Elon Musk gives first glimpse inside Tesla Model 3 production line
electrek.co
electrek.co
It will probably be great in the end, but stressful if the guy doing the exploring is you.
The fly in the ointment is that increased automation usually only makes sense if you need to produce more cars and can tolerate delays as automation kinks are worked out (some of which may actually require changes in the car design).
If you're making 100,000 cars per year per factory line, then very high automation doesn't make a lot of sense, and humans can often be more cost effective (from an opportunity cost perspective). But if you're producing 1,000,000 cars per line, then a lot of automation which wouldn't make sense at lower numbers now all of a sudden does.
Tesla is developing some of this automation tech for a 500,000 per year Model 3 line, but where the full automation will really hit its stride is in the Model Y which is supposed to hit 1,000,000 per year from a single factory line. Model Y is supposed to have several design simplifications and modifications to enable more automated production.
It seems utterly ridiculous to me. A good night's sleep is a must to be most effektiv at any task. In addition you can't tell me Musk can't get a bed in his office.
The rational mind knows that getting proper rest lets you work closer to your optimal and 5 hours of work at 100% is better than 20 hours at 20%. That's not as good of a story though and the optics themselves have marketing value so it may balance out in the end.
HN mods: really oughtta just auto-blackhole any links to this domain, same as you would for any other pornographic site.
I guess what I'm saying is that it isn't a conscious sacrifice as much as a feeling that one can't really get any rest until some kind of progress has been made.
1. The one who sleeps on a sleeping bed and says that you are tremendously valuable to the future of the company.
- or -
2. The one who says that remote workers are slackers, cancels remote work, and then builds a comfortable nursery right next to their comfortable office.
This isn't about whether a sleeping bag (probably an exaggeration anyway) is the most optimum solution to the "sleep at the office" problem, it is about what is the optimum solution to the "help my workers understand that I empathize with their current situation" problem.
I think we forget about the importance of that last problem sometimes.
The thing is, the sacrifices demanded of employees by their employers are often non-negotiable, so it doesn't really matter either way. If you're a factory floor worker, you are not "tremendously valuable to the future of the company," your value to the company is specified to the penny and it's likely much less than the value of the equipment you're operating.
The billionaire who can destroy your livelihood on a whim sleeping on the factory floor doesn't really change anything for you the worker.
Are the workers' salaries competitive? How good is their insurance? Will they be expected to put in arbitrary blocks of six day, twelve hour shifts or can they reasonably have a life outside work? How accommodating is the company with school, maternity leave, lateral training? What is the company's history of harassment, OSHA violations, etc? These things matter. Pointless shows of solidarity and "empathy" really don't.
But do you really think this is about retaining factory line workers? Or is it about retaining the managers and engineers responsible for building out the line and getting it running? My guess is that it is the latter and that most of those employees do have choices as to where they are employed.
Who said that quote? Nobody in any of the videos on the linked page said it.
I assume "sleeping on the factory floor" means sleeping at the factory, in a camp-bed, or similar. "The factory floor" is a synecdoche for "the factory".
On a side note, your use of "synecdoche" reminded me that I should make a more systematic effort to introduce my daughters to the uses and benefits of figures of speech. Thank you.
Where did he in this article used the word "sleeping bag"? (I'm assuming you are quoting him?)
And the reasoning for him sleeping at the factory is obvious to me. To create a sense of camaraderie and show that his intention is to push the whole company as opposed to not being sympathetic to the workers hardships and pushing them for the gain of the CEO.
On a separate note. It seems to me that ycombinator's readers are more likely to run with any Tesla related news to put a negative spin on it (no matter what the news) to pursumably show that they are not "fan boys" or that they are smarter and more critical in their thought process than the mainstream Elon admirers. I would rather see unbiased analysis. Not just one that goes against the more prevalent ideology no matter what.
People will respect a leader who is in the trenches with them.
Musk isn’t going hungry any time, but it’s easier for reputation for any employee to leave Tesla and join some other venture than it would be for Musk.
(I don’t think this should be taken as an argument that we should feel bad for the rich and that the rich shouldn’t pay their fair share at all.... In fact the opposite is true: the very rich are primarily focused on relative reputation, so you can happily tax them all without any reduction in relative reputation).
Thoughts?