Tesla

[Soup DeVille]

He envisions a plant where you can reduce he takt time for car assembly to a few seconds. But it's just like Elon with everything else. Heavy on the vision, very light on the execution.

And I kind of love him for that. Being a visionary is almost always a bad business move.

[12,000 RPM]

He is like if a 5 year old was a CEO. "Today lets sent Roadster to space! Pew pew!"

[AutobahnSHO]

He envisions a plant where you can reduce he takt time for car assembly to a few seconds. But it’s just like Elon with everything else. Heavy on the vision, very light on the execution.

Totally reminds me of pointy-haired-boss from Dilbert.

[Soup DeVille]

He is like if a 5 year old was a CEO. "Today lets sent Roadster to space! Pew pew!"

And you know, that might not be a bad thing.

[Morris Minor]

Longtime automotive industry analyst Brian Johnson, of Barclays , tried to push for greater clarity on what Tesla was thinking of doing differently than competitors such as Toyota Motor Corp. , which revolutionized car manufacturing more than a generation ago.

"The most fundamental difference is thinking about the factory really as a product," Mr. Musk said.

J.B. Straubel, Tesla's chief technical officer, added that Tesla would be treating it more as an engineering and technical problem.

"Right, which is the Toyota production system," Mr. Johnson, the analyst, said.

Mr. Musk: "Uh, yeah, we don't think so."

[Morris Minor]

And you know, that might not be a bad thing.

It's a good thing. We need people like Musk, the crazies. They don't come along that often - 90% of what they try may fail - but the 10% is the golden game changer.

[r0tor]

Pretty much every genius was considered bat shit crazy at first until being vindicated later... We just have to see if Musk will be worthy of vindication

[Laconian]

Pretty much every genius was considered bat shit crazy at first until being vindicated later...

Look at the name he picked for the company, lol

[MX793]

Many of those geniuses were horrible businessmen.  Both Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla were failures when it came to running businesses.

[mzziaz]

I've been sceptical of Elon Musk all along, but that Roadster-stunt has totally won me over.

Here is a guy that is not only able to build his own brand of cars with a totally revolutionary powertrain, but he is also able to build a fucking rocket and launch his own car into space. There is unbelievably much awesomeness in that.

[r0tor]

Many of those geniuses were horrible businessmen.  Both Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla were failures when it came to running businesses.

Nikolai was a pure science guy - never was interested in running a business.

Edison was just an ass.

[r0tor]

I've been sceptical of Elon Musk all along, but that Roadster-stunt has totally won me over.

Here is a guy that is not only able to build his own brand of cars with a totally revolutionary powertrain, but he is also able to build a fucking rocket and launch his own car into space. There is unbelievably much awesomeness in that.

...and have it take really nice pictures!!

[mzziaz]

...and have it take really nice pictures!!

That and the totally awesome landing of the rockets are just the icing on the cake.

[mzziaz]

One should invest in his companies as a matter of principle.

[Laconian]

I've been sceptical of Elon Musk all along, but that Roadster-stunt has totally won me over.

Here is a guy that is not only able to build his own brand of cars with a totally revolutionary powertrain, but he is also able to build a fucking rocket and launch his own car into space. There is unbelievably much awesomeness in that.

Nerds on parade. Suck it, bullshitters!

[GoCougs]

Longtime automotive industry analyst Brian Johnson, of Barclays , tried to push for greater clarity on what Tesla was thinking of doing differently than competitors such as Toyota Motor Corp. , which revolutionized car manufacturing more than a generation ago.

"The most fundamental difference is thinking about the factory really as a product," Mr. Musk said.

J.B. Straubel, Tesla's chief technical officer, added that Tesla would be treating it more as an engineering and technical problem.

"Right, which is the Toyota production system," Mr. Johnson, the analyst, said.

Mr. Musk: "Uh, yeah, we don't think so."

The Toyota Production System revolutionized the entire world of manufacturing, let alone automotive manufacturing. Thinking it not so is one thing but coming up with a defensible plan that is better is quite another. To me it looks like Tesla's solution is vertical integration, which in manufacturing is usually a bad idea.

[GoCougs]

I've been sceptical of Elon Musk all along, but that Roadster-stunt has totally won me over.

Here is a guy that is not only able to build his own brand of cars with a totally revolutionary powertrain, but he is also able to build a fucking rocket and launch his own car into space. There is unbelievably much awesomeness in that.

I'm totally the opposite - to me it makes him look like ever more of a fraud and trickster, trying to divert from the non-business realities that both Tesla and SpaceX are becoming.

[2o6]

I'm totally the opposite - to me it makes him look like ever more of a fraud and trickster, trying to divert from the non-business realities that both Tesla and SpaceX are becoming.

Also that.

[GoCougs]

Also that.

IMO, true and legit visionaries actually make a business of the thing - Ford, Jobs, Gates, Dell, Page/Brin, Zuckerberg, Rockefeller, Carnegie, etc. 

[Galaxy]

IMO, true and legit visionaries actually make a business of the thing - Ford, Jobs, Gates, Dell, Page/Brin, Zuckerberg, Rockefeller, Carnegie, etc. 

Not sure about that definition. Heron of Alexandria invented the steam engine 2.000 before the industrial revolution. He was simply to advanced for his kin, who simple did not comprehend what this device could do.

[Submariner]

I'm totally the opposite - to me it makes him look like ever more of a fraud and trickster, trying to divert from the non-business realities that both Tesla and SpaceX are becoming.

I mean, the Falcon Heavy puts up a greater payload to LEO and GTO than the Delta IV heavy for less money.  And the SLS has been in development for years, at a greater cost than the Falcon Heavy, even though it's largely a mishmash of Shuttle stack parts (SRB's, ET, etc) and the RS-25 space shuttle engines.

All things considered, it's pretty impressive.

[GoCougs]

Not sure about that definition. Heron of Alexandria invented the steam engine 2.000 before the industrial revolution. He was simply to advanced for his kin, who simple did not comprehend what this device could do.

Most everything was invented/conceptualized before it was viable - social media, GUI, computers, smart devices, EVs, space flight, mass production, etc. IMO the true visionaries make it a sustainable enterprise.

[GoCougs]

I mean, the Falcon Heavy puts up a greater payload to LEO and GTO than the Delta IV heavy for less money.  And the SLS has been in development for years, at a greater cost than the Falcon Heavy, even though it's largely a mishmash of Shuttle stack parts (SRB's, ET, etc) and the RS-25 space shuttle engines.

All things considered, it's pretty impressive.

The SLS can lift at least twice that of the Falcon Heavy though.

I mean, I want to be on board, and I think I would be. The reusable/rebuildable stuff just doesn't seem like a good idea.

[Galaxy]

Most everything was invented/conceptualized before it was viable - social media, GUI, computers, smart devices, EVs, space flight, mass production, etc. IMO the true visionaries make it a sustainable enterprise.

I would say that is the difference between a visionary (or inventor or whatever) and en entrepreneur.

[Submariner]

The SLS can lift at least twice that of the Falcon Heavy though.

I mean, I want to be on board, and I think I would be. The reusable/rebuildable stuff just doesn't seem like a good idea.

Block 1 has a +/- 70t to LEO payload.  Future additions include longer burning SRB's (or LOX/LH2 liquid boosters), additional/higher energry RS25's and larger upper stages....those haven't been seriously proposed yet let alone tested.

And the SLS is mostly existing parts.  The 1st stage is a space shuttle ET with SSME's attached and two five segment SRB's which have used the same fuel and basic design since the Titan III launched in 1965 ...NASA is taking EXISTING TECH and building a new rocket out of it, and it's still just a multi-decade long hypothetical at this point.

And what does that get them?  A slightly lower payload to LEO at a higher inflation-adjusted cost than the Saturn V.  Color me unimpressed. 

[Morris Minor]

Who would you like to see getting a one-way ticket on the Musk Express to Mars?

My nomination: the little gnome that sews those fucking labels in shirts that make your neck itch.

[giant_mtb]

Who would you like to see getting a one-way ticket on the Musk Express to Mars?

My nomination: the little gnome that sews those fucking labels in shirts that make your neck itch.

I feel like shirt tags are something people really exaggerate as an issue.

[CaminoRacer]

I cut them off

[12,000 RPM]

I get tag free shirts from Walmart because I'm a country boy now

[Raza]

I cut them off

I find cutting them tends to exacerbate the issue. Always wear an undershirt though, so I just buy tagless undershirts.