Where's the bottleneck?

[SeaGeo]

When I visited Denver this week, there were 25-27 vehicles on the lot. Most of them had quite a bit of dust and rain washed dust streaks on them. The tonneau covers had plenty of "dust puddles" on them where water had pooled and evaporated. That made me think that they had been sitting there for a lot more than a day or two. Where I live that would be a week or more accumulation, but I'm not familiar with Denver's situation. I should have asked the tech I talked to what was going on with them, I didn't. It did/does seem odd that they have so many sitting there. Labor or parts shortage? Maybe both.

This is part of what prompted my question, but because of the Bellevue service center. They're definitely moving trucks, but it seems like it's lot slower than they should be. Which is potentially due to them having to fix small issues like plenty of folks have guessed at.

It's interesting to watch the roll out. Hopefully they can continue to *deliver* more vehicles faster.

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[Craigins]

Definitely a QC/Service Center bottleneck.

Sadly my family from Normal are not coming up for Easter or I'd tease them a bit. One is in paint and one is in QC.

Then again, they might be getting pushed to rush their jobs.

 

[Scoiatael]

Definitely a QC/Service Center bottleneck.

Sadly my family from Normal are not coming up for Easter or I'd tease them a bit. One is in paint and one is in QC.

Then again, they might be getting pushed to rush their jobs.

I'm fine with a QC bottleneck. I'd prefer them to spot issues and fix them rather than take the Tesla route and just shrug their shoulders and give the car to whoever will take it.

 

[bhopkins]

I wonder if there’s not a bottleneck at the guide level? I mean, all the Launch Edition reservation holders were supposed to have been assigned a guide by Thanksgiving 2021….that didn’t happen. Supposedly, according to the email received late last year, I’m to receive the my vehicle April/May 2022….still no guide assigned.

Unfortunately, this is the same sort of lack of communication I went through with Tesla when I bought the Model S. I get that it is a brave new world and sales are occurring away from a dealership….but the lack of communication and setting expectations is very frustrating. Rivian seems to be following somewhat in Tesla’s steps with this.

If they’re having production, delivery, quality, transportation, guide, or take your pick issues, then communicate and reset expectations. Will I be disappointed, yet, but at least I’d feel like they valued me as a customer. Right now, I’m just left spinning and wondering and constantly checking the Rivian app hoping for the best.

 

[r1vlife]

Curious how many R1Ts fail the inspection at service centers before delivery and how many of the one’s that fail could be repaired at service centers. That could add to delay.

P.S. Wife spotted a white R1T yesterday in northern Maryland. She kept telling me don’t hover over it. I said anyone driving one of these is asking for it and used to it. It was the first unexpected sighting in the wild. And mighty cool to see. So they are delivering them here.

I'm trying to get used to it. Drove to Pike's Place in Seattle yesterday. It felt like the whole street stopped to stare. A guy was standing and blocking one of the lanes of the street trying to get a picture of the truck before realizing he blocked traffic and we were heading towards him ?

 

[r1vlife]

I'm fine with a QC bottleneck. I'd prefer them to spot issues and fix them rather than take the Tesla route and just shrug their shoulders and give the car to whoever will take it.

I didn't realize the quantity of small stuff they missed during QC when I took delivery. And now I'm testing their service process for everyone. I will say it is quite slow. 3 of the 10? tickets have been processed and those were all panel alignments that the senior tech said was normal. The paint and chip ones they can't seem to figure out. I would think its as easy as let's just send him to a Rivian approved body shop, but it looks like they are making this more difficult.

Now that I'm thinking about this more, it seems the bottleneck is actually the people putting together a service plan back in Normal. The ticket resolution is routed through there and the little adjustments they have to make to the trucks during final inspection might be. If the service techs aren't able to figure out what to do and need to rely on HQ for support, they are basically stuck.

 

[SeaGeo]

I wonder if there’s not a bottleneck at the guide level? I mean, all the Launch Edition reservation holders were supposed to have been assigned a guide by Thanksgiving 2021….that didn’t happen. Supposedly, according to the email received late last year, I’m to receive the my vehicle April/May 2022….still no guide assigned.

Unfortunately, this is the same sort of lack of communication I went through with Tesla when I bought the Model S. I get that it is a brave new world and sales are occurring away from a dealership….but the lack of communication and setting expectations is very frustrating. Rivian seems to be following somewhat in Tesla’s steps with this.

If they’re having production, delivery, quality, transportation, guide, or take your pick issues, then communicate and reset expectations. Will I be disappointed, yet, but at least I’d feel like they valued me as a customer. Right now, I’m just left spinning and wondering and constantly checking the Rivian app hoping for the best.

The token R1S contacts with very limited R1T contacts recently is a little odd.

Rivian is just not good at comms. They figure it out for about two emails, and then they get bored with it.

 

[Inkedsphynx]

I'm trying to get used to it. Drove to Pike's Place in Seattle yesterday. It felt like the whole street stopped to stare. A guy was standing and blocking one of the lanes of the street trying to get a picture of the truck before realizing he blocked traffic and we were heading towards him ?

So it was you! I was on the street right there when I saw one drive by. Oh man did it make me jealous. Bastard

 

[r1vlife]

So it was you! I was on the street right there when I saw one drive by. Oh man did it make me jealous. Bastard

Should have flagged me down!

 

[Inkedsphynx]

Should have flagged me down!

You'd have just assumed I'm one of the usual random crazies that live in this area. Or you'd assume I was one of the usual local criminals, since I'm pretty much completely visibly covered in ink

Next time you're down here - if you see a tall dude completely covered in ink running after you, don't be scared

 

[r1vlife]

You'd have just assumed I'm one of the usual random crazies that live in this area. Or you'd assume I was one of the usual local criminals, since I'm pretty much completely visibly covered in ink

Next time you're down here - if you see a tall dude completely covered in ink running after you, don't be scared

I think you could shout Rivian forums and I would hopefully make the connection. Now if there's no reaction realize that you might actually have found the wrong person ?

 

[Inkedsphynx]

Downtown Seattle Rivian Stalker Strikes Again. Tonight at 10pm!

 

[SeaGeo]

Downtown Seattle Rivian Stalker Strikes Again. Tonight at 10pm!

That reminds me. Last weekend we stopped by the service center after a late dinner. The wife wanted to see Limestone. It was in the side by the pot shop. We were walking up the alley clearly looking at the trucks and a voice comes from the intercom at the pot shop saying to leave or they would call the cops.

 

[EarlyAdptr]

I didn't realize the quantity of small stuff they missed during QC when I took delivery. And now I'm testing their service process for everyone. I will say it is quite slow. 3 of the 10? tickets have been processed and those were all panel alignments that the senior tech said was normal. The paint and chip ones they can't seem to figure out. I would think its as easy as let's just send him to a Rivian approved body shop, but it looks like they are making this more difficult.

Now that I'm thinking about this more, it seems the bottleneck is actually the people putting together a service plan back in Normal. The ticket resolution is routed through there and the little adjustments they have to make to the trucks during final inspection might be. If the service techs aren't able to figure out what to do and need to rely on HQ for support, they are basically stuck.

That doesn't sound good.... however, you need some form of feedback loop back to production so they can identify root cause of the defect and not produce any more.

There's a saying in quality circles that I hope Rivian knows well (and this is really just growing pains):

"Don't take junk, don't make junk, don't pass junk on" The further defects propagate, the more expensive they are to correct.

If they are knowingly sending defects out to service centers - that would concern me. But certainly sounds that way.

 

[Guy]

Definitely a QC/Service Center bottleneck.

Sadly my family from Normal are not coming up for Easter or I'd tease them a bit. One is in paint and one is in QC.

Then again, they might be getting pushed to rush their jobs.

I would be surprised if they were being rushed since only about 50 trucks per day are being built based of the recent data.

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