The news does not bode well for resolving future issues....
Tesla is in search of a new senior manager who will focus on eliminating the need for the automaker’s service....
electrek.co
I must've read that differently than you.
It sounds to me like they're putting together a team that will be specifically tasked with taking data/feedback from other departments, like Quality, Engineering, and Manufacturing, with the purpose of a different form of continuous improvement.
They'll have the ability to go back and forth between departments and share info (which doesn't always happen very efficiently in large organizations) with the others. I've had a similar position in the past, was a cost savings project mgr. I went between Engrg, Mfg, QC, and Accounting. Ran meetings to keep everyone on the same page regarding projects to either improve products, cut costs, or both.
And I found often that without those meetings, the departments would not have been working together in the same direction on some projects.
So, I see this step as a positive for Tesla. And since this kind of position and team will be at the 100 ft level, it also probably shows a bit of a step back of Elon to allow this to be taken off his radar a little. Rather than getting reports from each department, he can just get a consolidated review from this new Sr Mgr.
I could be way off, I don't have any knowledge of their inner structure. But it would make sense to me, since as a company gets larger, positions like this are a good addition to allow focus of others sharing these duties on top of their daily ones.
Also keep in mind, they're only 2-3 yrs away from their plan for the Model 2 being the highest selling car in the world.
Infrastructure has to be in place for that kind of growth. This position shows they're starting to plan ahead for that growth by putting a team together to identify and remedy issues before they start manufacturing the new models. Always better to catch an issue at its source rather than try to band-aid the symptoms down the road.
That's the problem with the current ICE dealership service model. The manufacturers are actually not incentivized to make big improvements in quality, reliability, because their dealerships use maintenance/service centers as a source of profit. If they built a car that lasted 20 years with no service, they'd lose a lot their dealerships.
Tesla doesn't have that problem. So they can take the approach of minimizing the need for maintenance/service.