Tesla Buys One Of Its Suppliers As Company Tries To Overcome Model 3 Production Challenges
Tesla has bought one of its suppliers. Teslarati reports that the premium electric vehicle manufacturer has acquired Minnesota-based Perbix Machine Company, a maker of advanced automated manufacturing equipment. The purchase is a strong indication that Tesla is doubling down on the automation of their manufacturing process. Could this be the solution to some of the Model 3’s production problems?
Elon Musk and Co. have said they aim to produce 5,000 Model 3s during the first quarter of 2018. But there have been stories in the news that indicate they are a long way off from that goal. They slashed orders by 40 percent with one of their parts suppliers and pushed back parts deliveries by months. Musk also admitted that there was a “Production Hell” at the Gigafactory in Nevada where the batteries for the Model 3 are being manufactured.
According to Teslerati, Perbix has been supplying Tesla factories with manufacturing equipment for more than 3 years. Some of their machines are used to produce the drive units that are used in Tesla vehicles. This isn’t the first time Tesla has bought a company in the manufacturing sector. They purchased German Grohmann Engineering in 2016 and a Michigan-based tool and die stamping plant in 2015.
Tesla acquires automated manufacturing machine supplier Perbix https://t.co/oMUgFrOvnO by @etherington pic.twitter.com/BrYnrHkG1C
— TechCrunch (@TechCrunch) November 7, 2017
At the time, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that these purchases were meant to accelerate production speed so that the company could meet its goals in that area. The acquisitions were also meant to drive down production costs, Teslarati notes.
It’s still unclear as to how Tesla will handle Perbix’s existing client contracts and relationships. This became a point of contention between Elon Musk and Grohmann’s founder. Sources say that Klaus Grohman was forced out of the company when he refused to cut ties with some of their old clients like Daimer and BMW. This created lots of discord between Grohmann and Musk and forced Klaus into an early retirement.
So, it will interesting to see how they deal with the issue of legacy clients in Perbix’s case.
Tesla buys automation equipment maker Perbix https://t.co/0q0UWxQlnq pic.twitter.com/t6xqR8Thga
— Reuters Business (@ReutersBiz) November 7, 2017
Tesla paid for Perbix with cash and shares of their common stock. Although all of the details of the deal weren’t made public, Electrek reports that James S. Dudley, the owner of Perbix, is entitled to sell 34,772 Tesla shares that he obtained as a result of the acquisition. Those shares are worth $10.5 million based on current market reports.
Do you think that Tesla will speed up the manufacture of the Model 3 with the acquisition of Perbix Machine Company?
[Featured Image by Tesla Motors]
