The Bloomberg article is written in a very confusing manner (journalists these days) but I understood it means they are asking people to volunteer to switch from the S and X production lines to the Model 3 production line. Not to volunteer to work without salary. Perhaps I understood the article wrong?
I wonder how motivating it would be if he said "Hit the target and I'll split $50B of the bonus equally among everybody who puts in extra time to make it happen."
According to Google Tesla has about 37,000 employees, so that would work out to a bonus of $1.35 million per assembly line employee, and he still gets to keep a staggering $5 billion of the bonus. It would make ordinary Christmas bonuses look like chopped liver.
Feels like these top-level guys think everyone else in the company is as passionate about the product as them, without thinking about the fact that other people in the company don't benefit from the product as much as them. A cash bonus would certainly help.
In a pair of internal memos last week, the heads of engineering and production spelled out measures to free up workers for the Model 3 line and challenged them to reach production goals.
My interpretation of that is that they've eased need for employees in some other departments, and are asking for volunteers to shift to the production line temporarily, not volunteering to work more hours for free or something (I'm sure employees on the line are probably allowed encouraged to work overtime as well at this stage).
The entire presentation of this is odd, and to me just points towards more people trying to manipulate the market. Having a CEO, or even just a manager, send out a memo that appears to me to be a combined pop-talk and solicitation for employees to shift to the line (instead of you know, just reassigning them, because you can as the employer) doesn't seem out of the ordinary to me at all.
All this positive/negative Tesla coverage the last few months is just annoying. Beyond the raw numbers of what they are delivering each week and how close they are to their goal, and how late they are in achieving it, the rest is just spin.
It’s a cult, inside and out. People believe because they want to believe, and because they have faith in Elon Musk. I don’t hate Tesla, and SpaceX is downright exciting, but I also have no particular faith in Elon Musk. Tesla in particular is in some pretty hot financial water with no obvious way out. The whole Hyperloop thing is disappointing to see taken seriously, and it’s hard to ignore just how rich Musk gets while he works peons to the bone.
Meanwhile according to the fanboys in /r/teslamotors it appears deliveries are still riddled with obvious defects. Look at the rims on this brand new vehicle!
That issue by the way with the wheels and even pieces of the vehicle is 100% the service center. Which is a new service center in... Miami! The shit holes of all shit holes when it comes to getting things done RIGHT. You have to pay the service techs under the table if you want anything I'm willing to bet... just like the rest of that bottom feeder of a city.
Vehicle defects are not uncommon, particularly for a new model, even for high end vehicles. A friend purchased a Porsche Panamera, which had a scratch on the rear passenger console.
This isn't really accurate, they shut the line down for a week or so a while back and from indications since then (VIN registrations and deliveries) it seems like they're probably producing around 2,000 a week now.
The trend line they added to the graphs on that page were put in recently to try and show this I think.
That is inaccurate. They did over 2,000 last week and are tracking for 2,500 by the end of this week. There are groups on the forums and such that keep track of the latest VINs people have. Also I believe the goal is 5,000/week, not 10,000.
An auto assembly line is a custom-built machine a thousand feet long. It runs as fast as the slowest station. Its reject rate is determined by the worst station.
Every station is custom designed for the product. This is not an easy thing to debug while also trying to use it for production.
On the other hand, Tesla has a relatively simple vehicle without much variation. It's a sled with a body on top. The power train is all in the sled. That simplifies assembly. There are US assembly lines which make a whole range of similar vehicles on the same line. Tesla doesn't do that. They don't have a foundry and IC engine plant at all. What they're doing is well within automotive assembly technology.
Everybody is guessing. Tesla is so secretive that nobody outside really knows what's wrong with their assembly line. Do they have a few troublesome stations, or many random failures? Custom tooling that's not quite right? A high alarm rate from sensors, causing line stops? No buffering into a station that has variable time, so the line upstream stalls?
One station that needs to be split into two, but there's no room? Supplier problems? Aluminum stamping problems? Not enough experienced manufacturing engineers?
Their secrecy isn't helping them. Analysts are assuming the worst. They'd probably look better if they had a reporter who really knows auto factories visit for a few days and write up an honest evaluation.
They do this every single quarter.
There's a reason they got up to 1000 a week right before the end of last quarter, and then dipped back down for months after that. The headline is either going to be that they're on track or that they're not, their stock price is going to be greatly affected one way or the other.
That actually makes sense. If during quarterly earnings they can claim X number of car the last week of the quarter, that will have a significant impact on the stock even if the week after it drops 50%.
Man.... if this doesn't trigger a NLRB vote to unionize then I've given up hope on there ever being a working middle class with 40 hr work week, decent pay, and benefits.
That went out in the 1980s. Suggesting a single income from 40 hours a week of work should be able to comfortably support an entire family is now akin to radical socialism. Not quite as extreme as it was originally (at the time it constituted demanding most employers raise their labor costs by 600% or more) but moving in that direction every single day.
One thing against Tesla, their valuation demands impeccable execution to the T. If Model 3 has some sort of massive recall, they will be hit very hard.
I wonder if Tesla will experience an assembly line version of the Mythical Man Month.
I assume the Model 3 line is a bit different from the others, because if it was the same, they wouldn't have so much trouble meeting targets. So the workers who switch to it from other assembly lines will presumably need some time to ramp up.
Elon Musk may be a good visionary but it's astounding how bad he is at operational elements.
Steve Jobs was just as awful at this, the Macintosh project was nearly killed by his ridiculous manufacturing efforts. The resurgence of Apple was only possible with someone like Tim Cook who knew how to build a reliable manufacturing supply chain.
I live in Florida but would come volunteer. Is there a way I can do that. I do have a vested interest since I am on the list for a 3.
but if you workers on MY X line and I needed you to work on MY 3 line I am not sure I would ASK. They work for Tesla motors not Tesla Motors X line. (employees these days ;) )
The article uses the word "volunteer", but then it does not provide any evidence that the workers are not being paid. So I would use the word "employee"...
Obviously they can offer to pay their workers more for longer hours what's wrong with that??
[+] [-] addicted|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sampo|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] neaden|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jandrese|8 years ago|reply
According to Google Tesla has about 37,000 employees, so that would work out to a bonus of $1.35 million per assembly line employee, and he still gets to keep a staggering $5 billion of the bonus. It would make ordinary Christmas bonuses look like chopped liver.
[+] [-] Nition|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kbenson|8 years ago|reply
My interpretation of that is that they've eased need for employees in some other departments, and are asking for volunteers to shift to the production line temporarily, not volunteering to work more hours for free or something (I'm sure employees on the line are probably allowed encouraged to work overtime as well at this stage).
The entire presentation of this is odd, and to me just points towards more people trying to manipulate the market. Having a CEO, or even just a manager, send out a memo that appears to me to be a combined pop-talk and solicitation for employees to shift to the line (instead of you know, just reassigning them, because you can as the employer) doesn't seem out of the ordinary to me at all.
All this positive/negative Tesla coverage the last few months is just annoying. Beyond the raw numbers of what they are delivering each week and how close they are to their goal, and how late they are in achieving it, the rest is just spin.
[+] [-] melling|8 years ago|reply
He’s simply trying to inspire the troops with a common enemy.
[+] [-] unknown|8 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] bitumen|8 years ago|reply
Now an “us vs them” spiel? Cult.
[+] [-] jonknee|8 years ago|reply
https://www.reddit.com/r/teslamotors/comments/87wbxv/model_3...
[+] [-] Cshelton|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] metabagel|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pooya13|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] melling|8 years ago|reply
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2018-tesla-tracker/
Their goal is 10,000 cars a week by the end of the year. Yesterday there was talk that Tesla used too much automation:
https://techcrunch.com/2018/03/28/tesla-is-overusing-automat...
[+] [-] legitster|8 years ago|reply
That remains to be seen. Selling something at a loss doesn't equate with making something affordable.
[+] [-] MLR|8 years ago|reply
The trend line they added to the graphs on that page were put in recently to try and show this I think.
[+] [-] Cshelton|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jandrese|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Animats|8 years ago|reply
An auto assembly line is a custom-built machine a thousand feet long. It runs as fast as the slowest station. Its reject rate is determined by the worst station. Every station is custom designed for the product. This is not an easy thing to debug while also trying to use it for production.
On the other hand, Tesla has a relatively simple vehicle without much variation. It's a sled with a body on top. The power train is all in the sled. That simplifies assembly. There are US assembly lines which make a whole range of similar vehicles on the same line. Tesla doesn't do that. They don't have a foundry and IC engine plant at all. What they're doing is well within automotive assembly technology.
Everybody is guessing. Tesla is so secretive that nobody outside really knows what's wrong with their assembly line. Do they have a few troublesome stations, or many random failures? Custom tooling that's not quite right? A high alarm rate from sensors, causing line stops? No buffering into a station that has variable time, so the line upstream stalls? One station that needs to be split into two, but there's no room? Supplier problems? Aluminum stamping problems? Not enough experienced manufacturing engineers?
Their secrecy isn't helping them. Analysts are assuming the worst. They'd probably look better if they had a reporter who really knows auto factories visit for a few days and write up an honest evaluation.
[+] [-] soperj|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] refurb|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] matchagaucho|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] otakucode|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] matte_black|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] toomuchtodo|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sremani|8 years ago|reply
One thing against Tesla, their valuation demands impeccable execution to the T. If Model 3 has some sort of massive recall, they will be hit very hard.
Would I short it? Not yet!
[+] [-] unknown|8 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] keketi|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] twblalock|8 years ago|reply
I assume the Model 3 line is a bit different from the others, because if it was the same, they wouldn't have so much trouble meeting targets. So the workers who switch to it from other assembly lines will presumably need some time to ramp up.
[+] [-] astrodust|8 years ago|reply
Steve Jobs was just as awful at this, the Macintosh project was nearly killed by his ridiculous manufacturing efforts. The resurgence of Apple was only possible with someone like Tim Cook who knew how to build a reliable manufacturing supply chain.
Elon should be focusing on finding his Tim.
[+] [-] IwantMyt3|8 years ago|reply
but if you workers on MY X line and I needed you to work on MY 3 line I am not sure I would ASK. They work for Tesla motors not Tesla Motors X line. (employees these days ;) )
[+] [-] jijojv|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] vkou|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pooya13|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] UncleEntity|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sambull|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tsdf34|8 years ago|reply
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