Tesla acquires Grohmann Engineering GMBH


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Grohmann works with a ton of other automakers, and their skills could be used throughout the Musk ventures.

 

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Company Overview

 

Grohmann Engineering GmbH develops, supplies, and services production systems. Its products include assembly systems, placement machines, singulation machines, laser and bonding systems, test and thermal systems, liquid dispensing systems, product handling and tape application systems, flexfoil process equipment, fiber laying and coating systems, automated fiber-end finishing systems, terminal assembly systems, bonding and micro-molding systems, in-line assembly and molding systems, sealers, and machine platforms. The company serves automotive, telecommunications, consumer electronics, and biotechnical industries. Grohmann Engineering GmbH is based in Prüm, Germany. It has service and support centers in the Northern United States, Canada, China, Costa Rica, the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, the United Kingdom/Ireland, South America, Australia, Scandinavia, Malaysia, and South Africa.

 

 

Tesla Grohmann Germany GMBH

 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/alanohnsman/2016/11/08/tesla-buying-germanys-grohmann-engineering-to-automate-accelerate-production/#79a7c9362d84

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Formation of Tesla Advanced Automation Germany

 

The Tesla Team
November 8, 2016

Accelerating a sustainable energy future is only possible with high-volume factories. They allow us to manufacture high-quality products with economies of scale, making them more affordable and accessible to the world. As the machine that builds the machine, our factories are so important that we believe they will ultimately deserve an order of magnitude more attention in engineering than what they produce. At very high production volumes, the factory becomes more of a product than the product itself.

After increasing our output target to 500,000 cars per year by 2018, we began searching for the best engineering talent in automated manufacturing systems. Today, we are excited to announce that Tesla has entered into an agreement to acquire Grohmann Engineering, a world-renowned engineering company in Prüm, Germany, which will become Tesla Grohmann Automation.

Led by founder and CEO Klaus Grohmann, Grohmann Engineering is one of the world leaders in highly automated methods of manufacturing. This transaction will bring Mr. Grohmann’s leadership, a world-class team and unique expertise in-house. Moreover, it will serve as the initial base for Tesla Advanced Automation Germany headquarters, with other locations to follow. We expect to add over 1,000 advanced engineering and skilled technician jobs in Germany over the next two years.

Under the continued leadership of Mr. Grohmann, several critical elements of Tesla’s automated manufacturing systems will be designed and produced in Prüm to help make our factories the most advanced in the world. Combined with our California and Michigan engineering facilities, as well as other locations to follow, we believe the result will yield exponential improvements in the speed and quality of production, while substantially reducing the capital expenditures required per vehicle.

To date, we have increased the production rate at our Fremont Factory by 400% in four years, and we expect this acquisition to accelerate that growth rate. While the agreement is contingent upon clearance from regulators, including in Germany, we hope to have full approval and close the acquisition in early 2017. We are excited to have the Grohmann team join us in our goal of becoming the best manufacturer in the world to help accelerate the world's progress to a sustainable energy future.

 

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This is an extremely important announcement. Efficiency increases and cost reductions in every sphere.....particularly high volume core production later...

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On the solar (energy storage ) front, with high volume output and cost reductions of scale, the usual suspects are going to find it next to impossible to block progress. If this escalates, we may even see another giga-factory in the future.

 

This is going to be a huge "broadside" to fossil interests...gotta love this.....:D

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One can't help to wonder about the huge dollar value of transactions, particularly of late. There are quite a few people, not only buying into the "disruptor' scheme, but pushing it forward. They know this is the future and when one moves this fast, good luck catching them.

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Tory Bruno has already said if Vulcan can't be competitive with SpaceX,  Blue Origin, Ariane 6, the Chinese and Indians ULA is toast. Lead, follow, or get outta the way.

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If his ventures begin to turn a profit, I think Elon Musk might supplant Bill Gates eventually as world's richest.
Might be 10 years - but he seems to be the only one planning on future tech.  Warren Buffet is business as usual - the long and slow approach.

I dont know near as much as you all do, but it seems that Elon Musk is the biggest player on the chessboard for future tech... well - and google - but that is debatable.

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Tesla turned profitable last quarter, greatly beating expectations.

 

Google's Larry Page, a close friend of Musk,  said he would likely leave much of his billions to SpaceX etc.

 

After the Grohmann announcement Musk held a presser,

 

Tesla Gigafactory 2 to be built in Europe, producing both batteries and cars. The location will be announced next year.

 

The first we heard about order of magnitude improvements in the 'machine that builds the machines' (the factory) was in this years shareholders meeting.

 

 

 

Edited by DocM
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Yeah, I'll echo what @Draggendrop stated earlier. This is huge. As soon as I read the announcement @DocM posted I thought to myself "damn, that's a smart move".

 

Those items are as important to manufacturing as the buildings themselves and the machines within. 

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7 hours ago, DocM said:

Another damn Zombie window :angry:

 

More details from Ars....

 

http://arstechnica.com/cars/2016/11/tesla-to-buy-engineering-firm-in-quest-for-machine-that-builds-the-machine/

 

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Elon Musk eyes alien dreadnought automated factory with engineering firm deal

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Tesla CEO has focused building a next-generation factory since the difficult launch of the Model X last year, which saw Tesla struggling to meet demand for the car from its Fremont, CA factory. In comments to press and on earnings calls, Musk has emphasized that the companys factories will become more and more automated. In an August earnings call, the CEO said he wanted to build Tesla factories that look like an "alien dreadnought," and to perfect "the machine that makes the machine."

 

The company has also been under pressure from investors to ramp up its auto production significantly after promising an output target of 500,000 cars by 2018. In October, Tesla announced that it would likely hit its goal of 50,000 in 2016.

 

In a blog post announcing the proposed acquisition today, Tesla said that its Fremont factory, which was founded in 2010, had already increased production by 400 percent in the last four years.

 

Factory automation is already a big component of the companys brand new Gigafactory outside of Reno, NV, where Tesla batteries are made. In July, Musk told USA Today that the factory itself is a product, it's the machine that builds the machines and demands more problem solving than the product it makes."

 

In an interview with CNBC last week, speaking about the future of automation, Musk said that robots will take so many of our jobs that a universal basic income might be required.

 

According to Techcrunch, Tesla CTO JB Straubel said that "Tesla has been working with Grohmann in a partnership for the past few months, and found that the teams complemented each other well and were achieving a lot in terms of automation improvements, and determined they could do even more as a combined company."

 

It is unclear how much Tesla has offered for Grohmann Engineering, and the deal will have to be approved by US and German regulators. Still, Tesla says its confident the deal will close sometime in early 2017.
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