Tesla Motors and Tesla Model S

"A Player of Impossible Odds" is what best describes Elon Musk who has the vision to change the world. There are many start-ups lately who are trying to make a mark in the automotive industry but are not able to effectively and efficiently market their product due to the vast amount of competition taking place as well as failure to put a plan into effect. On the other hand, Elon Musk has come up with three companies namely Tesla Motors, SpaceX and Solar City which is getting rid of the conventional combustion engines and shifting towards renewable energy. Thinking about the future is a vital step towards saving our planet and Elon Musk is coming up with advancements that are going to revolutionize the auto industry. I strongly agree that Tesla can bring improvements with respect to their multi-varied products and meet with the anticipation of bringing an original approach more adequately. To begin with, Elon Musk believes that innovation should be based on first principles thinking and not on what is already implemented. By doing this we can get to the crust of the goal and build up from there. This can be related to how proficiently they innovate their products, by coming up with excellent designs and offering a variety of products with exceptional quality. An example can be of the Tesla Model S, which when launched exceeded the expectations of the customers in speed, build quality, appearance and perpetual features. Due to this, the customers were very keen to place an order for the Model 3 which was still in the designing stage. Tesla booked close to $14 billion in advance sales just less than three weeks through the launch of the $35,000 Model 3. Elon Musk is focussing more on the factory and what are the ways possible to develop a service into a product. Equally important, he is thinking about the long-term advantages that Tesla can have. His vision is to come up with an automobile plant that is fully automated starting from the input resources namely the raw materials and energy, transforming processes including the delivery of materials, manufacturing the products as well as the assembly which will all be done without the involvement of humans. Furthermore, in addition to making almost everything automated, Tesla are hiring competent individuals who are capable of maintaining the factories, solving problems rapidly, building the desired product as well as re-engineering products which might fail during the production process, thereby making them skilled employees, which enables them to think out of the box as well as get a better overview of the design process. Tesla has started building the 70-megawatt system rooftop solar panels which when done will be the largest in the world. Tesla's GigaFactory, a lithium-ion battery factory is a great example of how well the employees can handle the production. The new automated lines are under production in Germany, where it has to be disassembled, brought back to the GigaFactory and then reassembled. It is also based on how quickly the workers can adapt to situations and draw out conclusions to make the production lines more organized and well timed.

Moreover, the general assembly line of Tesla located in Fremont which was previously occupied by New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. (NUMMI) was suited for people. There are a lot of assemblies that are hard for a robot to connect because the parts are complicated and also it is placed in a difficult position. For instance, wiring harnesses through the car is pretty tricky, since you have to poke it through holes and do various things, whereas humans can easily connect the parts and if there is an issue with a part, it can get fixed comfortably. For tricky pieces such as insulation, side airbags, and road noise, humans can do this smoothly with a little bit of training. The number of people working on the assembly line increased from 6,000 in 2016 to around 10,000 people on June 2018, where there are tons of shuttles and ride sharing available to get the people to execute the job. Another example can be of the Tesla Model 3 where intricate robots are being used, and if a robot accidentally crashes and breaks a fixture, there are going to be advanced robot technicians to solve the problem. Additionally, the Energy storage company has set itself apart from its competitors. For example, the Tesla Model S had set the record for finishing their production at a fast pace. Also, it provides up to 60 miles per hour acceleration which is even better than some of the supercars. Along with this, Tesla has its own supercharger networks wherein the drivers get lifetime free charging and there is no other car manufacturer that is coming up with this type of technology that is convenient and user-friendly at the same time. Similarly, the software of Tesla Model 3 is one step above its adversary being able to easily get over the air updates. In terms of overall methodology of production for Toyota, the brand value for electric cars is low. Moreover, they rely on people on the assembly line and it is not fully automated, however, Tesla relies more on automation and it is able to manufacture products at a faster pace. In a nutshell, we cannot anticipate the future, but it can be made. My perspective is that Elon Musk is a great overseer and has the vision to bring the mass production of electric cars in the market, to bring changes in space technology so as to make it easier for people to live on other planets and to follow the use of renewable energy which will make them an indomitable force in the automotive industry. It will surely take time on a larger scale but in the near future, there is going to be a turning point where electric vehicles will be preferred over the conventional automobiles.

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