Inside Arrival's Revolutionary Microfactory 

Wow, I've seen this company explain their philosophy before but you put it so succinctly. I've heard Elon talking about the difficulties of making European cars vs US cars. Sandy Munro talking about the price of paint. They seem to have thought of all the difficult bits of manufacture and come up with a beautifully simple solution. It brings a tear to my eye when you compare this to a Diesel Ford Transit

Automotive manufacturing as a cottage industry -- What a concept!

NGL, that bus looks super cute....

Fun fact: the "microfactory" concept was actually anticipated by Paul Nieuwenhuis and Peter Wells of the Cardiff Automotive Industry Research center... around 2002, if memory serves me well.

I love that ! Learning about this company gave me great excitement ! I’m going to keep an eye on it !

I think Arrival is really doing something here, though I may just be bias b/c I love EV’s and Public Transport so much.

Safety Grade? Software? Battery? Material Strength?

I think this will play a prominent role but I think larger factories will still be better for mass production and cost while these will help lower cost for local markets or as a support for a larger factory as it's Being built. I always wanted a composite car hope others will be ok with them

4:35 so the composite material is 100% recyclable even as a finished product on the vehicle itself? Or is it only 100% recyclable before the glue, molding, and setting into a solid hard part?

did he say that steel is light? lol. It's one of the most heaviest metals that is suitable for consumer products

Traditional car plants are usually geared up to only make one specific car, and employ hundreds of people. If sales of that car drop by 50%, the plant becomes uneconomical, and either needs a complete refit, or it closes. If you have 10 smaller plants making the same number of cars, you can just refit or close only half of them. This would be half the cost of refitting, or half as many people would lose their jobs. Plus, the ability to refit a smaller proportion of your production line means you could produce smaller numbers of each type of vehicle, and therefore keep making the vehicle that has just dropped to 50% of previous demand, when traditional plants would need a much larger demand to be economical.

Any information about the composite how it's solidified?

Large factories can build a LOT of one thing very quickly and efficiently. However, a bunch of smaller factories can change relatively quickly and customize their product to the needs of the locality. Truthfully, while their manufacturing method is more flexible, it is their materials science that allows them to compete with the big factories. If the big factories were using the same materials science, they would be a great deal less expensive. That being said, I hope Arrival makes it big in the industry as I really do like their setup.

I love some of the concepts they introduce - the fiber body panels sounds neat, the modularity is cool, the way they can program the arms for updates or design changes is cool. But for the microfactory, I am not 100% what problem it solves: Shipping costs - there would still have to be materials shipped to each microfactory, and I'd imagine usually the price of shipping vehicles is usually negligible anyways (unless over oceans). Manufacture speed - There's no way that per square foot they're as fast as a dedicated designed megafactory at churning out vehicles. Cost - The tech is probably cheaper, but mainly because of the other innovations - namely the fiber body panels and ease of modularity Set-up speed & Scalability - this is one advantage - not much capital needed to set up or time investment needed to start a trickle of production, and makes production MUCH more scalable. That said large companies live on the margins rather than the up-front costs/revenue...

The replicators are a awesome simple engineering execution

Looks good. 2/3 way through and no talk of battery or software?

Those "Cells" are just like the Czinger "Units." If more of one model are ordered, the software for another cell or unit can simply be switched to the other model. And presto, the factory turns out more of that model. It's a pretty amazing approach to manufacturing!

Still yet to arrive after a very long ramp. I really hope they start delivering really soon!

This company and concept has its place in simple appliance like fleet vehicles but there is also a place and a purpose for the mega factories as well. To test this out. Just imagine building a MODEL X in a micro factory.

Stock price of ARVL is really cheap at the moment, at USD 13. Within 3 years this will be trading at over USD 100 !

Local people are employed, work isn't sent overseas. What a foreign concept!

would be cool to see this whole thing decentralised. for true local artisanal heavy industry, the local must have a say in design. decentralisation can provide that.

Could only work for buses that can be build in low volume production. Cheap cars is harder in low volume production, otherwise everybody would do it. !

I live in upstate SC, not far from the rock hill microfactory. I'm excited to see these vehicles in use and how they handle car wrecks. Because not a damn person can drive down here, and with the growing population of the area, I see that problem compounding.

I really love their recycling model. I would invest.

The production method is maybe good for a few thousand cars but I think its not as efficient as the "old" factory when it comes to scale to millions of cars.

Great concept! I don't think however cars are the best product to profit from it

This is a ground breaking manufacturing process to be able to use composite material that won’t work for mass production. Have seen the new concepts and they look great but none of this will work if they can’t get the Micro Factories to work. Prototypes are easy production to scale is not. I estimate that to make the production numbers work they need to make a van every 30 minutes. From information that I have seen it looks like their production rates might be a problem the modules seem slow and so does movement from module to module. Hope to see more information about hours needed to complete a vehicle and number of modules for complete process. Really pulling for Arrival to make this work composites are the material of future but need to figure out the production.

I would like to see size and complexity of systems that supply raw materials to those microfactories

I work in large scale automotive manufacturing... this can work for small volumes, and sure the cost could mean they have the scalability but this will be a logistical nightmare for parts and I still struggle to see how it would work but I'm happy to have my opinion changed

Micro-factories have their merits but will certainly employ fewer people who will need completely different skills.

Arrival is such an awesome company, very impressive.

Great work, Arrival. :)

Interesting concept but can’t imagine it comparing to the scale of traditional lines and with the main question being will this composite material be accepted as a norm?

Anyone else notice that "1 million euros per square foot to create a factory"... so 1-5 Trillion euros to make a factory. I think this might be wrong.

Arrival looks promising, love the 1 second clip of the Lucid air too 😉

2:03 Tesla's Nevada Gigafactory is a horrible example for what you're trying to argue. First of all it's a joint venture and Panasonic doesn't want to innovate as fast as Tesla would like, so they are shutting down that project as soon as possible. Tesla's new Gigafactory projects are 8x denser, meaning that they'll make 250GWh of batteries per year, instead of the ~34GWh output of the Nevada factory. Arrival is doing final assembly at the microfactories, which is absolutely irrelevant from any point of view. The parts and materials still have to be shipped across the same distance. It just means a lot more headaches for engineers, when they are upgrading the lines or trying to fix a problem. They have to travel to hundreds of factories instead of just a couple of big ones.

This is stupid, the logistics to get the parts will be a nightmare

what about the safety of the vehicle since it is fixed with adhesives .

Very cool from start to finish / I like it. Something to watch and possibly even invest in…

Brazil needs one of this fabrics for change the energy system around the country.

sound great - Please build some of these micro factories in AUSTRALIA ! We need manufacturing back!

This company will go far

*Democratizing Hardware & Manufacturing is the next Industrial Revolution* Unlike Software, where most of the costs are operational, and a high chances of quicker ROI, Hardware Development & Manufacturing has always been a capital intensive business, and the cost of a failure is too expensive. Hence, there are practically no new entrants compared to Software. Technologies like 3D-printing, Modular Manufacturing, Robotics & Automation etc. are soon going to change that. I believe it is not going to replace the traditional manufacturing, but rather complement it, by providing early stage concepts a fighting chance in the open market. Once it needs to scale up, Integrated Manufacturing Plants (like Giga-Factories), Huge Assembly Lines etc. should still be the better way in terms of efficiency, scalability and mass-manufacturing.

Interesting really. I like to think the every product that we produce should be like modular in a way we can change parts of it as we want or replacement. It will save lots of money and the environment.

You used to be able to order a new home kit from Sears Roebuck & Co. The kit was delivered to your home site with instructions. Maybe I will be able to order an EV Kit. Maybe the family will want to ride in it.

the cost of building/shipping those robots seems high. and then you have to distribute the input materials to the micro-factories, which could be very inefficient.

Given that larger population centers favor public transportation, their market is more localized and concentrated than Tesla's.

realy cool !! i like to use that material for my exoskeleton

Its really just an assembly plant though I think. Car factories like Tesla cast and stamp all their parts. This sneekily leaves out the 2 weeks waiting for the parts to arrive 🙄 Edit: This doesnt work because of...quality control

Seems like Arrival is mainly aiming for the cargo vehicles. So, how are they tackling the capacity issue? Since batteries weighs 5 times more than gas for same energy, EVs will simply have smaller space left for carrying cargo after putting in all the batteries. The fact that Arrival cars will be made of fabrics and glue will make them even more unsuitable for carrying heavy load. How is Arrival aiming to handle these?

War factory from command and conquer games comes to life

it's definitely a way... I actually think, that both ways of manufacturing will have their spaces... Arrival with its public transportation devices and local features... and yet on a mass scale those Gigafactory settings will prevail as well, because we talk about a global shift in transportation modes within the next 25 years or so... that's a lot of cars that have to be produced, and 20-40 per micro factory cell isn't that much even if you scale it up a lot, isn't it?

Anyone know what car is shown at 2:55?

British automotives are compact and cute. Which makes it compatible to other old cities with narrow roads. Strange looking but efficient

I think it would cost more to have a lot of microfactories. Materiel would have to be supplied to a lot of different locations. Therefore you wouldn't save on delivery costs.

If something sounds to good to be true... it is.

Very good explanation of the hardware but how about the battery & the software??

Can you make a video on ENERGOUS? and explain the potential of it..I want to know what ur thought are..Thanks

World modulation, in more than just automobiles, is the future. Everyone on the same page, so to speak.

Bucky Fuller is grinning in whatever dymaxion he is currently inhabiting.

But you still have to transport materials to the factory and on site troubleshooting skills would be limited if a problem arises which it always does in complicated systems. I suppose you could use remote troubleshooting not sure how effective that would be.

What's the 5yr ROI per mfg cell? Put differently, how many custom vans and buses can it make per unit of time, and what's the premium they can charge for the benefits of their custom vehicles so we can figure out if this is economical?

Brilliant. Future Shock is now.

incredible videos thank you very much! :)

0:07 ha! they used sunny and Oxfordshire in the same sentence.

Uhm local assembly is not the same as actual production. Like they will definitely not produce all components on site. Like motors, batteries, etc.

Just curious arrival is based in Luxembourg not UK

Nice concept, just unsure on the volume requirements

Even tho that I'm down 82∆% Im sill holding the stock! I believe in the company. But what a great time to get In

What about propulsion system; battery R&D, range, super capacitors, tyres, and super charging ? will Hitachi deliver these technical solutions ?

Thanks for the informative video!

Fantastic innovation

These videos are jx so good🤩

When will they make a UK designed Estrima Biro type of micro-electric car?

So is that fabric like a fiberglass type thing, or are those trucks soft like pillows?

what happens to raw materials? doesnt that increase the overhead, You need metal, glass, electric components, tires. How does the supply chain get managed?

In an accident when the "modular" Vehicle ripps apart- your body loses its parts (organs) modularely- you heart ,kidney etc could be given to transplant patients

Would like to see more on this.

Nice video.

Ohhhhh tech and design meets

Its vapor until I see one on the streets.

This didn't age well

Super Luxurious bus... :)

I hope they do well, UPS and the other package delivery companies need to speed up their transition to EVs.

Other than purely electric, among other details, pretty nice setup.

Video on tram, economics, environmental and societal effects

So this is basically the evil version of local motors.

Those factories are just for assemblies. Where do all the parts come from? I'm thinking we're missing some important and critical information here.

I'd invest in that company

"Prototypes are easy; volume production is hard" -Elon Arrival apparently has some vehicle prototypes, but it's micro-factory concept doesn't even appear to be at the prototype stage. And promotional videos like this one show no awareness of the economics of volume production, let alone what's required technically.

Musk said, making a prototype is 100x easier than making it scale. This sounds like it's all prototypes and will be expensive

Nice video. How much of this is reality and how much well directed fantasy is beyond me. The market price for this company has plummeted. Too many promises, too many models and not enough action. How about putting to market ONE product (vans), before anything else? The longer they waffle with actually production, the harder it will be to bring more investment money and the greater the chance they will burn their money to oblivious bankruptcy.

The title of the video is “Inside Arrivals microfactory”, imply new footage of the factory, instead it’s just some guy prattling on using marketing footage and nothing new

Fantastic video I loved it

Don’t robots need specialist technicians? How is every micro factory going to do repairs abs maintenance? How do you road test the vehicles if there is no proving ground next to the factory? This seems to me to have limited applications and cannot replace the moveable assembly line for high volume production.

You should also talk about Tesla factory since they are the faster car production and is leading the electric vehicle.

Only if my shares in the company wasn't 91 percent in the red. I if it wasn't for the sweet deal with the local government in North Carolina for a warehouse and trade school, I would have written it off as a loss a long time ago. If it wasn't for that, I'd be wondering if it wasn't just a Russian scamming people out of their money. There still a chance that could be the reality. I was interested in one of their vans until I saw the design of their frame of which I'm not so thrilled about.

This video skips over a couple of major drawbacks of Arrival’s approach- a Tesla gigafactory is highly vertically integrated. Those factories make almost everything that goes into the vehicle. Arrival depends on massive global supply chains, meaning parts shipped from all over the planet cancel out any gains in not having to deliver vehicles quite as far. Second, microfactories have extremely low production volume, producing tens of vehicles a day, whereas a gigafactory can produce many hundreds, into thousands of vehicles a day, which makes microfactories incredibly inefficient by comparison.

SHED-ULED