Leaked email - plans for 6000/wk by June

[cmaster]

Reading the comments section, many people thinks Musk requests to shift workers to a 24/7 production on Model 3 sounds desperate?

I don't think so. It's a new way of being flexible and adaptive to the environment fiscally. If a large organization cannot shift immediately ways of doing things, how can they remain competitive? That is the problem with companies that fails to move and adapt. Tesla is doing a great thing of exploring ways to not only accelerate production of a certain product, but, making sure to cut out any inefficiencies as well.

Working in a software company practicing Agile and Scrum, we learn to cut wastes and remain objective to the short term goal while trusting the vision of the value and business to the PO. This way, we the workers and team members, will be focused on completing user stories as quickly with high quality as much as possible. I see Musk is operating in that similar framework. Short term is to fullfill those Tesla Model 3 orders (centralizing more personal to only a specific task in production - which will reduce context switching and improve quality).

I mean if you have more people in production focused on a certain task without context switching, you will keep the same quality, and speed of that task increases.

Elon Musk says Tesla will build Model 3s 24/7 until the end of June

 

[SageBrush]

Yeah, except it's not just acronyms. It was everything from acronyms to meetings to communication to....well, you get the idea.

And if you knew that Tesla had descended to same level as moribund companies, you would have a point.
But in fact, all you know is that there more of it than Elon wants or accepts. Perhaps that is 1% of the Tesla competitors.

 

[SageBrush]

many people thinks Musk requests to shift workers to a 24/7 production on Model 3 sounds desperate?

And if he didn't, they would conclude the Tesla world is crashing because they cannot add a 3rd shift.

Whatever

 

[mos6507]

Reading the comments section, many people thinks Musk requests to shift workers to a 24/7 production on Model 3 sounds desperate?

If he were a new CEO trying to clean up the mess of his predecessor, the email would sound brave.

It sounds desperate because he's trying to clean up problems that grew and festered under his own watch.

Even if I were to give him a pass, to set fantasy boastful targets like that thing about tolerances makes him seem like King Canute ordering back the tide. This is a person who prides himself on first-order principles, but I get the sense that he's not as much of a jack of all trades as people think he is and he has some serious voids in his knowledge and won't concede to them or listen to outside experts.

Michael Dell: Never Be The Smartest Person In The Room - pg.4

 

[cmaster]

Musk had never said he is smart. Every engineering project I had worked in, the naysayers are usually us, the engineers. This is because we work quite pessimistically thinking “Why are we designing this? There are solutions to the problem already. It’s a waste of my time and effort. People don’t know how to read?”

Musk kept on pushing the engineers to just listen and make it possible. Turn out iterations of failure quickly to get the fastest feedback possible so we can improve quickly. Well, I think that is the best revolution ever to push for innovation.

 

[gregd]

It sounds desperate because he's trying to clean up problems that grew and festered under his own watch.

I think that's a bit unfair. The company is in transition, and his email is a reflection of that. The things you focus on in one phase of of a company's growth are different than those in the next. This is normal and expected. The things he is "cleaning up" shouldn't necessarily be condemned as things they shouldn't have been doing, but rather things that weren't important or weren't inappropriate at the time, but now are. Priorities change, teams develop, and businesses processes evolve over time as needed for the task and scale at hand. That Elon is addressing these changes is quite encouraging, not the opposite. He's actively taking the company to the next level. Yea!

 

[AmpedRealtor]

I've never read so much horse sh*t in my life, let's get that straight.

Most of the design tolerances of the Model 3 are already better than any other car in the world.

Owners as well as the media beg to differ. In fact, if the reports are to be believed, Model 3's design tolerances are an embarrassment.

We will keep going until the Model 3 build precision is a factor of ten better than any other car in the world. I am not kidding.

This is completely delusional and shows how out of touch Musk is with reality. A factor of 10 better precision than any other car in the world? What is this guy smoking? And he expects his vendors to hop on board with that or not work with Tesla... that's great, Elon, you'll soon find yourself without any vendors.

... If an owner measures dimensions, panel gaps and flushness, and their measurements don’t match the Model 3 specs, it just means that their measuring tape is wrong.

Such a monumentally stupid thing to say. Yet another example of how disconnected this guy is from reality. I can't believe he is still CEO after spouting this kind of nonsense. I hope everyone on Tesla's Board of Directors is wearing diapers. They are going to need them.

 

[bambam4171]

Well, the question for me is: Why would you want to have an absolute precise car. What is the benefit? Because you can count on it that it will cost a ton. Yes you can get better here and there and you should. But absolute precision? That would mean that stamping dies would have to be changed every few hundred stamps, that robot arms would have to be adjusted every few 1000 moves. Basically that one ins constantly readjusting to get the best possible precision. Why would someone try this? Is a panel gap of 0.5 cm so much better than 0.55cm?

 

[voip-ninja]

Well, the question for me is: Why would you want to have an absolute precise car. What is the benefit? Because you can count on it that it will cost a ton. Yes you can get better here and there and you should. But absolute precision? That would mean that stamping dies would have to be changed every few hundred stamps, that robot arms would have to be adjusted every few 1000 moves. Basically that one ins constantly readjusting to get the best possible precision. Why would someone try this? Is a panel gap of 0.5 cm so much better than 0.55cm?

There is a point where panel gap and other aspects of fit and finish become not only visually noticeable but begin to affect things like wind noise and can lead to problems like squeaks or rattles that are infuriating for picky owners and non-picky owners alike.

Precision doesn’t have to cost a fortune either. The fit and finish of a BMW 1-Series or a Honda Fit are outstanding and those are inexpensive products compared to the model 3

 

[cwerdna]

Owners as well as the media beg to differ. In fact, if the reports are to be believed, Model 3's design tolerances are an embarrassment.


This is completely delusional and shows how out of touch Musk is with reality. A factor of 10 better precision than any other car in the world? What is this guy smoking? And he expects his vendors to hop on board with that or not work with Tesla... that's great, Elon, you'll soon find yourself without any vendors.

It's not that unlike Elon's 1 million mile drivetrain goal. We've so far seen no evidence to suggest any Tesla DUs shipping on current Teslas or installed as replacements can last 1 million miles.

And from 2015 http://files.shareholder.com/downlo...3C-4892824F058D/Q4_15_Tesla_Update_Letter.pdf "Reflecting our philosophy of continuous improvement, we have not relaxed our pursuit of making the world’s most reliable cars" yet Model X was middle of the bottom 10 at 10 Least Reliable Cars published in Oct 2016 and dead last at 10 Least Reliable Cars, published Oct 2017.

Model 3 problem reports so far don't look very promising either.

 

[bambam4171]

There is a point where panel gap and other aspects of fit and finish become not only visually noticeable but begin to affect things like wind noise and can lead to problems like squeaks or rattles that are infuriating for picky owners and non-picky owners alike.

Precision doesn’t have to cost a fortune either. The fit and finish of a BMW 1-Series or a Honda Fit are outstanding and those are inexpensive products compared to the model 3

Of course, but for that level of precision you definitively don't need what Elon is trying to achieve. Within 1-2mm (depending on location) is easily sufficiently good. 0mm is probably 100 times harder to achieve and I just ask myself why would someone want to do that?

 

[robertvg]

This is completely delusional and shows how out of touch Musk is with reality.

TBH I think that email was addressed to the media, not to the Tesla employees.
And we know media swallows anything. Elon knows that as well.

 

[voip-ninja]

Of course, but for that level of precision you definitively don't need what Elon is trying to achieve. Within 1-2mm (depending on location) is easily sufficiently good. 0mm is probably 100 times harder to achieve and I just ask myself why would someone want to do that?

I don’t understand it either.

Here’s an idea, instead of boasting about spacecraft tolerances how about better training for the people working on the factory floor putting the cars together?

 

[mos6507]

Of course, but for that level of precision you definitively don't need what Elon is trying to achieve. Within 1-2mm (depending on location) is easily sufficiently good. 0mm is probably 100 times harder to achieve and I just ask myself why would someone want to do that?

No, you don't. (IMHO) He's overcompensating because his ego and Tesla's reputation are joined at the hip. It goes hand-in hand with the "bankwupt" and "place your bets" tweets (and his reaction to the Model X accident and workplace injuries investigations for that matter, or go back further to his feud with Jeremy Clarkson). In general it's better to aim high because even if you only reach half-way, you're ahead of the game. But the targets in this email are soooo over the top that it makes me feel sad he has nobody looking over his shoulder to reign him in. When you get too emotionally invested in a project it's easy to go down this sort of "I'll show em" rabbit-hole when things don't go right.

 

[bambam4171]

Agree, for an extremely smart guy he gets way too easily carried away and distracted from the overall goal. Unless of course this perfection is needed so robots can do the work. Humans can easily adapt but I guess robots need tight tolerances.

 

[cmaster]

When he sets the bar high, the engineers said they can't do it.

When he sets the bar low, the engineers becomes too lazy.

ROFL.

 

[nvx1977]

something tells me Musk is not going to give up on automating final production. Yes, the first attempt was a disaster and they scrapped that whole conveyor belt. But judging from failed first stage landings, and the traditional space industry saying 'it can't be done / told you so', I feel like Musk is going to give it another go once finances stabilize. Maybe Model Y.

 

[tpatana]

Someone able to drive past the employee parking lot to confirm if the factory really did re-start today?

 

[Garlan Garner]

I hope they reach 5k soon. Then Performance and Dual motor with be born.

Price for both? 10K?

 

[Xenoilphobe]

The "email to employees", was targeted at the market. He is setting BHAG goals and taking measure to increase production with limited capital expenditures (using what he has 24 x 7 is an example) and if they get close to production it is good enough for the Wall Street and main street.

Comparing Tesla to a car company continues to be the complete idiocracy of the whole market, the great dumbing down of America continues.