If this alarms you, may I request that you not fly anytime soon?
Tesla produced what may be a record number of their Model 3 sedans in the production quarter that ended on June 30th; a whopping 72,531 cars. But employees note that the push to increase production to reach that number may have come at some expense. Namely, a fair bit of corner cutting and unsafe working conditions.
To be more specific, employees that were working in a GA4 production tents were subject to extreme temperatures and smoky conditions brought about by the raging wildfires that California is prone to. They also used electrical tape to fix cracks in plastic brackets and housings (which, to be fair, is what electrical tape is meant for, to a degree).
A spokesperson for Tesla rebuffed these claims. Per CNBC’s article:
A Tesla spokesperson said the anecdotes employees shared about work in the tent are “misleading and do not reflect our manufacturing practices or what it’s like to work at Tesla.”
The spokesperson said many of the shortcuts described by employees, such as using electrical tape during assembly, are not approved procedures, and that cars are rigorously inspected before shipping. Tesla also said many of the parts used in the Model 3 come with electrical tape on them from suppliers, and showed CNBC photographs of some factory-taped parts.
According to the same article, these employees now state that these GA4 tents are now capable of producing 120 cars per shift. At three shifts a day, that means they’re making 2,160 Model 3s per six-day production week. Total, that’s 30,000 per quarter a max production. But according to five employees talking to CNBC, that comes at a quality assurance cost; they stated that they have been forced to pass cars with missing bolts, nuts or lugs. Tesla, however, stated:
[Tesla] has a robust quality assurance team that reviews each vehicle at the end of the GA4 assembly line to ensure every car was built correctly and is perfect before it leaves our factory to go to customers.
This isn’t exactly the first time that Tesla employees have painted the company with a less than stellar stroke. Nonetheless, Tesla shows no signs of slowing down Model 3 production. And, in addition, there’s no indication of how much longer they plan on using the GA4 tents.
Source: Engadget
About Author
