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Tesla’s New Car Smell

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Re: Tesla’s New Car Smell

#11

Post by dilemma »

LAMike wrote: post #8

"If a part has a problem, only a small quantity needs to be shipped back to the supplier who can inspect, correct, and quickly adjust their own production process." Isn't one of the advantages of having a minimal, electric vehicle that there are fewer moving parts? Telsa is in a interesting position as a software/car maker. There production line is like an algorithm they are adjusting on the fly, and it's obviously g…

The world's leading assembler of cars, Toyota, doesn't use artificial intelligence but human intelligence to make its processes run smooth and continuously improve them. A large human component is necessary in production and this idea of using software and full automation to optimize it is a pipedream.

Re: Tesla’s New Car Smell

#12

Post by matt4077 »

xiphias wrote: post #5
cateye wrote: post #3

I really thought that the article was literally about the smell of the cars :)

I wasn't sure, but now that I checked, it's clickbait, and flagged it

It's not a very good article so I'm really not invested in this, but the title isn't "clickbait". It's a play on words, a rather creative use of the ambiguity of language.

Re: Tesla’s New Car Smell

#13

Post by Hypx »

> I couldn’t help check off the sins against the “Toyota Bible”, prescriptions for car manufacturers that are lucidly detailed in The Machine That Changed The World (a great and, in parts, sad read). In particular, one mustn’t stockpile parts on the floor, they must be fed in small quantities at small time intervals. If a part has a problem, only a small quantity needs to be shipped back to the supplier who can inspect, correct, and quickly adjust their own production process.

This isn't just a minor set of sins. Tesla apparently fundamentally does not grasp the concept of Lean Manufacturing+ as developed by Toyota, also known as the Toyota Production System++.

+https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lean_manufacturing

++https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Production_System

Re: Tesla’s New Car Smell

#14

Post by DavidAdams »

Tesla is trying to "lean startup" the Model 3. Not clear whether that was originally their intention, but the fact that they're building parts of the Model 3 by hand immediately brings to mind the kind of non-scaleable stuff that people in the software industry do at early phases of their evolution (things that are hailed as "the right thing to do). Maybe Tesla's undoing is that there's a little too much of the Silicon Valley ethos going on there.

Re: Tesla’s New Car Smell

#15

Post by dilemma »

rtpg wrote: post #2

I wonder if there are many side effects from this sort of schedule slippage apart from just needing more time. If the only result is the schedule slipping, then investors can continue giving to Tesla with the assurance that things happen "eventually". If this is actually indicative of greater disorganization, then perhaps we'll see more issues later on. But my impression is that this is _the_ major issue for Tesla...…

Production issues in car manufacturing can be solved by adding more resources just like adding more programmers to a software project can. Nope, not at all.

Re: Tesla’s New Car Smell

#16

Post by rtpg »

carlivar wrote: post #4

The author is only comparing production ability and basic mechanical stats with the Bolt and Leaf. I am on the Model 3 waiting list for the Autopilot. Heck, it could be gas powered and I'd be on the waiting list for the Autopilot. I don't need full autonomous. I just want the best system, and currently Tesla has it. So hopefully they figure out their production issues. I also just bought a 2018 Honda Odyssey as our m…

Don't the BMWs of the world have this tech integrated into their cars too?

I get Tesla's cars are really good, but my understanding was that it wasn't "miles ahead".

Re: Tesla’s New Car Smell

#17

Post by IcePenguino »

carlivar wrote: post #4

The author is only comparing production ability and basic mechanical stats with the Bolt and Leaf. I am on the Model 3 waiting list for the Autopilot. Heck, it could be gas powered and I'd be on the waiting list for the Autopilot. I don't need full autonomous. I just want the best system, and currently Tesla has it. So hopefully they figure out their production issues. I also just bought a 2018 Honda Odyssey as our m…

I have to agree completely. Autopilot is miles ahead. While I'm waiting for my 3 preorder, I took a test drive a Model S. I haven't felt as moved by a technology like Autopilot since I first swiped on the first iPhone.

Coincidentally, we're in the market for a 2018 Odyssey as our family car too.

Re: Tesla’s New Car Smell

#18

Post by carlivar »

Hypx wrote: post #13

> I couldn’t help check off the sins against the “Toyota Bible”, prescriptions for car manufacturers that are lucidly detailed in The Machine That Changed The World (a great and, in parts, sad read). In particular, one mustn’t stockpile parts on the floor, they must be fed in small quantities at small time intervals. If a part has a problem, only a small quantity needs to be shipped back to the supplier who can inspe…

What makes you think Tesla doesn't fundamentally grasp it? This anecdote? The plural of anecdote is not data.

Your wikipedia link on the Toyota Production System says it was developed between 1948 and 1975. So it look 27 years to develop. Working for a startup myself, I'm very aware of Kanban and other TPS-inspired work processes. Sometimes in startup-hair-on-fire-mode that all goes out the window and I think that's where Tesla is in company maturity right now.

Re: Tesla’s New Car Smell

#19

Post by FullMtlAlcoholc »

matt4077 wrote: post #9

In taking delivery of my wife’s Model S, we were treated to a group tour of the site. Everyone marveled at the robot porn,[...] Everyone but yours truly. I couldn’t help check off the sins against the “Toyota Bible” And I can't help but notice that his truly is still putting his wife's truly into a Tesla, not a Toyota. There seems to be a wave of stories critical of Musk currently, and most seem to be rooted in some…

There has definitely been a wave of backlash against him. The pro union crowd and those who hope his car company fails
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