially begins a pre-production run of vehicles is expected as the entire process needs to be tested together, larger kinks can be worked out at this point, and the workers need hands-on experience, all before actual production begins. These final pre-production vehicles will likely end up in the marketing fleet and be used for events such as the test drive events.