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"When a worker presented a solution to fix the issue, they were reprimanded that shutting it down would slow production output." There is an entire book about
by doubloon 3y ago
"When a worker presented a solution to fix the issue, they were reprimanded that shutting it down would slow production output."
There is an entire book about this called The Machine that Changed the World, written in 1990.
It is about how American car builders, like General Motors, had this philosophy all through the 70s and 80s, to never stop the line because it slowed production, and ignore people making suggestings, just fix everything in rework (after the car is finished).
At the same time, Japanese automakers were adopting the philosophy of stopping the line when there are issues, in fact you are trained to do this, then root-causing the problem, fixing it, and listening to workers (and in fact, many engineers have to start out working on the line). Japanese makers improved quality and production efficiency at the same time, something Americans thought was contradiction in terms, and this is why the Japanese won in the 80s and 90s. Since then basically every single automaker that is still in business has adopted pieces of that philosophy.
I dont understand why Tesla seems to be thinking they can ignore 100+ years of knowledge and experience in manufacturing wisdom. I have seen ex-Tesla people on the internet even call factory workers "button pushers". This is not what factory workers are in a modern manufacturing system, everyone is part of a team whose goal is to eliminate waste and improve production process efficiency, the idea you can just let things spray metal everywhere and ignore people with solutions is mind boggling in 2023.
- KRAKRISMOTT 3y ago> I dont understand why Tesla seems to be thinking they can ignore 100+ years of knowledge and experience in manufacturing wisdom. I have seen ex-Tesla people on the internet even call factory workers "button pushers". This is not what factory workers are in a modern manufacturing system, everyone is part of a team whose goal is to eliminate waste and improve production process efficiency, the idea you can just let things spray metal everywhere and ignore people with solutions is mind boggling in 2023. Because EVs are much simpler, and more specifically, Tesla's engineering philosophy is to simplify (and save money) where possible. They shave away features and use software to supplement where possible such that the final product can be easily and cheaply manufacturered. Of course the lack of emphasis on GD&T and traditional craftsmanship is exactly why their build quality is so shoddy. Functional yes, but shoddy.
- doubloon 3y agoEVs would not exist unless Toyota had partnered with Matsushita to bring the Toyota Production System philosophy into the production of vehicle size batteries in the 1990s as part of the G21 project to build a car for the future. Getting the high quality along with production efficiency to manufacture a vehicle sized battery had never been done before this at a scale that could be moved to a production line for a consumer product. This is what enabled the Prius to exist, in a quality and price where it could compete in the market, as described in the book "The Prius That Shook The World" ( https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37758630-the-prius-that-shook-the-world https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37758630-the-prius-that-... ) Matsushita then became Panasonic which of course is still a major partner for Tesla.