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Tesla, SAIC and other Shanghai manufacturers get off to a slow start in resuming work, as shortages of staff and parts leave factories sitting idle

  • At Tesla’s Gigafactory3, workers could not resume their assembly of electric cars because they were waiting for battery packs to be delivered
  • At the Lingang area, SAIC Motor had to dip into its inventory for parts, churning out a few electric cars in a “stress test” of its production capacity

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Workers on an assembly line at SAIC-Volkswagen’s factory in Shanghai on Oct. 30, 2018. Photo: Xinhua

Several of Shanghai biggest manufacturers got off to a slow start in resuming work at their factories, as shortages of labour and vital parts after more than two weeks of a citywide shutdown left them lying idle.

At Tesla’s Gigafactory3 in Shanghai’s Lingang free-trade zone, workers could not resume their assembly of electric cars because they were waiting for battery packs to be delivered, according to two people familiar with the matter. The factory, idle since March 28, could lose about 50,000 Model 3 and Model Y vehicles in missed production, based on its installed daily capacity of 2,000 cars.

Elsewhere in Lingang, SAIC Motor had to dip into its inventory for components, scheduling only one shift of workers to churn out a few electric vehicles in a “stress test” of its production capacity, according to people familiar with the plan.

“The full restoration of the entire supply chain in the automotive industry cannot be completed until May if the lockdown [of Shanghai] is not lifted,” said Roy Wang, a senior manager with Shanghai Wings Supply Chain Management, a logistics company that transports and stores car parts. “Efforts to restart production do not only involve policymaking in Shanghai, but support from other parts of the country.”

Chinese workers on the production line of the South Plant at General Motor’s new facility for Shanghai General Motors, in eastern Shanghai’s Pudong district on May 28, 2005. Photo: AP
Chinese workers on the production line of the South Plant at General Motor’s new facility for Shanghai General Motors, in eastern Shanghai’s Pudong district on May 28, 2005. Photo: AP
SAIC Motor, which makes vehicles in China with General Motors and Volkswagen, is among the 666 companies approved by health authorities to resume production, albeit under a so-called closed loop system that requires workers to sleep on site, with zero contact with outsiders.
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