Slate Will Build a $7.8M Vinyl Wrap Kit Manufacturing Fulfillment Facility In Kentucky

[AZFox]

USA Today: Jeff Bezos-backed Slate Auto plans national customization hub

Slate Auto, the Jeff Bezos-backed electric vehicle startup, plans to put its roughly $7.8 million vinyl wrap kit manufacturing fulfillment facility in the Bluegrass State's Jefferson County.

 

[bartflossom]

Fascinating. Guess this is where they'll be cutting the vinyl rolls into the individual kit pieces. The article says Slate will be wrapping vehicles here but I would guess that would be for fleet orders maybe?

 

[Yukon Cornelius]

With only 51 jobs created, they won't be wrapping very many. I think they will be making the kits to be shipped out to customers and installers.

 

[tgpii]

Why? I just want the truck please. I don't need a McDonalds snack wrap.

 

[Oddballhero]

Why? I just want the truck please. I don't need a McDonalds snack wrap.

So don't buy the snack wrap. no one forcing you.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

The article title lands as more clickbait. The term 'national customization hub' would (should?) entail more than just vehicle plastic wraps.

 

[dotcom]

Honestly... I don't hate it.

 

[KevinRS]

You can look up the minutes of that meeting, the Slate part is on pages 94-95.

The article writer may have misinterpreted it to be a wrapping center, instead of a wrap kit manufacturing and fulfillment center. So it sounds like they will be cutting and shipping wraps from there. Probably everything from the basic single color wraps, to fully custom ones with company logos and images.

 

[dotcom]

Yeah -- I assume "fulfillment" means packing and shipping orders, not applying them. Though, it could probably be set up to handle some limited fleet vehicle wrapping, especially in KY.

 

[AZFox]

Sadly, Journalistic Accuracy has become an oxymoron.

 

[GaRailroader]

I wonder why they would do this. Slate is not a company that is trying to be vertically integrated like Tesla or many of the Chinese manufacturers. I’m sure plenty of wrap makers would be happy to do this custom work for them.

 

[AZFox]

I wonder why they would do this. Slate is not a company that is trying to be vertically integrated like Tesla or many of the Chinese manufacturers. I’m sure plenty of wrap makers would be happy to do this custom work for them.

Possibly because what they're doing is unusual enough to require it.

Maybe it gives them special abilities like ability to add graphics in an efficient manner.

 

[1yeliab_sufur1]

Interesting

 

[KevinRS]

I wonder why they would do this. Slate is not a company that is trying to be vertically integrated like Tesla or many of the Chinese manufacturers. I’m sure plenty of wrap makers would be happy to do this custom work for them.

They are going to have a set of templates that can be cut on automated machines, resulting in precut sections that efficiently fit each panel of the truck, that is not at all how others do wraps. If you take a different vehicle somewhere to be wrapped, they will be working off rolls, applying to the car then cutting. So it's a whole different procedure from what others are doing.
So at the least they will have cutting machines, whether it's large die cutters stamping out the shapes, or a machine moving a small blade around, an industrial version of something like a cricut machine. They may also have machines to custom print the graphics and multi-color logos.

 

[ElectricShitbox]

They are going to have a set of templates that can be cut on automated machines, resulting in precut sections that efficiently fit each panel of the truck, that is not at all how others do wraps. If you take a different vehicle somewhere to be wrapped, they will be working off rolls, applying to the car then cutting. So it's a whole different procedure from what others are doing.
So at the least they will have cutting machines, whether it's large die cutters stamping out the shapes, or a machine moving a small blade around, an industrial version of something like a cricut machine. They may also have machines to custom print the graphics and multi-color logos.

Plus having their own wrap production means they can take care of fleet customers directly.