Inside Tesla's Insane Headquarters

Tesla's Impressive Workspace and Efficient Production Line

Since Tesla set out to accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy in 2003, they have been consistently knocking it out of the park. Cars as impressive as a Tesla need an impressive workspace and efficient production line, and there's no doubt they have both down pat.

The Fremont Facility: Tesla's First Large-Scale Production Plant

Located in Fremont, California, the Tesla headquarters and factory spans 5.3 million square feet and employs over 10,000 people. This was Tesla's first large-scale production facility, opening in 2010, long before its network of Gigafactories in China, Germany, Nevada, New York, and Texas.

The Fremont Offices: The Central Nervous System

The head of the operation, or the central nervous system, is the Tesla Fremont offices. Just like in the SpaceX offices, Elon Musk prefers not to have walls and cubicles in his workspace because it limits conversation and the flow of ideas. Instead, you have everyone from designers to engineers working together to create magic.

The Fremont Factory: A Highly Automated Assembly Line

The actual assembly and production happen just below the offices in the factory. The Fremont factory is home to the Model 3, and the assembly lines for it are heavily automated to eliminate the more difficult and repetitive tasks and the need to lift heavy, awkward parts.

Tesla has found a balance between robots and humans, with machines being great at working with parts that are always the same size, like metal bolts, batteries, and battery packs, while humans are better at working with fabrics, belts, and wires.

The Manufacturing Operating System

The system that controls the whole intricate process of assembling the Model 3 is Tesla's manufacturing operating system, which is all created by software engineers sitting in the Tesla offices. Making their own system has enabled them to fine-tune the equipment and processes, giving them flexibility to develop or change their equipment before a competitor would even be able to get a formal proposal together to send to its supplier.

Tesla's Expanding Global Footprint

While the Fremont facility is impressive, Tesla has been rapidly expanding its global footprint with Gigafactories around the world. The most impressive of these will be the Texas Gigafactory, a $1.1 billion assembly plant in the south Travis County of Austin, which will be Tesla's fifth Gigafactory in the world.

The Texas Gigafactory: Tesla's Future Headquarters

The Texas Gigafactory is a whopping 4 to 5 million square feet, dwarfing the Fremont facility. While Fremont is currently still the headquarters of Tesla, that is expected to change soon, as Elon Musk has threatened to move Tesla's headquarters and future programs to Texas if the company is not treated well in California.

The Texas government has welcomed Tesla and Elon Musk with open arms, giving them approvals and a massive tax cut of $50 million. Texas also supported Tesla's federal request for designation as a foreign trade zone, which means they would be exempt from paying customs on materials used in export production.

Tesla's Commitment to Innovation

Tesla has not even begun to explore its options in manufacturing systems yet. With Elon Musk at the helm, you can be sure that he will find a way to upgrade everything he can get his hands on and make the process faster to meet the insanely high demands of the market.

From the highly automated assembly lines to the custom-built manufacturing operating system, Tesla is constantly pushing the boundaries of what's possible in the automotive industry. As the company continues to expand its global footprint, it's clear that Tesla's insane headquarters and factories are just the beginning of their quest to revolutionize the way we think about transportation.