Elon Musk claims Tesla worker altered code on manufacturing system

Elon-gate: Elon Musk (above in March) accused an employee of 'making direct code changes to the Tesla Manufacturing Operating System under false usernames' on Sunday

Elon-gate: Elon Musk (above in March) accused an employee of ‘making direct code changes to the Tesla Manufacturing Operating System under false usernames’ on Sunday

Elon Musk accused a Tesla employee of ‘extensive and damaging sabotage’ including making ‘direct code changes’ to the company’s manufacturing system under false usernames and passing highly sensitive data to unknown third parties’.

In a company-wide email sent a few minutes before midnight on Sunday, and obtained by CNBC, Musk wrote that the so-far-unnamed employee has admitted to his acts, and that he said he had carried out this sabotage as a form of payback after being passed over for a position.

However, the Tesla and SpaceX boss added the saboteur may not have been working alone: ‘As you know, there are a long list of organizations that want Tesla to die’ before urging his employees to be ‘extremely vigilant’.

‘The full extent of his actions are not yet clear, but what he has admitted to so far is pretty bad. His stated motivation is that he wanted a promotion that he did not receive. In light of these actions, not promoting him was definitely the right move,’ wrote Musk in the email obtained by CNBC. ‘However, there may be considerably more to this situation than meets the eye, so the investigation will continue in depth this week. We need to figure out if he was acting alone or with others at Tesla and if he was working with any outside organizations.’

The so-far-unnamed employee is now being investigated for corporate espionage.

and Musk’s email in full: 

Little red Tesla Model 3: Just two days prior, Musk had sent a company-wide email calling for an increase in the production of Tesla Model 3 at manufacturing facilities (a Model 3 comes off the line above)

Little red Tesla Model 3: Just two days prior, Musk had sent a company-wide email calling for an increase in the production of Tesla Model 3 at manufacturing facilities (a Model 3 comes off the line above)

Musk also took the opportunity to drive home production goals that he stated two days earlier in his correspondence with staff when he had called for an increase in production numbers.

‘All parts of the Model 3 production system are now above 500 and some are almost at 700 cars already. Congratulations to all on making so much progress!’ wrote Musk in the email, which was obtained by CNBC.

He went on to say however that ‘radical improvements’ were needed in order to ‘achieve sustained, 700+ per week on the body line.’

‘Looking forward to having a great week with you as we charge up the super exciting ramp to 5000 Model 3 cars per week!’ wrote Musk.

‘Will follow this up with emails every few days describing the progress and challenges of the Model 3 ramp.’

Musk previously looked into the possibility of sabotage from back in 2016, when a Space X rocket exploded just before an engine test.

In that case, Musk believed that the saboteur was possibly from United Launch Alliance The Washington Post later reported, with Space X employees reporting that a concerning shadow and unidentifiable white object were seen on the company’s roof during the test.

Musk also tweeted at the time: ‘Particularly trying to understand the quieter bang sound a few seconds before the fireball goes off. May come from rocket or something else.’

ULA refused to allow SpaceX access to its roof to investigate, but an independent team from the Air Force found no evidence of any tampering or questionable actions.

ELON MUSK ACCUSES ‘ROGUE EMPLOYEE’ OF ‘SABOTAGE’

To: Everybody

Subject: Some concerning news

June 17, 2018

11:57 p.m.

I was dismayed to learn this weekend about a Tesla employee who had conducted quite extensive and damaging sabotage to our operations. This included making direct code changes to the Tesla Manufacturing Operating System under false usernames and exporting large amounts of highly sensitive Tesla data to unknown third parties.

The full extent of his actions are not yet clear, but what he has admitted to so far is pretty bad. His stated motivation is that he wanted a promotion that he did not receive. In light of these actions, not promoting him was definitely the right move.

However, there may be considerably more to this situation than meets the eye, so the investigation will continue in depth this week. We need to figure out if he was acting alone or with others at Tesla and if he was working with any outside organizations.

As you know, there are a long list of organizations that want Tesla to die. These include Wall Street short-sellers, who have already lost billions of dollars and stand to lose a lot more. Then there are the oil & gas companies, the wealthiest industry in the world — they don’t love the idea of Tesla advancing the progress of solar power & electric cars. Don’t want to blow your mind, but rumor has it that those companies are sometimes not super nice. Then there are the multitude of big gas/diesel car company competitors. If they’re willing to cheat so much about emissions, maybe they’re willing to cheat in other ways?

Most of the time, when there is theft of goods, leaking of confidential information, dereliction of duty or outright sabotage, the reason really is something simple like wanting to get back at someone within the company or at the company as a whole. Occasionally, it is much more serious.

Please be extremely vigilant, particularly over the next few weeks as we ramp up the production rate to 5k/week. This is when outside forces have the strongest motivation to stop us.

If you know of, see or suspect anything suspicious, please send a note to [email address removed for privacy] with as much info as possible. This can be done in your name, which will be kept confidential, or completely anonymously.

Looking forward to having a great week with you as we charge up the super exciting ramp to 5000 Model 3 cars per week!

Will follow this up with emails every few days describing the progress and challenges of the Model 3 ramp.

Thanks for working so hard to make Tesla successful,

Elon

 Source: CNBC

On Monday night, Musk confirmed on Twitter that a tent had been pitched at Tesla’s facility in Freemont to house a new production line for the company’s Model 3 vehicles.

The company started taking pre-orders for the Model 3 in late February, and despite reports of problems Tesla has said that it expects to reach volume by September.

Musk said in his email on Sunday that many are against the company: ‘As you know, there are a long list of organizations that want Tesla to die. These include Wall Street short-sellers, who have already lost billions of dollars and stand to lose a lot more.

‘Then there are the oil & gas companies, the wealthiest industry in the world — they don’t love the idea of Tesla advancing the progress of solar power & electric cars. Don’t want to blow your mind, but rumor has it that those companies are sometimes not super nice.’

He continued: ‘Then there are the multitude of big gas/diesel car company competitors. If they’re willing to cheat so much about emissions, maybe they’re willing to cheat in other ways?’

Musk sent a separate email as well to employees informing them of a ‘small fire’ on Sunday at a company facility.

That was attributed to a ‘smoldering in an air filter in the welding area of the body line.’

There were no injuries and ‘the smoldering was extinguished in a matter of seconds,’ said the company, not revealing at what facility the fire broke out.

‘Please be on the alert for anything that´s not in the best interests of our company,’ noted Musk in that email.

It is not known if the alleged saboteur is part of the nine percent of the company’s workforce that was being laid off, a cut that did not impact Model # production workers.

Tesla´s profitability is dependent of its Model 3 output, which is intended for mass production.

In the wake of Musk’s email being leaked, Tesla’s stock price slipped 53 cents to $370.30 in after-hours trading on Monday.  

ELON MUSK CALLS FOR INCREASE IN TESLA MODEL 3 PRODUCTION

From: Elon Musk

To: Everybody

Subj. Only 8 days left to reach 700 cars/day or 5k/week

June 15, 2018

8:27 pm

It’s getting very exciting! All parts of the Model 3 production system are now above 500 and some are almost at 700 cars already. Congratulations to all on making so much progress!

That said, radical improvements are still needed in paint shop output, GA3, bringing up the new GA4, End of Line and Module Zone 4 at Giga. We also need to achieve sustained, 700+ per week on the body line.

Wherever you are in the company, if you feel you can help out in any of those areas, please check in with Jat Dhillon on GA3, Jerome Guillen on GA4 and Omead on EoL and JB Straubel or Christ Lister on Module Zone 4.

I will be at our Fremont factory almost 24/7 for the next several days checking in with those groups to make sure they have as many resources as they can handle.

Thanks,

Elon

Source: CNBC  



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