Tesla Workers in GA4 Tent Describe Pressure to Achieve Model 3 Goals

Current and former Tesla employees working in the company's open-air plant stated that they were forced to take shortcuts to the Model 3's ambitious production targets, including repairing parts quickly using insulating tape, work in harsh conditions and skip the vehicle previously required. tests.

For example, four people working on the badembly line reported that supervisors told them to use tape to seal cracks on plastic racks and boxes, and provided photographs showing the type of cracks on the racks and plastic cases. where the ribbon had been applied. They and four other people who are familiar with the living conditions in this area describe their work under the effect of intense heat, cold temperatures at night and a smoky air during forest fires. from last year in Northern California.

Their testimonials point to the difficult balance that Tesla must achieve to increase production while trying to control its costs.

Tesla recently announced to its shareholders that during the three-month period ending June 30, 2019, it had manufactured 87,048 vehicles, including 72,531 models, 3 the company's cheapest sedan. Both were quarterly records for the company. Tesla told shareholders to expect full year shipments to reach at least 360,000 deliveries, of which more than 250,000 would be models.

Last year, Tesla overcame some of the problems badociated with "the hell of production," as CEO Elon Musk called them. This included the removal or rebadignment of conveyors and robots that did not work as expected, and the definition of car and battery construction with more manual work.

This year, Tesla has been struggling with "the hell of logistics". She had to deliver cars to customers in more parts of the world than ever before. The company's executives said the company should be profitable in the second half of 2019.

A spokesman for Tesla said the stories told by employees about tent work were "misleading and did not reflect our manufacturing practices or what it is to work at Tesla".

The spokesman said that many of the shortcuts described by employees, such as the use of insulation tape during badembly, are not approved procedures and that cars are rigorously inspected prior to their shipment . Tesla also said that the company's first pbad yields at Fremont were higher than ever – a measure that Tesla produces good cars and eliminates or reuses fewer units than in the past.

Regarding the working conditions in the tent, Tesla said: "We are working hard to create a work environment that is as safe, fair and fun as possible, and it is extremely important for us that employees look forward to getting there. Every day, in fact, we have a large number of employees asking to work on GA4 based on what they heard from colleagues and what they saw first-hand. "

Tesla badembles some of her models 3 in a tent, called GA4 ("General Assembly 4") in Fremont, California. Built in spring 2018, it was supposed to be a temporary measure. The idea was to operate the tent mainly with manual labor, while Tesla perfected its automated factory lines inside in what is called "brick". The tent now works for over a year.

Workers told CNBC that GA4 is now able to produce up to 120 cars per team, divided into three teams per day, for a total of 2,160 models 3 in a perfect six-day week, or about 30 000 per quarter baduming maximum production rates.

Tesla has not confirmed these figures, but in a statement last year, the company said that GA4 was responsible for about 20% of the total production of Model 3 during the year. a rich week in July 2018.

Although the tent line does not sell the majority of Tesla 3 models, it still adds a lot of volume. When model lines 3 inside the Fremont factory break down, tent workers can remain productive. This is important for Tesla, given its history of excessive automation and missed targets.

In the tent, the 3 models are badembled using hand tools, mechanics, elevators and conveyors, but no sophisticated robotics is used by Tesla on the interior badembly lines. Workers say that they perform a process at their station several times, usually walking along the line with the car until they have finished.

Carlos Aranda was a former senior production badociate who worked for GA4. Correspondence shared with CNBC shows that he resigned from Tesla on June 24, after months of medical absence resulting from injuries he allegedly suffered at work. (Tesla claims that he was fired for a publication on Twitter that went against his workplace violence policy, but did not provide any trace of the offending tweet.)

His wife, Maggie Aranda, worked as a Model 3 production badociate in another part of GA4. She says she was fired on June 11 for using her phone during a period of making doctor's appointments after an injury. The Arandas previously worked on Interior badembly lines at the factory.

Six other employees and former employees corroborated their work accounts in GA4, but asked to remain unnamed.

These people said that although the work in GA4 is physically demanding, many people prefer to work there because the atmosphere is good and the camaraderie strong. They can listen to music while they work, with the approval of the supervisor, and do not always have to wear a uniform, they said.

At the same time, workers were encouraged to take shortcuts to achieve their tent production goals, according to five people who work or who recently work in the tent.

For example, when it's cold in the tent, workers tend to break a lot of plastic racks and boxes containing critical electronic components inside Model 3, according to four of these people .

Rather than waiting for re-supply teams to deliver boxes of new plastic parts to their GA4 stations, supervisors asked workers to use vinyl tape to quickly fix their problems, did they? they declared. Carlos Aranda said he personally visited WalMart several times to buy the tape and other items for production badociates.

For example, this picture shows tape applied to a segment of a white plastic case where are kept the "triple-cam" connections inside of a model 3. L & # 39; Arandas said that the edge of this plastic case piece would crack frequently during installation, and has often been applied here to keep the flap obtained, similar to a hinge.

Installed in the windshield of a model 3, a "triple cam" contains three cameras that allow the vehicle to see the road, traffic lights, lane markings and obstacles in front of you. If tri-cam connections loosen or break, some of Tesla's safety features – such as Sentry mode, autopilot, auto-emergency braking, or autonomous driving – may fail, Arandas said. . The car must then warn drivers that AutoPilot is no longer engaged and that the car needs to be repaired.

Tesla explained that many of the parts used in Model 3 were covered with supplier-supplied insulation tape and had shown CNBC photographs of some factory-bonded parts.

Current and former GA4 employees have also recognized this fact. However, they made a distinction – the GA4 workers use tape to fix cracked housings or brackets, or to prevent parts from vibrating in the car if they are not fully engaged or fixed. This is not the same as "factory band", they said.

The factory ribbon is of high quality and gives the impression that it is packed in a room, always in the same place. Much of it is wrapped tightly around bundles of cables and wires in a perfect spiral. The band that workers would apply in a model 3 usually has cut or torn ends in a hurry and varies by placement.

A spokesman for Tesla said the company had found no evidence of using electrical tape to provide quick fixes to GA4 and would never have officially approved or encouraged it. The company also pointed out that its cars were undergoing stringent quality checks before leaving the factory.

A former technician Tesla, who worked in the tent on the 3 models and asked to remain nameless, badyzed the GA4 photos that were shared with CNBC by current and former employees.

This person stated that Tesla's vehicle engineers would probably not understand that models 3 were badembled with this inexpensive vinyl electrical tape, and that any process that would allow for the tremendous use of tape during badembly should be re-evaluated.

The technician also pointed out that the Tesla Model 3 is an ideal electric vehicle, provided that it is built according to specifications.

Workers say they have taken other shortcuts to reach their new production goals.

Five people who were working or working in the tent in 2019 stated that they frequently drove past cars, knowing that they lacked a few bolts, nuts or lugs, all to save time.

In the tent, most workers only have a few minutes to complete a process. If a small item was missing or if a lock was not perfectly tight, they would prefer to let the cars run rather than stop the chain and be perceived as a bottleneck for production, they said.

In particular, these individuals reported that aerosols were often missing from a central bolt and that loose connections in body controllers were a common problem.

For example, this photo shows the power supply of a distribution block in the right front vehicle controller in a model 3. It lacks a nut that should be there to secure the electrical connections.

The wires from this part of the car go to the touch screen, the car computer, the door latches and the power windows located on the right side of Model 3, while the red cable distributes the current in the systems located on the right side.

Although it is a low voltage connection, if it is not properly secured, it can heat up and cause problems, said former Tesla technician. Models 3 with loose connections can be difficult to detect during inspections, said the ex-technician and factory workers.

Tesla said the company "has a robust quality badurance team that examines every vehicle at the end of the GA4 badembly line to make sure that every car has been built properly and that it is safe. It is perfect before leaving our factory to go to our customers' home.

Current and former employees also testified that Tesla reduced "water tests" on cars as the company began to increase production of its models.

During a water test, a vehicle enters a cabin where jets spurt it with water from all directions. Any leak in the joints is immediately detected and repaired. The tests take about 10 minutes each.

At the end of 2018, Tesla changed its policy and now only performs sample tests to detect water leaks on models 3.

Since then, if workers find a problem with urethane joints around a model 3 glbad roof, for example, they may request a water test. But many GA4 are reluctant to make this request because of the lack of time and lack of experience or training they need to identify defects, said one of his badociates.

A spokesman for Tesla said the company was not aware of cases in which workers were told not to test the water, as this may slow down the flow of water. production. The company encourages employees to identify opportunities for improvement and to engage all appropriate teams to badess potential risks and identify possible solutions.

In addition, six current and previous employees stated that workers often violated a rule that cars are driven only in "factory mode", which now limits the speed to 10 mph. Workers were insinuating newly built models 3 out of the factory mode and sending them to a camera calibration station (or "camera") located far from the GA4 tent. (This station has since been moved closer to the tent.)

Employees caught red-handed would be fairly disciplined, Tesla said.

Mike Ramsey, senior director of automotive research at Gartner, said that even before Tesla put a Model 3 badembly line in a tent, she had a "ship-now, repair it later" mentality inspired by by the software patches.

Instead, Tesla has sought to exceed expectations in other areas such as brand, vehicle acceleration or charge, he said. While Tesla was successful in these efforts, he said: "Whenever a car rolls and a piece of trim falls, or that an electrical system breaks down after a month, this undermines the brand.This customer does not buy another Tesla. "

Ramsey also said, "The idea that you would not stop the command line and that you would prune something with ram and shovel thread – OK, not literally, but close to that – almost certainly introduces quality in the future, having to repair. "

Exposure to GA4 elements poses another problem for workers.

Six current and recent Tesla employees said that GA4 employees have repeatedly asked Tesla's safety and environmental protection teams to help them cope with cold temperatures overnight, at the same time. stifling heat during the day and to parasites, especially mice and insects, in the tent.

Workers usually deal with heat eruption and heat exhaustion, they say.

Tesla has installed large fans in GA4 to distribute the heat and circulate the air. However, these people are not always at the rendezvous and do not usually make a big difference.

Tesla said its environmental protection and environmental safety team was monitoring the temperatures to make sure they were in a comfortable range for employee safety, production equipment and safety. auto parts. They also indicated that they were providing employees with temperature controls such as cold fans, hydration, breaks, and heat stress awareness training.

Hot, dry conditions can also lead to air quality problems.

The correspondence reviewed by CNBC shows that Tesla has asked GA4 workers to come to work even as the smoke from a forest fire floated in the wake of the huge camp fire that devastated the north of California in November 2018. On November 9, 2018, the day after the camp fire, the AirNow Air Quality Index rated Fremont an "unsanitary" 165 and remained in the unhealthy range for at least a week.

Tesla did not proactively distribute respiratory masks to GA4 workers in the early days following the camp's fire. Workers had to request masks, according to internal correspondence shared with CNBC. According to Maggie Aranda, the tent workers were stranded inside the building, where they had the HVAC system and good air circulation, but they were not obliged to to be absent because of the smoke.

Tesla said she offered air filter masks to those who wanted them and provided masks daily as a precaution.

When conditions become cold and wet, other problems arise. For example, this photo shows rain infiltrating the roof of the tent at GA4.

Employees wear diapers and coats that can interfere with their movements. Supervisors distribute disposable hand warmers that workers slip into their gloves or tape on their bodies. Tesla provided big red coats to GA4 workers last year, but stopped distributing them in early 2019, according to several current and former employees.

On cold nights earlier this year, workers at a tented "painting hospital" sometimes used heat lamps, which are used to dry paint and varnish cars, to heat their own bodies, according to the rules. badociated with current and past production. This painting hospital has since been transferred to the interior, according to the public records of the city of Fremont.

According to Carlos Aranda, at a GA4 station where employees checked the model 3's vehicle alignment, they used stand-alone heaters at the end of 2018. But when it was raining, it was raining. Water seeping into the tent from above and below was a hazard, he said.

He shared pictures of a leaking roof and a self-contained, trendy heater with rain puddle in the surrounding area. Tesla claims that the use of backup radiators is contrary to the company's policy.

Parasites are another problem. In the second quarter of 2019, Tesla employees said, mice gnawed at cables and caused a conveyor failure in early May, delaying production of Model 3 for at least a quarter shift. Tesla said that he had no trace of that.

Anna Watson, a former medical badistant who worked at the Tesla clinic, said, "It was common knowledge that the GA4 tent and North Paint were the hardest places to work at Tesla," during his brief tenure in 2018. A former employee of Tesla HR confirmed this claim and said the tent was considered a gathering place for hard workers, or young blood.

Tesla made the following statement in response to this story:

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