"Look seriously at the photos ,Its a giant meccano set ,parts are shipped to the site and bolted together. the next processor will be assembled without welding .All small pipes are threaded with teflon tape Give the crew a few days and this can be broken down and shipped anywhere.WHERE'S THE WELD? Don't you think all these parts aren't being cloned somewhere right now"--capra1
Capra, I definitely believe installations will get faster, and that John has been laying the foundations for that to one day be a reality. If I recall correctly, one of John's early predilections and talents was to analyze the inner workings of computers and find a way to consolidate those functions into more compact and efficient systems. The processor's sleek layout reflects this ongoing predilection for efficiency. Such a disposition also dovetails perfectly with John's desire to make the machines as environmentally friendly as possible.
Yet given how long it's taken to get #3 built, I feel it's safe to say they haven't mastered this facet of the business yet. I also agree that they might reach a stage where welding is not necessary. But since I haven't heard otherwise from management, I don't want to run with that possibility since it would, theoretically, eliminate a huge and costly bottleneck that remains in tact as far as I know. For it would save the company millions of dollars if they could run a processor and build one next to it at the same time without interfering with the completed one's functioning in any way. So presumably that's what John is aiming for in the long run. How close they are I don't know. But given how poorly #2 runs, it seems to me John's top priority would be trying to resolve those problems rather than being preoccupied with details about how to modularize the whole thing.
To put it differently, I'm sure John has kept before him the dream of mass producing these machines and that this long term goal was held in mind as he made design changes for #3. But to get to the stage where a crew would only need "a few days" to break down an already assembled processor and get it shipped off would require, in my opinion, far more exacting information than they currently are apt to have. It also makes quite an assumption: that the plan is to build them complete first, then break them down and send them off.
Such a plan does not strike me as very efficient as it doubles a lot of work. It would be far more efficient to figure out how to build the processor in as complete sections as possible without ever conjoining the sections until they're located on site. The towers and kilns already seem to reflect such a plan. But to really get this down would require exacting information as to the order in which things are put together. And given that this is the first processor of its kind to get assembled, I find it highly unlikely that they would have that kind of precise data already.
As for parts being cloned as we speak, fortunately most of them look like off the shelf items and pre-assembled units. But the kilns and the towers are, I believe, a different matter. To mass produce them is apt to require a lot money, so I suspect the lead times for these parts will remain long until the company is much further along.
Also, I suspect a great deal of the line feeds for electrical, gas and HTF will not be modularized, but will instead need to be adapted to each site. In short, I doubt they'll ever get installations down to, say, only a week. Maybe with future versions that will become a reality. But even as sleek as the beast is looking now, it still seems to me that the non-modularizable aspects of it will require a fair amount of time to install.
Finally, whether they find it's more efficient to build a complete processor and then partially disassemble it for shipping or pre-build sections that can be shipped directly, in either case they'll need a place to do such work. Currently they apparently are able to get some of this done at one of their fabricators. But to really crank these things out will, I suspect, require a pretty hefty operational set-up and a fairly large amount of space. Can their current fabricators accommodate such needs? I have no idea. It would seem to make most sense to eventually have their own plant.
We'll see. But I suspect it will be quite a while before we see a means in place to build and install these machines quickly.
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