Automation was Tesla's Model 3 cost savings.
“With Model 3, either the machine works, or it doesn’t, or it’s limping along and we get short quite severely on output,” Musk said on an earnings call with analysts last week. By contrast, with the Model S sedan or Model X sport utility vehicle, “because a lot less of it was automated, we could scale up labor hours and achieve a high level of production.”
So Tesla needs to pour money into Perbix to make it all work ...
Tesla Inc. has acquired Perbix, a closely held maker of automated machines used for manufacturing, as the electric-car maker struggles to boost production of its most important new model.
Perbix has been a supplier to the automaker led by Elon Musk for almost three years, according to a Tesla spokesman, who declined to disclose the terms of the deal. Tesla will expand its presence in the Minneapolis area where Perbix is based, the spokesman said.
Amazon made the same decision to acquire Kiva in 2012 so they could make automation happen faster and better - and in their case shut-off robotics supply from Kiva to Macy's and other retailers using Kiva automation.
We've run out of other people's Social Security taxes needed to subsidize our low income tax rates.
