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Tesla's recent announcement that he had achieved his long-awaited goal of making 5,000 Model 3 electric sedans in a week seemed to be a triumph for the intense management style of Elon Musk.
The director had created a makeshift factory in the parking lot of the car manufacturing plant. He tightened bolts on the assembly line and emailed employees about dark forces.
But now the question for investors is whether Musk's nano-manager's self-proclaimed approach to overseeing Tesla – America's largest automaker, and is worth as much as General Motors – Will Be Sustainable
Musk's energy explosions have helped make Tesla one of the country's largest and most important automakers, a competitor of Silicon Valley to Detroit that even its rivals claim to have pushed American cars into the 21st century. According to Mr Musk, the company 's goal was to send Tesla closer to its mission to accelerate clean energy and change the world, even if it' s they had taken unconventional measures to achieve this. "Whatever he said." It worked. "
[Saboteur or whistleblower? Battle between Elon Musk and former Tesla employee turns ugly, exposing internal rancor]
But this same energy has also made Musk one of the most polarizing business leaders in America, a captain of the United States. Cheeky and demanding industry that may overshadow its own creation.While Tesla was approaching its production target, Musk posted on Instagram what he called a "selfie": an image of superhero Doctor Strange, who possesses mystical powers to change time and reality. "Engineering is magic," he tweeted to his 22 million followers. [19659006"HehasaccomplishedagreatdealbyhisownwillandisoneofthemosttalentedpeopleI'veevermet"saidBobLutzexecutiveateachofthethreemajorUSautomakersincludingVicePresidentofGeneralMotors"LutzdescribedMuskas"amasterseller"andtheownershipofTeslavehiclesorsharesas"almostareligiouscult""Buthebecomesdesperate"saidLutz"LikemanyoftheseprojectsIthinkhe'squicklyrunningoutofotherpeople'smoney"
Musk introduced Model 3 as a mass-powered, battery-powered vehicle that will guide the company toward mass production and profitability. But manufacturing delays have turned in recent months at the Fremont, California plant, in a hands-on workforce, which Musk has called "the hell of production" – a time from factory fires, abrupt closures and internal paranoia that the automaker This week said that one of the "most difficult in the history of Tesla."
[As Elon Musk promises ‘full self-driving,’ experts worry Tesla is ‘using consumers as guinea pigs’]
Critics of the company and investment analysts have asked how long Tesla's winning round could last. The company said it delivered about 18,000 model 3 sedans to its customers in the second quarter – 10,000 less than Wall Street had anticipated – and completed less than 7% of its more than 400,000 orders. reservation list several years old. By passing the Model 3 benchmark, Musk again increased the goal, stating that the company would reach 6,000 per week by the end of next month. Investors tired this week have nevertheless sent the company's headline plunge of nearly 14%. In 15 years, the company has never made annual profits.
Traditional builders are highly structured hierarchical organizations, reinforced by high-cost, low-profit business where buyers are inconsistent and competition is strong. Their plants tend to be rigorously efficient, clean and optimized for mass production : The "Toyota Way", a dogma of lean manufacturing principles such as respectful management and waste reduction, is often credited In Tesla, there is only what the workers call the "Elon way". Musk is chief engineer, designer, salesman, financier and marketer, with full power over others. everything from the overall sales strategy to the appearance of retractable door handles. In an April email sent to the company-wide, Model 3 was to be released 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and Musk ordered to review "all expenses in the world, no matter size". as soon as it is obvious, you do not add value.
[As Tesla races to meet Model 3 deadline, factory pressures and suspicions grow]
Tesla's race to build Model 3 has made his Fremont factory, an old factory of Toyota and GM, one of the most watched production plants in the world. observers flying drones along the fence and analyzing photos to build theories of daily production . In stark contrast to the more clinically-organized assembly lines of other companies, Tesla also transferred much of its production to what Musk called an "adorable" tent.
Branton Phillips, a four-year-old Tesla worker pushing to unionize the plant, said the outdoor tent has fans, but is "hotter than hell," and he's sure 39, worried about the human cost of requiring more employees of the chain already working 12 hours and some mandatory weekends.
a feeling of desperation "among the workers here," Phillips said, and "when you push them harder, you make dangerous mistakes."
The Occupational Safety Oversight Committee announced Thursday it had opened a third investigation into the factory conditions following complaints from employees, an inpatient worker with a broken jaw
Tesla said in a statement that "nothing is more important to us than the safety of our employees. Our employees work very hard to help us fulfill a mission that is important to us, and they must be protected. Tesla did not make Musk available for an interview.
The company does not have a formal organizational chart beyond a list of top leaders that only includes two names in addition to Musk. A third name, Senior Vice President of Engineering, Doug Field, was recently kidnapped after the company declared Monday that it was going to "move on" after a holiday of one year. week. Field did not respond to requests for comments. A successor has not been named.
More than 30 other senior executives have left the company over the past year, including sales, material and engineering leaders, according to a Washington Post estimate of high-level departures . Musk announced last month that the company would lay off 9 percent of its workforce – including some of the company's 10,000 employees – as part of a "difficult but necessary reorganization" Which, according to him, would "smooth" the direction of the company. "He is completely obsessed with every little detail and he never wants to stay out of the way and let his managers run ," said Mike Ramsey, director of automotive research for the firm Gartner. "You wonder: how is it possible to add so many things and keep everything together?"
[‘Please sell our stock’: Elon Musk clashes with Wall Street during epic earnings call]
Many boosters nonetheless saw a unique talent in Musk, whose noisy curiosity and charisma made him into a nerd hero and helped reunite the car company in the mold of a wonderland of science -fiction. Tesla cars do not refuel at gas stations but "Superchargers"; they are not built in a factory but in an "alien dreadnought" of another world; and they take to the road with driving modes such as "Insane" and "Ludicrous", named for the speed at which they accelerate.
Musk helped blow up the great sacraments, such as car dealerships, and reinvented cars with a dashboard. screens, self-updating software and long-range electric motors. In the era of the Toyota Prius, Tesla's rebellious electricity was driving, looking like and looking like sports cars, with instant speed, clean lines and a chic eco-friendly halo. As Alex Potter wrote Piper Jaffray 's analyst last year, "Tesla breeds optimism, freedom, challenge and a host of other emotions that other companies can not replicate "
Musk still seemed to promise a new stupefaction. from space travel (SpaceX) to artificial intelligence (OpenAI) to flamethrowers and underground supertrains (The Boring Co.). But Tesla remained small-lot, producing only two cars, the Model S and X, from a single factory at prices that only the rich could afford.
The Model 3, launched in 2014, promised to change that : Cheap and elegant, it would help expand Tesla's sales pitch beyond being a boutique creator for the company. automotive elite . The sedan would have been sold around the average selling price of a new car in the United States, about $ 35,000.
After years of delay and a series of preorders in 2016, the waiting list remains bleak. delivered approximately 28,000 model 3 sedans, and its backlog for customers who have already paid a $ 1,000 deposit could extend over 18 months. Tesla's emphasis on launching more expensive premium models has also rendered the Model 3 base model inaccessible;
[Former employee sued by Tesla says he was a whistleblower, alarmed by company practices and Elon Musk]
Musk's latest production milestone puts Tesla in line with some of the smallest US auto plants: Toyota's largest plant in Georgetown, Kentucky, has the capacity to manufacture more than 10,000 vehicles a week . When Musk tweeted "7000 cars, 7 days" alongside emoji for the Tesla team, Ford leader Steven Musk, whose company Musk had recently said "looks like a morgue," replied that his company made as many cars in four hours.
Even as bigger problems crop up, Musk turned his attention to the little things, using Twitter to taunt investors who bet against the company ("Burn of the Century Soon") and skeptical analysts (" for a brutal awakening 🙂 "). He also played with reporters, anonymous commentators and other critics, including a woman who said that he had misused the work of a unicorn who fooled .
In recent emails, Musk urged workers to remain extremely vigilant. He also engaged in a tense exchange with a former employee sued by Tesla and accused of stealing trade secrets, calling him a "horrible person". This former employee, Martin Tripp, says he is an alert launcher and Tesla's claims against him are "absurd".
Musk's obsession with individuals has made him a target among shareholders seeking to replace him with a more predictable corporate captain. The Tesla shareholder, CtW Investment Group, wrote in a letter sent in May to other investors that "Musk's Peripatetic interest" had been "exacerbated rather than contained" by a board of directors. Administration "unduly deferent"
[Elon Musk appears emotional as he overcomes vote to remove him as Tesla chairman]
. leadership and become more of a "spiritual guide", giving up daily operations to an automotive specialist responsible for maintaining production on time. While Tesla struggles with mass production, other automakers are catching up: half a dozen stylish, high-end, long-range electric vehicles are expected to hit the road in the next 18 months.
analyzes whether Tesla should be all about Elon, and Elon alone, "said Karl Brauer, the executive editor of the automotive research firm Kelley Blue Book. "The grandiose is great for titles and excellent for the technology industry to keep looking and being impressed.But after a decade and a half, we have not seen it pay the bills "
Yet, Musk continues to attract an ardent fan base – including among its own employees. In an email sent in May, a Tesla technician recounted how Musk had gone into the company's Nevada-made Gigafactory batteries and "eliminated 80% of the problems we had in about 20 minutes." The head of a multi-billion dollar company working with "worker bees" is something really extraordinary, "said the technician in an email, which he confirmed to The Post. " After that I have full confidence in this company, its leadership, and our workers … Everyone works (their) donkeys!"
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