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Just found this one from a few months ago. Quite a few of the interviews with and stories about the Rivian team include this aspect, that the founder has focused from the get-go on building a team of experts on manufacturing processes to go along with the tech designers, and to keep it lean. To me this is very encouraging evidence, beyond PR fluff, that they will have a well-planned and executed manufacturing ramp-up. I am hoping for a contrast to the mad panic Tesla Model 3 ramp-up that flirted with disaster almost daily, one brilliant guy without manufacturing experience micromanaging everything, tossing great gobs of money down the drain and almost bankrupting the company. Don’t get me wrong, I love my Tesla Model S, am very impressed with the Model 3, and admire what Elon has done. But my hunch is that Rivian has the best shot at launching a successful luxury pickup.
https://www.autonews.com/article/20181029/OEM06/181029762/startup-rivian-built-around-lean-manufacturing-mindset
Thanks for the link.
RJ Scaringe has assembled an amazing group of people. They are well on there way to produce EV's that this planet needs so desperately. I hope they stay in it for the long hall.
That flirting with disaster is precisely what paved the way for companies like Rivian to break into the EV market. The great gobs of money you speak of, was not tossed down the drain. It was used
to absorb the teething pains of manufacturing, to install a global charging network, to build a massive battery manufacturing plant, to increase public awareness of EV's, to develop intellectual property and so many other positive things.
I think Molly Hatchet put it best
I’m traveling down the road and I’m flirtin with disaster
I got the pedal to the floor, my life is running faster
I'm out of money, out of hope, it looks like self destruction
Well, how much more can't you take with all this corruption?
We're flirtin' with disaster, ya'll know what I mean
And the way we run our lives it makes more sense to me
I don't know about yourself or what you want to be, yeah
When we gamble with our time we choose our destiny...