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SpaceX's assembly and testing cadence is quite amazing. They're already putting together pieces of SN17!

Cactus2018 6y ago
Serious cadence. Here is the popular graphic of the current (2020-12-27) production line by https://twitter.com/brendan2908 https://twitter.com/brendan2908 https://twitter.com/brendan2908/status/1342967357006729216/photo/1 https://twitter.com/brendan2908/status/1342967357006729216/p... Edit: and the 'decommissioned' product line: https://twitter.com/brendan2908/status/1338689061817487360/photo/1 https://twitter.com/brendan2908/status/1338689061817487360/p...
jonplackett 6y ago
In another article about Tesla VW CEO described them as having ‘essentially unlimited resources’. I guess spaceX probably falls under a similar category. Unlimited resources + not wasting ANYTHING is a killer combo.
- electriclove 6y ago
  I think many others also have 'essentially unlimited resources' but it is the execution and quick iteration that is unique to both Tesla and SpaceX.
  - jonplackett 6y ago
    Lots of places seem like they should have unlimited resources. I would have thought VW would be pretty high on that list - but they have their resources tied up. SpaceX / Tesla seem to be more free to use their resources in daring ways.
    - AYBABTME 6y ago
      Tesla can seemingly issue new shares and the public market just buy them all up at a huge valuation; I think that's what is meant by "unlimited resources".
      - ALittleLight 6y ago
        That may be mixing up causality. One reason people love to invest is because they see what amazing things are possible. I personally would love to invest with SpaceX.
    - zbrozek 6y ago
      There's tons of places with effectively unlimited money. But very few places that have nearly unlimited resources. Some key resources are usually inversely correlated with money: decision-making latency and throughput, clear focus, and iteration speed. That's because money buys headcount, not good leadership.
  - ashtonkem 6y ago
    Unlimited resources often slows things down, paradoxically.
  - sfblah 6y ago
    I don’t think you’re right about many others having unlimited resources. This situation is a novelty in the post-cold-war era. Admittedly in the Cold War military projects probably did have unlimited resources.
    - aaronblohowiak 6y ago
      Do you think sls development is less than what spacex is spending on starship?
      - reasonabl_human 6y ago
        This made me chuckle. SLS is a bloated joke, survives due to political favoritism for job generation. SpaceX does everything at a radical discount by comparison.
  - codeulike 6y ago
    Willingness to take ambitious business risks is what sets Tesla and SpaceX apart. Innovation is gambling, it is risky.
- jcheng 6y ago
  Are you sure he wasn’t talking about Apple?
  - jonplackett 6y ago
    He said ‘other competitors’ or something like that and I assumed he meant Tesla despite it being at the time of Apple launch - building gigafactories takes a lot more resources than anything Apple has done so far. Word is Apple won’t even manufacture the whole car anyway like Tesla does.
    - woah 6y ago
      I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple has produced many times more iPhones by weight than Tesla has produced cars
      - basementcat 6y ago
        You inspired me to do some Googling and arithmetic. From the Apple website, an iPhone is about 0.5 lbs. There have been approximately 1.3 billion iPhones sold. https://www.statista.com/statistics/276306/global-apple-iphone-sales-since-fiscal-year-2007/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/276306/global-apple-ipho... A Tesla Model 3 weighs about 4,000 lbs. In the last 6 quarters, about 600,000 vehicles were delivered. https://www.statista.com/statistics/502208/tesla-quarterly-vehicle-deliveries/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/502208/tesla-quarterly-v... 2.4e9 > 6.5e8 TL;DR: Cars are heavy. The total mass of the vehicles Tesla has delivered in the past six quarters exceeds the total mass of all the iPhones that Apple has ever sold.
        SECProto 6y ago
        I don't think you need 6 quarters. Using your numbers, 1.3 billion iPhones is 650 million pounds. At 4000lb each, it only takes 163000 model 3s to outweigh the iPhones - about 5 months of production, or two quarters.
      - jonplackett 6y ago
- redis_mlc 6y ago
  > essentially unlimited resources Both Tesla and SpaceX are welfare queens. So yes, they have infinite government resources to spend.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]

Cactus2018 6y ago

Serious cadence. Here is the popular graphic of the current (2020-12-27) production line by https://twitter.com/brendan2908 https://twitter.com/brendan2908 https://twitter.com/brendan2908/status/1342967357006729216/photo/1 https://twitter.com/brendan2908/status/1342967357006729216/p... Edit: and the 'decommissioned' product line: https://twitter.com/brendan2908/status/1338689061817487360/photo/1 https://twitter.com/brendan2908/status/1338689061817487360/p...

jonplackett 6y ago

In another article about Tesla VW CEO described them as having ‘essentially unlimited resources’. I guess spaceX probably falls under a similar category. Unlimited resources + not wasting ANYTHING is a killer combo.

electriclove 6y ago
I think many others also have 'essentially unlimited resources' but it is the execution and quick iteration that is unique to both Tesla and SpaceX.
- jonplackett 6y ago
  Lots of places seem like they should have unlimited resources. I would have thought VW would be pretty high on that list - but they have their resources tied up. SpaceX / Tesla seem to be more free to use their resources in daring ways.
  - AYBABTME 6y ago
    Tesla can seemingly issue new shares and the public market just buy them all up at a huge valuation; I think that's what is meant by "unlimited resources".
    - ALittleLight 6y ago
      That may be mixing up causality. One reason people love to invest is because they see what amazing things are possible. I personally would love to invest with SpaceX.
  - zbrozek 6y ago
    There's tons of places with effectively unlimited money. But very few places that have nearly unlimited resources. Some key resources are usually inversely correlated with money: decision-making latency and throughput, clear focus, and iteration speed. That's because money buys headcount, not good leadership.
- ashtonkem 6y ago
  Unlimited resources often slows things down, paradoxically.
- sfblah 6y ago
  I don’t think you’re right about many others having unlimited resources. This situation is a novelty in the post-cold-war era. Admittedly in the Cold War military projects probably did have unlimited resources.
  - aaronblohowiak 6y ago
    Do you think sls development is less than what spacex is spending on starship?
    - reasonabl_human 6y ago
      This made me chuckle. SLS is a bloated joke, survives due to political favoritism for job generation. SpaceX does everything at a radical discount by comparison.
- codeulike 6y ago
  Willingness to take ambitious business risks is what sets Tesla and SpaceX apart. Innovation is gambling, it is risky.
jcheng 6y ago
Are you sure he wasn’t talking about Apple?
- jonplackett 6y ago
  He said ‘other competitors’ or something like that and I assumed he meant Tesla despite it being at the time of Apple launch - building gigafactories takes a lot more resources than anything Apple has done so far. Word is Apple won’t even manufacture the whole car anyway like Tesla does.
  - woah 6y ago
    I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple has produced many times more iPhones by weight than Tesla has produced cars
    - basementcat 6y ago
      You inspired me to do some Googling and arithmetic. From the Apple website, an iPhone is about 0.5 lbs. There have been approximately 1.3 billion iPhones sold. https://www.statista.com/statistics/276306/global-apple-iphone-sales-since-fiscal-year-2007/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/276306/global-apple-ipho... A Tesla Model 3 weighs about 4,000 lbs. In the last 6 quarters, about 600,000 vehicles were delivered. https://www.statista.com/statistics/502208/tesla-quarterly-vehicle-deliveries/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/502208/tesla-quarterly-v... 2.4e9 > 6.5e8 TL;DR: Cars are heavy. The total mass of the vehicles Tesla has delivered in the past six quarters exceeds the total mass of all the iPhones that Apple has ever sold.
      - SECProto 6y ago
        I don't think you need 6 quarters. Using your numbers, 1.3 billion iPhones is 650 million pounds. At 4000lb each, it only takes 163000 model 3s to outweigh the iPhones - about 5 months of production, or two quarters.
    - jonplackett 6y ago
redis_mlc 6y ago
> essentially unlimited resources Both Tesla and SpaceX are welfare queens. So yes, they have infinite government resources to spend.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]