My footage from touring the Normal Rivian plant (raw footage)

[Autolycus]

Wonder what the long term plan is with racking those. Hand racking them doesn‘t seem like a particularly good use of humans.

I was thinking the same thing. Looked like a very slow moving process to hand load 2-3 racks at a time

Full production capacity is supposedly a finished truck/SUV every 4 minutes. In the last minute of the video above (from 2:29-3:29), they rack at least 6 of the side panels. I totally agree that hand racking them seems like a poor use of labor, but what would additional automation cost? If they aren't having to run the stamping machines non-stop to keep up with the production line's full speed, they can possibly get away with having people fill in that task for short bursts of panel production. But yeah... surely automation is possible and not even that hard? Even if you get it to the only person involved is just moving the racks into and out of position instead of having 6-7 guys having to rush to rack each panel?

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[Cosmacelf]

Did you get to see the body welding area where they would have robots? Or the general assembly area where they put everything into the chassis? Or are they still working on getting those areas up to speed?

 

[JeremyMKE]

Good gravy I don’t look at the forum for like two days and you post this @DuckTruck !

thank you so much we couldn’t have asked for a better ambassador from the forum!

 

[DuckTruck]

Good gravy I don’t look at the forum for like two days and you post this @DuckTruck !

thank you so much we couldn’t have asked for a better ambassador from the forum!

Thanks, Jeremy! I hope you're enjoying the videos and pics.

 

[BigE]

I was thinking the same thing. Looked like a very slow moving process to hand load 2-3 racks at a time

I can't believe they rebuilt this entire plant and don't have a robot picking up these pieces?

 

[Eeyore]

Fantastic seeing that there is real progress being made to have my LE R1T in LE Green delivered before I retire.

That, and we share the same 1st name. Definitely need to meet up for a beer.

When you get the chance, the only answer is, "YES, Absolutely!"

You can always catch the wedding of your next child.... ?

Or their second wedding.

 

[crashmtb]

I can't believe they rebuilt this entire plant and don't have a robot picking up these pieces?

I bet they will... soon

Perhaps the robots are one of those things where the lead time has been bumped out, or they are waiting until the stamping process is 100% to install automation.

Fantastic seeing that there is real progress being made to have my LE R1T in LE Green delivered before I retire.

Or their second wedding.

Wait. There are TWO Oregon Bruces?!

 

[Eeyore]

I bet they will... soon

Perhaps the robots are one of those things where the lead time has been bumped out, or they are waiting until the stamping process is 100% to install automation.


Wait. There are TWO Oregon Bruces?!

There might be a few more, but they are all old guys. No one names their kid Bruce anymore. To back that up, my wife taught elementary school nearly 30 years and not once did she have a Bruce in her class.

 

[DuckTruck]

Fantastic seeing that there is real progress being made to have my LE R1T in LE Green delivered before I retire.

That, and we share the same 1st name. Definitely need to meet up for a beer.

Or their second wedding.

Let's grab a beer soon!

I'll message you later today. Stay cool!

 

[DuckTruck]

There might be a few more, but they are all old guys. No one names their kid Bruce anymore. To back that up, my wife taught elementary school nearly 30 years and not once did she have a Bruce in her class.

That's a good point. Maybe at our age, we should look for an Early Bird Special somewhere... ?

 

[Eeyore]

That's a good point. Maybe at our age, we should look for an Early Bird Special somewhere... ?

https://www.mcmenamins.com Happy Hour here we come.

 

[DuckTruck]

https://www.mcmenamins.com Happy Hour here we come.

My absolute favorite! Luckily, they provide us with many options for great places and beers.

Keep an eye out for a personal message in the very, very near future. Whew! Avoided dropping that S-Bomb!

 

[crashmtb]

That's a good point. Maybe at our age, we should look for an Early Bird Special somewhere... ?

 

[Lil'O Annie]

Has anyone done a poll on the ages of the Rivots on here yet?? That would be interesting. I have a feeling most are over 50, many are over 60 and even a large % are over 65??

 

[Babbuino]

Has anyone done a poll on the ages of the Rivots on here yet?? That would be interesting. I have a feeling most are over 50, many are over 60 and even a large % are over 65??

Wouldn't surprised me...
https://www.agingcare.com/articles/deal-with-too-much-complaining-from-elders-141481.htm

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