Elon Musk vs Sandy Munro di Munro & Associates (una delle più importanti società di benchmarking per conto terzi in ambito automobilistico)

pennellotref · 2 Febbraio 2021

https://jalopnik.com/in-epically-nerdy-interview-elon-musk-discusses-build-1846181756

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In Epically Nerdy Interview, Elon Musk Discusses Build Quality Problems With Engineer Who Compared Model 3 To 'A Kia In The '90s'

David Tracy

Today 12:50PM

Elon Musk is taking accountability for Tesla’s manufacturing failures. He recently sat down with one of Tesla’s biggest build-quality critics, manufacturing expert Sandy Munro, founder of the benchmarking consultancy Munro & Associates. Here’s what Musk had to say about large panel gaps and poorly designed body structures in what has to be one of the most epic technical interviews I’ve seen in a while.

What happens when you take a manufacturing expert with decades of automotive engineering experience and put him in the room with a science nerd like Elon Musk? Magic. That’s what.

Munro, a man who made headlines after absolutely eviscerating the build quality of an early Model 3, comparing it to a 1990s Kia, finally met face-to-face with Musk, and the session was on camera. It sounds as if it could be a contentious circumstance, but what does Musk say right out of the gate? “I thought your criticisms were accurate.”

I’m far from a Tesla or Elon Musk stan, but I have to appreciate that honesty.

Tesla’s CEO then fesses up to his company’s build-related mistakes and dives into why they’ve been happening. When asked about panel gaps, Musk says: “It took [Tesla] a while to...iron out the production process,” going on to discuss how the company struggled to get details right while production was in “vertical climb mode.” Really early production cars, and the cars that come out after production has leveled off, Musk says, are the ones likely to have the best fit and finish.

Munro, having met with a number of Tesla owners during a recent road trip, noticed variations between two vehicles built in the same short time-span. Confused as to how this could happen, he asked Musk. “We actually did improve gap and paint quality quite a bit towards the end of last year,” the California-based engineer-CEO told the Michigan-based engineer-CEO, “Even in the course of December.”

Musk also mentions that while ramping up production, his team rushed cars in a way that didn’t adequately allow paint to dry, causing issues with quality. “Production is hell,” Musk puts it frankly.

What about the rear part of the Model 3's body, which Munro criticized for consisting of far too many pieces with far too many different fastening methods? (shown below):

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