Tesla: Introduction

AUTHORS: Srujit Biradawada & Friends (Aarti, Lucy, Laura, Sumer, Vincent & Joyce)

Tesla is relatively a newcomer in the automotive industry and gained its popularity when it produced the first electric car, Roadster. Tesla has a secretive and complex vertically integrated supply chain, envisioned by Elon Musk, the company’s CEO. However, trying to be innovative in a centenary industry has a price and Tesla is facing several issues to meet their production expectations due to problems in the supply chain. This paper starts describing Tesla’s logistics and transportation processes, its suppliers and supply chain challenges. Then it presents a program to add value to the company with strategies for management and logistics efficiency including staff creation and management and identification of key stakeholders. Additionally, the paper identifies specific metrics that will be used to assess program effectiveness, using the standards in the logistics and management framework to conduct the program evaluation and identifies the role of program managers.  Finally, the paper makes several recommendations for Tesla, including but not limited to implicate master scheduling theory to reduce its suppliers’ pressure, invest and cultivate local suppliers, collaborate with local dealerships and produce extra cars to store as inventory.