Slate factory up and running - photos & video (A New Day in Warsaw)!! 👷‍♂️🎬

[1yeliab_sufur1]

It does look a little tight; I'm sure it's very efficient. Still better than anything I've put together in Satisfactory 😂

lol you got to have all the belts next to each other then when you need to add a new machine you have to redo your whole factory XD i love satisfactory

 

[1yeliab_sufur1]

Did anyone see any sheet metal stamping machines?

they said in the Munro video that they where not doing the stamping and where bringing them in

 

[KevinRS]

I wonder how many blank Slates they will pre-build before June 24th! Or before whatever the first delivery date is going to be. That is an unusual situation for a vehicle vendor.... to know that what they pre-build will be exactly what the customer orders... with the options piled up in another nearby warehouse to mix and match.

Options aren't necessarily held nearby. They could be in warehouses anywhere in the country and shipped through normal carriers, while the trucks themselves go by auto transport train cars and trucks.

 

[KevinRS]

Admittedly my knowledge on this subject is solely based on heresay and google, which indicates between 30 and 50 units; but my gut tells me it might be more as this is a brand-new platform and may require more trials to get it right.

They have already done the prototype testing, they used more than half the prototypes they built for crash testing. So it would be only those 5-10 production spec models to be consumed off the line. We've seen multiple frames at once in these videos, one of the videos with a frame was I'm guessing a couple weeks ago?

 

[sodamo]

They have already done the prototype testing, they used more than half the prototypes they built for crash testing. So it would be only those 5-10 production spec models to be consumed off the line. We've seen multiple frames at once in these videos, one of the videos with a frame was I'm guessing a couple weeks ago?

Would the production we see in the video be that advanced if they needed to do extensive testing? Someone else notes some structural changes from the early video. I want to believe these are the real thing, minor adjustment maybe.

 

[E90400K]

So exciting. Good lead to 6/24

Agree. Really good.

 

[KevinRS]

Would the production we see in the video be that advanced if they needed to do extensive testing? Someone else notes some structural changes from the early video. I want to believe these are the real thing, minor adjustment maybe.

They did the extensive testing with the hand built prototypes, after simulation on the design before they built those. They probably only have to do the final certification tests with a small number of vehicles to verify any changes they made and the actual automated production still results in passing all tests, EPA mileage tests, maybe some final payload and towing tests.
It is also possible these video clips we are seeing were not taped yesterday, and may be showing the state of things a month ago.
So yeah, I think it is possible, though not sure by any means that they produced the test vehicles, and started on test drive units soon enough to start having lots of events in the next month.

 

[BobbyMcGee]

in the Munro video

I didn't know about that.



The development is much further along than I assumed.

 

[BlackFlagBop]

Such great news and yet the very first comment goes negative -baffling.

It definitely wasn't meant to piss on the parade or anything. I'm just so used to the massive traditional ICE plants, so my brain had (has?) trouble picturing a smaller space churning out a significant number of trucks.

Sorry if it came off as shit talking. That wasn't my intention.

 

[tubes]

No stamping. No painting. That's a lot of floor space and CapEx avoided.

 

[jmason]

Looks more Normal compared to what Aptera has, Apples to Oranges comparison /s. still looks like they're getting the bugs out.

Aptera appears to be caught in the R&D loop and is struggling to step across that horizon into production. If these are production vehicles on the line in Warsaw then that means all the testing for US/State regs have been passed and are not ‘production intent’ models à la Aptera. So these vehicles on the line could end up as purchases with those who have the low numbers in the reserve/pre-order queue.

 

[Trace26]

Comparing one of the first looks we got at the frame to the current one coming down the line, there's been a lot of small design changes. It's looking so good!

Looks like they probably beefed up some stuff after the crash testing.

 

[phidauex]

Aptera appears to be caught in the R&D loop and is struggling to step across that horizon into production. If these are production vehicles on the line in Warsaw then that means all the testing for US/State regs have been passed and are not ‘production intent’ models à la Aptera. So these vehicles on the line could end up as purchases with those who have the low numbers in the reserve/pre-order queue.

I had a $500 Aptera reservation in 2007. Honestly I'm shocked they are still around at all. Unfortunately I tend to think that you either have leadership and a team who is focused on executing, or you don't, and Aptera doesn't seem to.

 

[JustChris]

Anytime a new product is launched there's a long learning curve of refining production. The first batch of any new product is usually R&D samples. (Usually tax-deductible in US.)

You fine tune your designs to optimize producibity and efficiency, while ensuring quality meets tolerable standards. Even some of those standards may change. You train workers (and machines) on what those standards are, and the precise SOPs to get there. You discover where your bottlenecks are, and devise solutions to optimize flow.

There are inevitably false-starts. You might make 50 doors, then discover there's a bending process that created a stress-crack, that doesn't show itself until you hang the door on the frame. Or there's a weld that interferes with the placement of the hinge that gets bolted on later. Or the robot is laying down too much weld, and is out-of-spec.

The parts we're seeing now are likely R&D samples, to get the kinks out of the process. It's the physical implementation of years of theoretical engineering, and there are ALWAYS issues. But that's an expected part of the process. These parts will be closely analyzed and changes will be made to existing designs, and these parts will probably eventually be scrapped.

I'm excited to see all of this! It's really HAPPENING, and I'm already trying to figure out what license plate I want.

 

[ScooterAsheville]

I see a tiny part of a plant. The part that assembles unibody frames. And they were hand pushing the trollies. It looked to me like this was a bunch of production engineers manually debugging just one part of the assembly line. An important part, but one part.

We have some experienced production engineers. I'd love to hear from somebody with authority what they see and how far along in the production line readiness they think Slate is from what we saw.