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IIRC the video where Musk was talking about how fast the assembly line moves, the "slower than a Grandma with a walker" on the speed of current auto line veloci

IIRC the video where Musk was talking about how fast the assembly line moves, the "slower than a Grandma with a walker" on the speed of current auto line velocities is literally correct. He was discussing manufacturing plant efficiencies and how he was hoping to get Tesla's lines up to at least a walking speed. With Tesla right now, I think he is focusing more on the efficiency of the manufacturing process than the output quality. Maybe that is a bad idea and it might fail. But if he ends up with a large reductions in manufacturing costs/per car and can get quality up to industry standards, he will once again revolutionize the auto industry and other manufactures follow have to follow his lead.

gamblor956 9y ago
I think he is focusing more on the efficiency of the manufacturing process than the output quality. Citation needed. Tesla's current process is known to be a magnitude (or more) less efficient than any other Western car maker. Just a few months ago, they were still building Model 3 cars by hand. Tesla's having difficulty scaling up to monthly quantities that other car manufacturers can reach in under a week, and Tesla's quality control has dropped through the floor while it struggles to achieve that paltry output. Tesla might be able to achieve "large reductions in costs" and get quality up to industry standards, but after 10 years and 4 models of cars, they have yet to prove that they can achieve either.
- wcunning 9y ago
  The F150 assembly line in Dearborn Assembly is ~650 trucks per 10 hour shift. They can't keep up with single shift numbers, much less weekly output.
- matwood 9y ago
  > Just a few months ago, they were still building Model 3 cars by hand. And this why quality is all over the map. Manufacturing cars at scale is hard. It's a similar problem that Apple has. There are designs and components, and then there are designs and components you can manufacture at scale. The two are often very different.
- njarboe 9y ago
  A summary of Musk's factory improvement ambitions can be read here[1]. But I really recommend spending some time viewing Musk in long video formats if you want to get a good idea of what he is thinking and his general philosophy. The video of the shareholders meeting that the article is discussing can be found on youtube (part I [2] and part II [3]) and has a good summary of Tesla from the people involved. [1] https://www.teslarati.com/musk-aims-tesla-factory-100-times-more-efficient/ https://www.teslarati.com/musk-aims-tesla-factory-100-times-... [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cZhsp_oRSg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cZhsp_oRSg [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WyaO29XDf8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WyaO29XDf8 Edit:Where Musk talks about the factory of the future. [4] https://youtu.be/6WyaO29XDf8?t=4928 https://youtu.be/6WyaO29XDf8?t=4928
  - gamblor956 9y ago
    Given the number of times that Tesla PR has been forced to walk back Musk's claims, I would take anything he says about Tesla's future with mountains of salt. And in [1], Musk has added yet another task to Tesla's growing todo list. Not content with building cars, he wants Tesla to make the machines that make the cars, despite not yet having achieved even the basic competence (on a company basis) with the machine they've purchased to do that. Before you can dream about revolutionizing manufacturing processes, you have to prove you understand the process enough to revolutionize it, and Tesla (and Musk) clearly doesn't.

gamblor956 9y ago

I think he is focusing more on the efficiency of the manufacturing process than the output quality. Citation needed. Tesla's current process is known to be a magnitude (or more) less efficient than any other Western car maker. Just a few months ago, they were still building Model 3 cars by hand. Tesla's having difficulty scaling up to monthly quantities that other car manufacturers can reach in under a week, and Tesla's quality control has dropped through the floor while it struggles to achieve that paltry output. Tesla might be able to achieve "large reductions in costs" and get quality up to industry standards, but after 10 years and 4 models of cars, they have yet to prove that they can achieve either.

wcunning 9y ago
The F150 assembly line in Dearborn Assembly is ~650 trucks per 10 hour shift. They can't keep up with single shift numbers, much less weekly output.
matwood 9y ago
> Just a few months ago, they were still building Model 3 cars by hand. And this why quality is all over the map. Manufacturing cars at scale is hard. It's a similar problem that Apple has. There are designs and components, and then there are designs and components you can manufacture at scale. The two are often very different.
njarboe 9y ago
A summary of Musk's factory improvement ambitions can be read here[1]. But I really recommend spending some time viewing Musk in long video formats if you want to get a good idea of what he is thinking and his general philosophy. The video of the shareholders meeting that the article is discussing can be found on youtube (part I [2] and part II [3]) and has a good summary of Tesla from the people involved. [1] https://www.teslarati.com/musk-aims-tesla-factory-100-times-more-efficient/ https://www.teslarati.com/musk-aims-tesla-factory-100-times-... [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cZhsp_oRSg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cZhsp_oRSg [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WyaO29XDf8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WyaO29XDf8 Edit:Where Musk talks about the factory of the future. [4] https://youtu.be/6WyaO29XDf8?t=4928 https://youtu.be/6WyaO29XDf8?t=4928
- gamblor956 9y ago
  Given the number of times that Tesla PR has been forced to walk back Musk's claims, I would take anything he says about Tesla's future with mountains of salt. And in [1], Musk has added yet another task to Tesla's growing todo list. Not content with building cars, he wants Tesla to make the machines that make the cars, despite not yet having achieved even the basic competence (on a company basis) with the machine they've purchased to do that. Before you can dream about revolutionizing manufacturing processes, you have to prove you understand the process enough to revolutionize it, and Tesla (and Musk) clearly doesn't.