Tesla Motors may be a front runner in the electric vehicles (EV) industry compared to its competition, but the company faces substantial challenges as it works to reinvent the 100-year old auto industry and win the trust of millions of consumers.
Not uncommon to the automotive industry, Tesla is leveraging the latest manufacturing technology to offer fast and reliable production of quality materials and products. The company is in the process of implementing Apriso’s Manufacturing Process Intelligence (MPI) to help ramp up production of its Model S, due out this summer. MPI is a fresh approach to existing technology, offering manufacturers real-time visibility into their production process. This perspective allows greater control to manage quality, scrap and other material synchronization tasks, resulting in lower production costs and greater efficiency. This approach captures a set of product and operational characteristics that provide an in-depth view into complex operations, which can then help with future continuous process improvement.
Companies like Tesla can’t afford production “hiccups.” In comparison to other automotive manufacturers, like General Motors, Tesla’s production volumes are quite low. However, one glitch in production could have a costly impact, resulting in a potentially negative consumer perception about not only the quality of Tesla’s product, but about electric vehicles in general.
Advanced real-time visibility into production operations and manufacturing intelligence offers companies a way to quickly and cost effectively ramp up production with near-perfect quality. This is because these solutions provide immediate feedback to operators, engineers, planners, managers and all the way to the C-level. Manufacturing and quality engineers can better understand, analyze and distribute intelligence to improve processes and product performance.
With the rise in globalization there has been heightened competition within the automobile manufacturing industry. For Tesla to keep pace, the ability to offer quality products, improve production and develop a cost savings strategy is essential to achieve and sustain growth. By investing in this technology, Tesla commits to producing revolutionary products, at a competitive price with perfect quality. And with this mantra, the company is on its way to competing with the big boys.
Article by James Montgomery, a Product Manager at Apriso with over 15 years of experience implementing, leading and designing manufacturing software solutions both as a consultant and in product development and management. James’ educational background is a BS in Computer Science from Griffith University majoring in Software Engineering and Information Systems.
