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Tesla Employees Say Automaker Is Churning Out a High Volume of Flawed Parts (cnbc.com)
Several current and former employees of Tesla said that the automaker is manufacturing a surprisingly high ratio of flawed parts and vehicles, leading to more rework and repairs than can be contained at its factory in Fremont, California. CNBC reports: One current Tesla engineer estimated that 40 percent of the parts made or received at its Fremont factory require rework. The need for reviews of parts coming off the line, and rework, has contributed to Model 3 delays, the engineer said. Another current employee from Tesla's Fremont factory said the company's defect rate is so high that it's hard to hit production targets. Inability to hit the numbers is in turn hurting employee morale. To deal with a backlog of flawed parts and vehicles, said these current and former employees, Tesla has brought in teams of technicians and engineers from its service centers and remanufacturing lines to help with rework and repairs on site in Fremont. They also said that sometimes the luxury EV maker has taken the unusual measure of sending flawed or damaged parts from Fremont to its remanufacturing facility in Lathrop, California, about 50 miles away, instead of fixing those parts "in-line." Tesla flatly denies that its remanufacturing teams engage in rework. "Our remanufacturing team does not 'rework' cars," a spokesperson said. The company said the employees might be conflating rework and remanufacturing. It also said every vehicle is subjected to rigorous quality control involving more than 500 inspections and tests. The report from CNBC has caused Tesla's stock to tumble today. You can read Tesla's full statement about the CNBC report here.
Something overlooked in the description, Tesla is making many if not most of the parts there in the factory right next to the assembly line. Having also been to Ford and GM assembly lines, and seen many others on TV (How it's Made!), Tesla's approach is radically different! If you have to stamp raw aluminum, put it through a bunch of processes, you're going to get a few that have blemish or minor rework issues, or are scrap. Every factory making parts from scratch has a yield. I remember when flat panels were first introduced they were super expensive because the yield was down around 30%. I would guess the current flat panel yield is up in the high 90s.
Ford and GM had parts fabricated away from the assembly line, so there was a lot less yield related issues by the time someone was bolting on a part, those were dealt with elsewhere.
As long as there's a process to catch problems before the become part of the car, who cares. I for one am extremely happy they are having production slowdowns rather than shipping flawed cars.
This is clearly yet another attempt by Tesla's "old-fashioned" competitors to tarnish Tesla's name. You know, the companies whose car parts are total crap and yet do pass their "rigorous testing". And news sites like this are happy to post this shit, without asking questions like "how come we suddenly see news about a car company's' manufacturing failure rates reaching mainstream news?"
Since when has stuff like this started reaching mainstream news? Oh, since Tesla, a company that makes very high quality electric cars with very low failure rates compared to their competitors, and with a VERY different business model (wanna buy directly, anyone?) started being a real threat.
What a bunch of FUD.
It's a poorly run company run by a narcissistic Silly Valley huckster who doesn't know what he's doing and needs regular cash infusions from delusional people who either don't want to or can't read financial statements.
You would be right if he wasn't making the best cars _in the world_ ;-) :-D
Trust me, I own both a Model X and a Model S. Once you drive electric there is no way back. Other brands are starting to enter the market but are still far behind. I'm going tomorrow to a VIP event for the launch of the Jag I-Pace and am on the list for the Mission E (will be summer next year when that launches). The Audi eTron might become delivered around the end of this year.
You would also be right if he would only TALK about rockets instead of revolutionising our access to space.
But as he is doing all that, and he is just missing his deadlines, but still going to double the amount of cars they build in total during 2018, it's not that bad at all.
Especially considering he's building the cars in the USA (of all places
The world is changing and making the transition to electric, and you too will be able to enjoy a better air quality as a direct result