Tesla issued a response to CNBC’s latest report on Tesla’s alleged shoddy quality control that saw up to 40 percent of parts sent back for rework.
Building a car is hard. And after missing production goal deadlines, the Tesla Model 3 and its final production flow out to consumers has put the Fremont based electric car company under a microscope. According to CNBC in a report they put out only hours ago earlier today (Mar. 14, 2018) they claim that according to insider information, Tesla is, “churning out a high volume of flawed parts requiring costly rework.”
This all comes after CNBC posted up a story from last year that basically said that their quality control employees were inexperienced and prone to mistakes. This story pretty much put CNBC on Tesla’s s— list of outlets (among others) to put a Google Alert up anytime they posted up a story.
Now, according to some insider information,
One current Tesla engineer estimated that 40 percent of the parts made or received at its Fremont factory require rework. The need for reviews of parts coming off the line, and rework, has contributed to Model 3 delays, the engineer said.
Another current employee from Tesla’s Fremont factory said the company’s defect rate is so high that it’s hard to hit production targets. Inability to hit the numbers is in turn hurting employee morale.
Within three hours of those above claims being posted, Tesla then responded with six paragraphs of their own, with some commenters on Reddit guessing that Elon Musk himself had a hand in its wording. You can read the entire response to CNBC’s article below.
“Our goal is to produce perfect cars for every customer. That is why we review every vehicle for even the smallest refinement and conduct extensive end of line quality checks before a customer takes delivery of their car. Nothing speaks to this more than the fact that Tesla has the highest customer satisfaction levels and the highest percentage of customers who say that their next car will be a Tesla in the entire global auto industry. We care about even the smallest imperfections like a slight paint gloss texture or a wheel alignment check.
CNBC’s recent story on quality at Tesla completely misses this critical point. In what world is the pursuit of perfection looked down on? Not one we want to live in.
As an example, every Model S or Model X on the assembly line must pass through hundreds of inspection and test points. In order to ensure the highest quality, dedicated inspection teams track every car throughout every shop in the assembly line to document and address potential issues. Towards the end of the line, every vehicle is then subjected to an additional quality control process involving more than 500 other inspections and tests.
The majority of issues identified at the end of line inspection are extremely minor, and are resolved in a matter of minutes. That said, we’re working to reduce this work and make the process as efficient as possible. We then feed these improvements back to production in a pursuit of perfection.
This is reflected in the overall efficiency of the factory, which has improved dramatically. For example, the number of labor hours needed to complete a Model S or Model X vehicle has decreased. Whereas before, it took three shifts with considerable overtime to produce 100,000 Model S and X vehicles, now it can be done with only two shifts and minimal overtime.
Moreover, CNBC’s focus on remanufacturing has nothing to do with the quality of our cars. Remanufacturing is a process that literally every automaker on earth performs. CNBC is extracting a few lines from two job descriptions posted online and making gross assumptions about the roles that are inaccurate. Our remanufacturing team is very small, comprising only 0.1% (40 people) of our nearly 40,000 employees. Any “expert” claiming there is something unusual about our remanufacturing or that it has something to do with the quality of cars that come off a production line is either very confused or just completely wrong. In reality, like other automakers, Tesla remanufactures parts because doing so uses fewer materials and less energy than building a new part from scratch. It is undeniably a good thing that is ultimately better for the environment and if well done is equally good for the customer.”
To sum up, Tesla rebutted that remanufacturing and rework is but a small part of a long line of tasks that lead up to a completed Tesla Model 3. Out of the 40,000 employees that work at Tesla, the Remanufacturing team is made up of just 40 people. Remanufacturing is done by every car manufacturer and is not unique to Tesla. Although remanufacturing and rework IS done, it’s a part of, “more than 500 other inspections and tests” by Tesla during final inspection to make sure every Tesla Model 3 is “perfect” for the customer.
The best line from Tesla, and the one that people are guessing came from Elon himself is a brilliant piece of reframing.
CNBC’s recent story on quality at Tesla completely misses this critical point. In what world is the pursuit of perfection looked down on? Not one we want to live in.
The fact is that yes, there are a number of Tesla Model 3’s that are being made with some serious defects and quality control issues, presumably more than the average automaker. This is obviously unacceptable from Tesla and they are getting that addressed.
Here’s the thing. You’re going to hear horror stories of poor quality from a handful of people but there is a large majority of Tesla Model 3s that come out with no issues. You won’t hear anything from those happy owners.
At least Tesla recognizes there is a problem and if you read through some of the comments from actual Tesla Model 3 owners in the thread I linked above, Tesla is doing their best to fix each and every issue as best they can at no cost to the owner.
