Tesla Inc. has gotten 8,000 employees back at a plant in Shanghai that was closed for about three weeks due to a COVID outbreak, according to a local media report, as the company slowly ramps up production at its first factory outside the U.S.
“We will take the next three to four days to ramp up our production,” Song Gang, senior director of manufacturing at the plant, told Kankanews, a state media outlet in Shanghai. The goal is to have one shift working at full capacity per day, he said.
A public relations representative for Tesla confirmed to Bloomberg News that the report was accurate.
The company has resumed manufacturing of battery modules and electric motors and started a few general assembly lines, the report said, without providing details on production capacity. The company has enough components for about a week, it added, and the local government is helping coordinate with over 100 suppliers to get supply chains flowing again.
Shanghai has been battling China’s worst virus outbreak since Wuhan in 2020, prompting locals to lock down at home and factories to halt work. Tesla recently made plans to reopen the plant and for staff to live on-site. They will get a sleeping bag and mattress and sleep in a designated area, according to a memo sent to employees and viewed by Bloomberg.
Prior to the halt on March 28, Tesla workers in Shanghai were working three shifts covering 24 hours, seven days a week. Factory staff would work four days on and then have two days off. Now, the staff on the single shift are being asked to work 12 hours a day, six days straight with one day off, Bloomberg reported earlier, citing people familiar with the matter.
Tesla had about 15,000 production staff at the Shanghai plant at the end of last year, and is increasing that figure to about 19,000.
—With assistance from Chunying Zhang.
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