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Tesla employees say they took shortcuts, worked through harsh conditions

cnbc.com

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Re: Tesla employees say they took shortcuts, worked through harsh conditions

#11

Post by ajross »

stefco_ wrote: post #9
mbrumlow wrote: post #5

> pressured to take shortcuts I work in software, and this happens all the time and it is not the end of the world. It normally means doing even more work later, or shipping without all the features. Its done by not coding in most cases. But this is a car. What sort of shortcut could you make when assembling parts to a car that has already had every part planed out? Edit: never-mind, I skipped a entire paragraph some…

What concerns me is that shortcuts in industrial manufacturing processes are often directly detrimental or even fatal to workers. Heavy industry uses toxic chemicals and large, powerful machinery; cutting corners around those things is actively dangerous. Using some electrical tape in places where you'd otherwise use shrink tubing is not a big deal. But like you said, trying to cut corners on a finished hardware desi…

There's absolutely no such contention in the linked article though. It's about tape.

I mean, yeah, they could be doing all kinds of crazy things. But so could anyone else who needs to ship products on tight schedules. Why single out Tesla here? I mean, would you react this way if it turned out Mazda or Audi was taping down some misassembled parts?

Re: Tesla employees say they took shortcuts, worked through harsh conditions

#13

Post by api »

wil421 wrote: post #7
mbrumlow wrote: post #5

> pressured to take shortcuts I work in software, and this happens all the time and it is not the end of the world. It normally means doing even more work later, or shipping without all the features. Its done by not coding in most cases. But this is a car. What sort of shortcut could you make when assembling parts to a car that has already had every part planed out? Edit: never-mind, I skipped a entire paragraph some…

It seems like another shortcut they took was over automation. Looks like some areas are better off with a human. Can robots apply tape?

The general contention among all the manufacturing people I've talked to or read is that Tesla went way too crazy with automation and wasted a lot of money. They vastly overestimated the capabilities of current manufacturing automation tech at scale.

Re: Tesla employees say they took shortcuts, worked through harsh conditions

#15

Post by cptskippy »

noonespecial wrote: post #10
stefco_ wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What concerns me is that shortcuts in industrial manufacturing processes are often directly detrimental or even fatal to workers. Heavy industry uses toxic chemicals and large, powerful machinery; cutting corners around those things is actively dangerous. Using some electrical tape in places where you'd otherwise use shrink tubing is not a big deal. But like you said, trying to cut corners on a finished hardware desi…

>Using some electrical tape in places where you'd otherwise use shrink tubing is not a big deal. The article says that they used electrical tape from Walmart on a bracket that holds the cameras for Autopilot . I've used some Walmart etape... that's a big deal.

No, the article says "this photo shows tape applied to a segment of a white plastic housing where it holds “triple cam” connections in place". It's a wiring harness, not a camera mount.

Re: Tesla employees say they took shortcuts, worked through harsh conditions

#17

Post by mdorazio »

willio58 wrote: post #16
DanCarvajal wrote: post #14

Real car companies don't make cars in tents.

Hmm. Didn’t some _real_ car companies need bail-outs from the US government?

That has nothing to do with the parent comment, which was about manufacturing processes and planning. The bailouts were the result of overproduction and high labor costs in an unexpectedly shrinking market.

Re: Tesla employees say they took shortcuts, worked through harsh conditions

#18

Post by tyingq »

stefco_ wrote: post #9
mbrumlow wrote: post #5

> pressured to take shortcuts I work in software, and this happens all the time and it is not the end of the world. It normally means doing even more work later, or shipping without all the features. Its done by not coding in most cases. But this is a car. What sort of shortcut could you make when assembling parts to a car that has already had every part planed out? Edit: never-mind, I skipped a entire paragraph some…

What concerns me is that shortcuts in industrial manufacturing processes are often directly detrimental or even fatal to workers. Heavy industry uses toxic chemicals and large, powerful machinery; cutting corners around those things is actively dangerous. Using some electrical tape in places where you'd otherwise use shrink tubing is not a big deal. But like you said, trying to cut corners on a finished hardware desi…

Can confirm. I was an electronic tech in US government work in the 1980's. We routinely used MEK (methyl ethyl keytones) to clean circuit boards, with zero protections. We got these weird requests to confirm we did this of our own free will in the late 80's. Then, in the 2000's, similarly weird requests to confirm we "knew the risks". If you complied, you were guaranteed VA coverage.

Anectodally, strange rates of lower gastric, bladder, and other carcinomas in in my peer group.

Re: Tesla employees say they took shortcuts, worked through harsh conditions

#19

Post by Datenstrom »

noonespecial wrote: post #10
stefco_ wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What concerns me is that shortcuts in industrial manufacturing processes are often directly detrimental or even fatal to workers. Heavy industry uses toxic chemicals and large, powerful machinery; cutting corners around those things is actively dangerous. Using some electrical tape in places where you'd otherwise use shrink tubing is not a big deal. But like you said, trying to cut corners on a finished hardware desi…

>Using some electrical tape in places where you'd otherwise use shrink tubing is not a big deal. The article says that they used electrical tape from Walmart on a bracket that holds the cameras for Autopilot . I've used some Walmart etape... that's a big deal.

I do not know about cars but using electrical tape on aircraft is absolutely not allowed. Unlike in most electronics vehicles deal with vibration, improper wire routing will cause chafing against any surface it touches over time causing exposed wires and shorts in the best case. Zip ties are obviously not allowed because they would cause chafing themselves, electrical tape will likely come come undone after some years. I have seen cheap electrical tape do so before with age. I can't imagine cars do not deal with a level of vibration that would cause this.

Re: Tesla employees say they took shortcuts, worked through harsh conditions

#20

Post by bagacrap »

taf2 wrote: post #6

Keep in mind this is from cnbc - they consistently push an anti-tesla position https://cleantechnica.com/2018/08/28/40-tesla-headlines-on-c... https://www.reddit.com/r/teslamotors/comments/9b71x0/40_tesl... And for more insight google “why does cnbc hate tesla”

It seems very Musk-y to paint Tesla as a victim like this. It's entirely possible that CNBC critiques all [tech] companies equally, or that Tesla actually deserves this scrutiny. Personally I feel like I see a lot more negative than positive mentions across all media. Given the way Musk handles bad press, deflects blame and plays fast and loose with safety, I tend to think it's deserved. Nice battery technology isn't enough to excuse their countless missteps.
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