
Two Tesla Production Chiefs to Leave Ahead of Model 3 Ramp-Up - mgevans
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-04/two-tesla-production-chiefs-to-leave-ahead-of-biggest-challenge-yet
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vessenes
Who knows the real story here, but I can imagine once your stock options vest,
financial prudence and personal sanity don't really point to doing the next
big ramp-up at Tesla.

You're heavily recruitable for large swaths of stock at any number of
startups, presumably with a status bump on top, or you could just take your
well earned millions and chill for a bit.

Whoever is running the Model 3 delivery program is going to be living at the
office for the next 36 months, by contrast.

~~~
TaylorGood
Will say this: I met a director from Tesla just after their unveiling of the
Model X. She said a small number of people were assigned to fully assemble /
prep each vehicle shown that night.. for roughly two weeks they worked 20 hour
shifts and slept 2 hours each night. Most teams were working on them right up
until the cars rolled on stage; there was still wet paint on one. Also, it was
said a "normal" workweek of 16 hours days isn't uncommon..

So, your theory is the story.. she can't wait for options to fully vest and
gracefully exit. It's not for lack of thrill, growth, etc. – just that after
3-4 years it is heavily taxing and a pace of sanity is much desired.

~~~
jernfrost
I just don't get how you can be successful doing stuff that way. People with
that little sleep are not going to function optimal. They are going to make
mistakes.

But both Tesla and SpaceX seems very successful so I wonder if they are
successful despite of this or because of this.

~~~
runamok
Both. They are doing amazing things so they attract awesome people that are
dedicated heart and soul. I have a friend who was telling me first hand of
their experiences at spaceX and imo it's just a matter of time before some
exhausted person makes a mistake and there are huge losses of money and/or
life.

~~~
maxander
Both Tesla and SpaceX have reasonably limited, though dramatic, product
failure modes- a car crash or a rocket explosion, respectively. Both have
already happened in spades without damaging either's reputation too much. A
1.5x multiplier on engineer hours is worth that kind of risk.

Which is _depressing_ , but it makes sense.

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chollida1
Interesting timing for this as they report earnings tonight. They also
announced that they've leased 2 buildings near Livermore that give them almost
1,000,000 square feet of space.

There is alot of speculation on CNBC that these announcements were made early
to help direct the investors call as TSLA is widely expect to report poor
earnings this quarter due to Model X delays.

Tesla's Powerwall is also starting to be installed. I always thought they'd
announced the powerwall to gauge interest. I assumed that they'd want to focus
all their battery storage capacity towards car deliveries. I guess this is a
positive sign that they can meet their battery needs.

~~~
blackguardx
I thought the consensus was that the Powerwall was to soak up some capacity at
their upcoming plant and get their per unit costs down.

~~~
kirrent
I seem to remember reading that the powerwall is specced to use the batteries
removed from Tesla cars once they've reached something like 70% of original
capacity. Reuse is cheaper than recycling.

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marricks
Listening to the earnings call today Elon said one of them is staying on for a
transition, and that they will be announcing a big hire in the coming weeks.
Sounds like an experienced veteran in production?

I mean, this sounds like it could be hype but they have a pretty special thing
with this many pre orders, US manufacturing, and a really exciting product.

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Chronic51
Waiting for the HN fanboys to defend Tesla.

~~~
dang
This comment breaks the HN guidelines, which ask you not to call names in
comments. We also ask people not to post drive-by dismissals.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/newswelcome.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newswelcome.html)

~~~
gist
What would be nice is if you could issue some guidelines on downvoting.

~~~
ams6110
What would be the point? Who would enforce them?

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revelation
Ahead of model 3 ramp-up? Last I checked they didn't even have a single
"production" car yet and that ramp-up isn't scheduled to happen for the next
two years.

It's like saying "Obama to leave ahead of zombie apocalypse".

~~~
chc
The Model 3 is supposed to already be in customers' garages in two years. The
ramp-up better have happened by then or they'll be behind schedule.

As for why the ramp-up is a big concern now: There were several times more
Model 3 reservations than Tesla projected, so they need to increase their
production capacity in order to meet the demand. Getting ready to produce the
cars is part of the ramp-up, and it's turned out to be a bigger task than they
expected.

~~~
ams6110
Also the "reservations" are not contracts. If the Model 3 is significantly
delayed, some number of those will not follow through with a purchase.
Especially if there are other competing options on the market by then, which
there almost certainly will be.

