Editor's Note: SHRM has partnered with Harvard Business Review to bring you relevant articles on key HR topics and strategies. It was going to be the factory of the future. Dubbed the "Alien Dreadnought," Tesla's new manufacturing facility in Fremont, California, was designed to be fully automated -- no humans need apply. If all went well, AI-powered robots would enable the company to achieve a weekly production of 5,000 Model 3 electric cars to keep up with burgeoning demand. But Tesla fell far short of that mark, manufacturing just 2,000 vehicles a week.

It was going to be the factory of the future. Dubbed the "Alien Dreadnought," Tesla's new manufacturing facility in Fremont, California, was designed to be fully automated -- no humans need apply. If all went well, AI-powered robots would enable the company to achieve a weekly production of 5,000 Model 3 electric cars to keep up with burgeoning demand. But Tesla fell far short of that mark, manufacturing just 2,000 vehicles a week. The problem, as the company painfully discovered, was that full automation wasn't everything it was cracked up to be.

Tesla has been on an epic run since the beginning of 2017. Its market cap, at around $50 billion, passed Ford's and now rivals General Motors. If all goes according to schedule, the Model 3 mass-market car will launch in about a month. But not all is well in Tesla land. There's been chatter about a union-organizing effort at the company's Fremont, Calif. And a Guardian report this week saw some Tesla workers characterize the plant as a dangerous place to work, and the pace that the carmaker and CEO Elon Musk sets to be brutal.

Elon Musk has likened future versions of Tesla's Model 3 production line to an'alien dreadnaught' - and now, the first pictures of that vision have emerged. A Reddit user claiming to work for robot making company Kuka posted the images of what he says are 467 robots being delivered to the car-making firm's California HQ. The photos show a large shipment of unmounted robots that will form part of the ambitious production line. A Reddit user claiming to work for robot making company Kuka posted the images of 467 robots being delivered to the car-making firm. SoutheastTraders forum user Mac11FA, via the Tesla subreddit, said he is a Field Service Engineer for Kuka Robotics.

Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk took many risks with the technology in his company's cars on the way to surpassing Ford Motor Co's market value. Now Musk is pushing boundaries in the factory that makes them. Most automakers test a new model's production line by building vehicles with relatively cheap, prototype tools designed to be scrapped once they deliver doors that fit, body panels with the right shape and dashboards that don't have gaps or seams. Tesla shut down production at its California assembly plant for a week this month to prepare for production of its high-volume Model 3 sedan. Elon Musk has boasted the firm's production facility for its much anticipated Model 3 will look like an'alien dreadnought'.

Elon Musk's "Alien Dreadnought" is bringing a German crew on board. Tesla, the electric car company based in Palo Alto, announced Tuesday that it will buy Grohmann Engineering, based in Prum, Germany, to be renamed Tesla Grohmann Automation. Grohmann, founded by Chief Executive Klaus Grohman, is a highly regarded supplier of factory automation systems in industries ranging from automobiles to microelectronics. It has outposts around the world, including offices in Charlotte, N.C. and Chandler, Ariz. The German company employs about 700 people.