Sheet Metal Stamping Simulation

When the NUMMI auto plant in Fremont shut down in April, many pronounced it dead -- a triple victim of the recession, sliding auto sales and General Motors' bankruptcy.But NUMMI is about to be reborn. Electric-carmaker Tesla Motors, which stunned the world when it announced plans to purchase the plant in May, officially takes ownership Oct. 1.

Already, many Tesla employees call the plant the "Tesla Factory." Forty people regularly work out of a Tesla office that's been set up on the parking lot -- taking breaks under three red patio umbrellas similar to those at the company's Palo Alto headquarters. The various "shops," from body framing to paint, are being designed, and detailed diagrams and timelines paper the walls of hallways and conference rooms."I've been through a plant closure before, and it's heartbreaking," said Gilbert Passin, Tesla's vice president of manufacturing, as he strode through the cavernous auto plant in safety glasses and a red hard hat emblazoned with Tesla's logo. "To be able to give a second life to this facility and some of the people here -- it's thrilling for us to be in this position."