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voip-ninja
Give me some sugar baby
mservice
Member
Back in 1971 Arthur Hailey wrote a book call “Wheels” on the auto industry. In the book he discussed the dreaded Monday or Friday builds. Saying you don’t want a car built on Monday’s or Friday’s because of poor quality issues due to employees calling out, or just not really doing their jobs. Friday’s saw employees looking more at the upcoming weekend than their jobs, while Monday’s were callouts from the weekend.
I’ve been waiting for the press to report that this is an exclusive Tesla problem , and would never happen with the major auto companies.
I’ve been waiting for the press to report that this is an exclusive Tesla problem , and would never happen with the major auto companies.
The anti-tent press must be originating from the operations departments from other car companies. The boss has been asking, "How is it that this tiny EV maker figured out such a low cost way to increase production so quickly and cheaply? Why didn't you guys think of this?"
I just read the article that claims that the 'tent' is causing quality problems with some Model 3's. I've been in manufacturing for over 25 years. This sounds like the normal grousing and griping that you will get from 0.1% of your employees in any population. They interviewed six employees. There are over 5000 at the site. You could almost certainly find six employees on that work in the main part of the factory that would claim that it was too hot in side or that they feel too much pressure to do their jobs quickly.
This is not to say that vehicles made in the tent may not have a quality level that is better or worse than those produced inside. If it really is much hotter or cooler, and workers are uncomfortable, they will make more mistakes. If the lighting is worse, they may not be able to see as well. But Tesla has a lot of really smart folks working there, and I'm certain that they are tracking defects, looking for their root causes, and trying to resolve them.
If someone has DATA that shows that cars made in the tent are statistically more likely to have a defect than cars in the factory, I'd be concerned. But finding a few employees that said that they did not like temperature or that they didn't like the pressure of working on an assembly line doesn't make me worried. Not everyone likes working in a factory environment, and that is OK.
This is not to say that vehicles made in the tent may not have a quality level that is better or worse than those produced inside. If it really is much hotter or cooler, and workers are uncomfortable, they will make more mistakes. If the lighting is worse, they may not be able to see as well. But Tesla has a lot of really smart folks working there, and I'm certain that they are tracking defects, looking for their root causes, and trying to resolve them.
If someone has DATA that shows that cars made in the tent are statistically more likely to have a defect than cars in the factory, I'd be concerned. But finding a few employees that said that they did not like temperature or that they didn't like the pressure of working on an assembly line doesn't make me worried. Not everyone likes working in a factory environment, and that is OK.
That's not the question we are asking ourselves here.
Rather, they are:
1). Was my car built in a tent, and how many short-cuts were employees forced to take to meet their quota?
2). How can I tell whether a new/used Tesla came out of proper QC-controlled indoor production line, or tape-it 'n ship-it tent line?
I do understand and can relate to your appreciation of Tesla EVs.
However, Tesla's Quality Control (QC) is not up to snuff. There are numerous independent articles, personal testimonials, and threads on that.
As a Tesla owner, I see no point in downplaying or ignoring that fact.
YMMV,
a
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Msjulie
Active Member
Inside the rear fender well, tough to do when car is not on the lift and tire is on
My car was missing at least 1/2 doz, service put a couple in when they came out to rotate tires (last year) then I found other missing couple and replaced them myself with parts similar to link above
edit: build info
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All Teslas are “final assembled” by humans using various kinds of mechanical assistance. There are many assembly line steps that, as of know, only humans can do.
This is crazy. There is no real reason to believe that the GA4 cars are of subpar quality to those from inside. I’m pretty sure my P3d+ came from here, because I asked the delivery person and she said it likely did but she couldn’t be sure (she really worked in an engineering function but was helping with deliveries).
I’m happy to hear it probably was made in the tent the “old fashioned” way like EVERY OTHER mass produced car. These are some the SAME technicians doing assembly in GA4 as the people working there when it was the NUMMI plant making Tacomas.
Sure there are teething pains around manufacturing defects and quality control, but those topics have been exhausted to death through media channels and forums. Some employees got fired and were angry. That’s the only new info here.
I’m happy to hear it probably was made in the tent the “old fashioned” way like EVERY OTHER mass produced car. These are some the SAME technicians doing assembly in GA4 as the people working there when it was the NUMMI plant making Tacomas.
Sure there are teething pains around manufacturing defects and quality control, but those topics have been exhausted to death through media channels and forums. Some employees got fired and were angry. That’s the only new info here.
Brando
Active Member
Originally, GA4 was only for Model 3P cars.
And one innovation: gravity pulled cars down the assembly ramp, so no electricity needed to move cars along an assembly line. continuous improvement strikes again
side note: VIN Decoder | TeslaTap
And one innovation: gravity pulled cars down the assembly ramp, so no electricity needed to move cars along an assembly line. continuous improvement strikes again
side note: VIN Decoder | TeslaTap
jebinc
Well-Known Member
Inside the rear fender well, tough to do when car is not on the lift and tire is on
My car was missing at least 1/2 doz, service put a couple in when they came out to rotate tires (last year) then I found other missing couple and replaced them myself with parts similar to link above
View attachment 430832
edit: build info
View attachment 430835
I plugged six wheel well holes as well.
I have 3 empty wheel well holes in the rear corners of my car, and 2 in each of the fronts, and when I rotated my tires recently, I looked at them carefully, there doesn't seem to be any real need for them, as I tugged on the liner around the holes to see if there was any play, and there isn't. Would be less disconcerting if they were filled, but I'm not going to go out of my way to plug them.
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jebinc
Well-Known Member
Yes, the prevailing view it that the lack of need caused Tesla to eliminate them in manufacturing (to save cost). I still plugged them just to further reduce noise/rattle and dirt accumulation. Might have cost me $1 for the material and 30 seconds of labor, so it was worth that to me to plug them!
Msjulie
Active Member
jebinc
Well-Known Member
Engineers thought so, but accountants didn't - I chose to follow the original design intent!
Any info on correct type and size of plugs? Link for online buy even better.I still plugged them just to further reduce noise/rattle and dirt accumulation. Might have cost me $1 for the material and 30 seconds of labor, so it was worth that to me to plug them!
jebinc
Well-Known Member
Any info on correct type and size of plugs? Link for online buy even better.
There are many cheap plug kits for $10 out on Amazon to chose from. You’ll get 250 plugs of various sizes, or something Like that.
Was looking at my Mid Range Model 3 with white seats. Looks like I am missing serval pins too, couldn't find a sticker near the MCU. When looking in the wheel well at the suspension, you can see serval pieces of silver tape, not very professional looking. My car was manufactured in December, any guesses if my vehicle was assembled on GA4? 
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jebinc
Well-Known Member
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