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0 pointsneuronic6y ago0 comments

You are thinking of engineering the cars itself. However, in a factory like this, engineering is much more than that. Engineering, maintaining, and improving the factory won't be an exclusive gig from across the Atlantic (+ Great Plains + Rockys).

Aside from that, Brandenburg is rich grounds for the other staff a factory needs. You can combine cheaper EU-labor with mid-range jobs very well in Germany.

The only thing Tesla could face which it wont like are unions and workers rights because Germans sure won't put up with 100 hour work weeks or similar business practices.

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baybal26y ago

Having real engineers with 6 years education on assembly lines is very important, and I'd say that's one of the reasons why China has so much success in manufacturing.

Without engineers among line workforce, there will be nobody to spot and correct tiny manufacturing defects and mistakes in the design that would otherwise be quietly "duct taped" and forgotten.

For my 10 years in OEM manufacturing, I haven't seen a single design that the factory people didn't send back to the client without a long "to fix" list. And those designs were coming from rather serious clients, with serious in house engineering.

C1sc0cat6y ago

Shows you how bad Brexit is for the UK that Tesla chose Germany over the UK.

Maybe like Italy we need reserved seats in the House of Lords for Engineering and STEM peers.

Zenst6y ago

Do you have any proof that Tesla was going to build a plant in the UK before? Or are you overlooking how Germany has manufacturing and infrastructure more suited to building cars over all other EU members, including the UK!

donpott6y ago

Elon himself has cited Brexit uncertainty as a reason for choosing Germany over the UK.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/nov/13/tesla-cit...

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eloisant6y ago

I don't know, without Brexit Tesla might have chosen Germany anyway.

There are many good reasons that have already been cited why Germany makes sense, additionally when you're building cars for a whole continent, for shipping reasons it makes sense to build a factory in the middle of it rather than an island on the side.

Symbiote6y ago

Britain has excellent sea connections, several existing large car manufacturers take advantage of that. (Germany does too, with river transport.) I doubt the land transport makes a significant difference either -- a good rail network extends across the whole EU, and there is car manufacturing in Spain, Romania etc.

I'm not going to pretend I'm in any way able to make a reasonable comparison, but companies like Ford and Nissan appear to have had no intention to move their UK manufacturing to Germany.

Tesla certainly considered it: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/nov/13/tesla-cit...

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