cadblu
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https://www.newsweek.com/slate-ceo-gives-update-companys-manufacturing-timeline-2121109
Highlights:
Newsweek caught up with Slate CEO Chris Barman at the company's Warsaw, Indiana, manufacturing facility for an update on where the company stands today, and the next challenges it's facing.
Transition from Development into Production
"We're continuing to do our development work with the company. We've crashed our impact vehicles; we've correlated our models," Barman told Newsweek. The company is working hard, moving toward production, "locking in our designs, starting to do that hand off from engineering to manufacturing," she continued. That means that there have been design tweaks to the vehicle, many of which remain unseen on prototypes that have been circulated at brand and model discovery events, called Slate to State, that are being hosted throughout the country. Now that the beta models are out, the company is working to prove out the virtual development work that has been done over the last several years. "Then we can continue to work with our simulation and modeling in order to have confidence as we kick off the tooling of the manufacturing facility," Barman said.
Plant Demolition / Renovation
The company's Warsaw plant site is in the midst of an extensive renovation. "We're looking to have our equipment set in place by the end of the year, so that early next year we can start building our next phase of the properties that we'll use to verify the design of the vehicle," the CEO shared. Next, Slate will create development validation vehicles. "We'll build those, and through building those, we learn more about our build process and how to make sure we're building a quality vehicle," Barman said. Before that, there is demolition to be done at the Warsaw site. "We're not really constructing anything new. We're working within the walls that we have today," she explained. In its former life, as a printing plant, workers and machines dealt with highly flammable chemicals. Because of that, thick fire walls were installed throughout the plant's buildings. "Those are walls that are going to be coming down. And what's great about this facility is it has the structure that we can do that," Barman said. Demolition isn't fully complete, but the components of future manufacturing have already started to arrive in Warsaw. As a startup, Slate is very conscious of how much it's costing to get the plant ready for production.
Slate still on track for Late 2026 Delivery
Looking ahead to 2026, Barman said, "We just need to make sure that we're putting out a quality product by the end of the year." The plan still is to go into production by the end of 2026.
Highlights:
Newsweek caught up with Slate CEO Chris Barman at the company's Warsaw, Indiana, manufacturing facility for an update on where the company stands today, and the next challenges it's facing.
Transition from Development into Production
"We're continuing to do our development work with the company. We've crashed our impact vehicles; we've correlated our models," Barman told Newsweek. The company is working hard, moving toward production, "locking in our designs, starting to do that hand off from engineering to manufacturing," she continued. That means that there have been design tweaks to the vehicle, many of which remain unseen on prototypes that have been circulated at brand and model discovery events, called Slate to State, that are being hosted throughout the country. Now that the beta models are out, the company is working to prove out the virtual development work that has been done over the last several years. "Then we can continue to work with our simulation and modeling in order to have confidence as we kick off the tooling of the manufacturing facility," Barman said.
Plant Demolition / Renovation
The company's Warsaw plant site is in the midst of an extensive renovation. "We're looking to have our equipment set in place by the end of the year, so that early next year we can start building our next phase of the properties that we'll use to verify the design of the vehicle," the CEO shared. Next, Slate will create development validation vehicles. "We'll build those, and through building those, we learn more about our build process and how to make sure we're building a quality vehicle," Barman said. Before that, there is demolition to be done at the Warsaw site. "We're not really constructing anything new. We're working within the walls that we have today," she explained. In its former life, as a printing plant, workers and machines dealt with highly flammable chemicals. Because of that, thick fire walls were installed throughout the plant's buildings. "Those are walls that are going to be coming down. And what's great about this facility is it has the structure that we can do that," Barman said. Demolition isn't fully complete, but the components of future manufacturing have already started to arrive in Warsaw. As a startup, Slate is very conscious of how much it's costing to get the plant ready for production.
Slate still on track for Late 2026 Delivery
Looking ahead to 2026, Barman said, "We just need to make sure that we're putting out a quality product by the end of the year." The plan still is to go into production by the end of 2026.
