We’ve learned more about Elon Musk’s ’25 guns’: a 25-person Tesla engineering task force to fix Gigafactory Berlin.
As we reported last week, Musk went to Tesla Gigafactory Berlin to boost its hiring effort and personally interview candidates.
He shared the email address ‘25guns@tesla.com‘ for people to apply, which raised many questions from people about the meaning of ’25 guns’.
Muthu S, Infrastructure lead for Engineering, Procurement and Construction at Gigafactory Berlin for Tesla, revealed that ’25 guns’ is a nickname for a new 25-person engineering task force in a LinkedIn post:
“At Giga Berlin, we’re planning to kick off a special, 25-person engineering task force that will be deployed wherever the toughest problems are, reporting directly to Elon.”
Muthu added that there are only 3 requirements to be part of the Tesla 25 guns:
- Proof of demonstrated, exceptional engineering talent
- Being a great problem-solver / having an unconventional approach to problem-solving
- Energized to make amazing things happen
It wouldn’t be the first time that Tesla would put such a task force together. It has been a go-to strategy of Musk for years, especially when it comes to manufacturing projects.
Tesla Gigafactory Berlin has been seemingly going well, but we recently learned that Tesla may face delays at Gigafactory Berlin over lack of permits.
As we previously reported, Tesla moved ahead with construction at Gigafactory Berlin without final approval for the project.
Instead, the automaker was able to move forward with construction through individual permits, but now its luck might be running out, according to reports coming out of Germany.
The “25 guns” reporting to Musk could be sent into problematic areas of the factory that could potentially slow down the timeline to production, which is officially July 2021 — though there have been rumors that Tesla could be aiming to start production sooner.
More challenges are expected to arise closer to the start of production since Tesla is expected to introduce new manufacturing technologies at Gigafactory Berlin, including what Musk described as ‘the most-advanced paint shop’ and Tesla’s new structural battery pack design with single-piece front and back casting.
Electrek’s Take
I really like this way of thinking. Let’s be honest, it’s not revolutionary. Other companies do have task forces to deploy when needed, but I do like the concept and you know Tesla is betting big on this if they are going to report directly to Elon.
It could also be interesting if, after Berlin, they are sent on “missions” to other Tesla facilities to help implement the same new manufacturing techniques that Tesla plans to pioneer at Gigafactory Berlin.
What do you think? Let us know in the comment section below.
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Author: Fred Lambert
Source: Electrek
