Tesla: Automating PPE and Employee Lockers in the Plant

Situation: Visitor Groups and Time-Limited Lockers

Anyone entering the plant needs personal protective equipment. On plant tours, visitor groups arrive within a short window, and every person has to be equipped with safety glasses, a high-visibility vest and further PPE before the walk begins. This previously ran through a staffed issue desk, with queues exactly when a group arrives together.

In parallel, employees need a secure place for personal belongings, but not permanently: fixed lockers sat empty whenever someone changed shift, was on site for a project only, or left the plant again. What was needed was a solution that issues PPE to visitors without staff, assigns compartments for a defined period and ties every opening to a person.

Solution: Two Use Cases on One Platform

Part of the installations sits where visitors enter the plant and issues PPE: the person identifies themselves, the compartment holding the matching PPE set opens, and the handover is documented. After the tour, the equipment is returned through the same installation.

The remaining installations serve employees as a personal locker for a defined period, for example a shift, a project assignment or a fixed period. Once the period ends, the compartment is released again. Identification runs via RFID badge at the terminal; the platform checks the permission, opens exactly the released compartment and logs time, person and occupancy. Through the interfaces, withdrawals can be reported to inventory management.

Rollout: Four Installations, Distributed by Purpose

Four installations were realised and distributed by purpose: where visitor groups enter the plant, and where employees store their belongings, close to the work areas rather than centrally in the building. The systems went live one after another, so experience from the first installation fed into the following ones.

From the first setup to full operation of all four locations, only a few months passed. Instruction came down to a single step: identify yourself, the compartment opens.

Result: What Changed in Daily Operation

Plant visitors receive their protective equipment directly at the installation, even when a whole group arrives at once. A permanently staffed issue desk is no longer needed for this.

Employees use their compartment for a defined period, after which it is released again instead of staying occupied for good. Every opening is tied to a badge, and questions about the whereabouts of a PPE item or the occupancy of a compartment are resolved on screen.

• Four installations in operation
• PPE for visitors without an issue desk
• Employee lockers with a defined period
• Every opening documented per person

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