Another Tesla disruption, do you see it folks?

As you all know, I can neither talk about being a Musk fan nor a Tesla owner, but I am genuinely impressed with Tesla's prowess and brainchildren in EV technology and AI smart tech, even though a lot of it is still full of controversy.

I'm never shy about that.

I believe that the word "disruptive" to describe Tesla's impact on the traditional automotive industry, we should not have any objection. Because Tesla, by its own strength, has gradually overturned our knowledge of car design, intelligence, human-machine interaction, and even the way cars are sold.

After the "2023 Investor Day" conference, I saw a lot of people complaining that the conference, which Tesla called "the third chapter of its grand plan," was just a "pie in the sky," a "pie in the sky," and a "pie in the sky," and a "pie in the sky," and a "pie in the sky," and a "pie in the sky. I saw a lot of people saying that the event, which Tesla called "the third chapter of its ambitions," was "pie in the sky," "lacking in substance," "disappointing" that it didn't announce any new cars, and even linking it to Tesla's stock price drop that day.

I'm not sure what foreign investors thought, but perhaps the more than three-hour conference did have some "urination points," but in my opinion, the innovations in automotive design, manufacturing, and some new technologies are well worth our attention. Because that could potentially revolutionize the automotive design and manufacturing process that has been in place for decades.

Practicing for so many years, has visited the various brands at home and abroad, there are dozens of factories, the production line more and more robotic arms, fewer and fewer workers, digitalization, modernization is also more and more high degree of efficiency and speed of production is also rising, but people commonly known as the vehicle manufacturing "four major processes ", that is, stamping, welding, painting, assembly of the four processes is always no change.

But this time, Tesla has put forward a crazy plan: not only to integrate design and manufacturing, but also to "break up" and reorganize the four major processes, and complete the assembly of the whole car in a way similar to stacking blocks.

Here I'll start with a brief introduction to the traditional four processes. In the traditional automobile production process, stamping is the first step of all processes. Simply put, it means that through large stamping presses and various molds, various kinds of steel are stamped into shape, such as the roof, "four doors and two lids", side enclosures, wings, and so on.

After the stamping is completed, these parts will enter the welding process, that is, they are put together through a variety of welding or other connection processes. The familiar "laser welding" is one of these welding techniques. After this process is completed, the entire body is basically molded.

After that, the white body will be transported to the painting workshop as a whole, and in the closed assembly line, the metal body surface is cleaned and all kinds of anti-rust and anti-corrosion treatment, and sprayed with all kinds of protective paints, primers, and topcoats of various colors. After completing the painting process, the whole body will become "colorful".

Finally, the body will be transported by conveyor belt to the assembly workshop for final assembly, where the powertrain, windshield, center control interior, seats, oil and water pipelines, suspension system and wheels are installed.

But in order to facilitate the installation of the various components inside the car, the doors need to be removed before the final assembly, until the installation of all the interior components is completed, and then finally the doors are installed again to end the entire assembly process.

Of course, the car will go through a number of testing stages before the assembly work is completed and the car is officially removed from the production line.

Now let's look at Tesla's new approach.

Tesla plans to highly integrate the four phases of design, engineering, manufacturing, and automated assembly in its next-generation new models to improve efficiency and thus shorten the cycle time from design to production delivery of new products.

Because of Tesla's CTC battery chassis integration technology and more integrated casting technology, the body-in-white can be divided into several large parts: the front, the rear, the battery (underneath), the left and right side panels, and the "four doors and two lids.

Then according to the actual process needs, these major parts are divided into two categories: for example, the "four doors and two covers" and the left and right side of the enclosure belong to the need for "stamping + painting", while the front and rear body and the battery belong to the category of "direct assembly". The front and rear bodies and the battery belong to the category of "direct assembly".

Because of the breakdown of process requirements, Tesla can adopt a new "parallel" production process, in which the "four doors and two lids" and the left and right side panels are stamped and shaped and sent directly to the paint shop, while the front and rear bodies, which are made of one-piece die-cast parts, can be sent directly to the final assembly line. The front and rear bodies, which are made of one-piece die-cast parts, can be sent directly to the assembly line, where they are welded and assembled simultaneously with the battery packs.

In the past, the entire car body needed to be painted, but now only the surface coverings need to be painted, and the painting area has been greatly reduced, which really saves both money and time. Add to that the fact that Tesla has been reducing the number of circuit harnesses by increasing integration, and the sum total makes assembling a car like putting together Lego.

By and large, this kind of assembly is along the same lines as the prefabricated parts used in large-scale projects such as shipbuilding, bridge-building, and skyscraper construction.

The obvious benefits of this approach are that it simplifies the process and reduces the complexity of the assembly process, which in turn shortens the time frame, improves efficiency and, of course, reduces costs.

Tesla's introduction of this production mindset into the automotive industry really can't be underestimated.

This kind of production process was impossible to realize in the old fuel-vehicle era, and even if other electric-vehicle producers wanted to follow suit, it would be very difficult to do so. After all, not only does it need to be based on CTC technology and mature body casting technology, but it also needs to be backed up by a highly integrated electrical and electronic architecture.

There is also an "absolute" thing, you can see that when the Tesla Model 3 is being assembled, the car's computer has actually been able to follow the production process, constantly self-testing and adapting, which in effect replaces some of the testing equipment originally dispersed in various different workstations. This simplifies the installation process, improves production speed, and even eliminates the high cost of purchasing testing equipment.

In addition, Tesla in the new generation of models, in order to reduce costs to improve performance, will also be used in the rare earth elements-free motor, more integrated self-developed chips and controllers, fewer wiring harnesses, the whole car 48V low-voltage system, more compact heat pump system and other technologies.

To be honest, behind any of this technology is a reflection of technological prowess.

In the first chapter of Tesla's ambitions it has been openly stated that "Tesla is going to take the money it makes producing affordable cars by producing sports cars, and then use the money it makes to produce even more affordable cars."

Continuously increasing sales, continuously reducing costs, lowering the price, and thus continue to increase sales, forming a virtuous cycle, is Tesla never hide the "yang", so Tesla never minded some consumers on its continuous price cuts of the behavior of the verbal attack.

In fact, objectively speaking, for any automobile manufacturer, or even any enterprise, "cost reduction and efficiency" has always been the golden rule in the business world, and it is worth encouraging and supporting to reduce costs and improve competitiveness by upgrading the level of technology and production efficiency.

Of course, the robots that Musk personally introduced at the investor day were also eye-catching. After all, a few months ago AI Day on that robot is still just a can't walk around freely furnishings, but now not only can walk around at will, and even has the flexibility to operate tools, hands-on assembly of robots.

Robots assembling robots is a bit of a fine line.

It is my sincere hope that the new Chinese brands that are gradually overtaking the traditional car companies will also overtake Tesla soon, and not just follow Tesla's price cuts.

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