Elon Musk called the factory of “Tesla” (Tesla) near Berlin “gigafactory” and his plans for it were grandiose, but very quickly faced reality. First with the German bureaucracy, and later with the Polish workers, or rather the lack of them.
The Tesla plant near the German capital was supposed to be the starting point for the electric car manufacturer’s major European expansion. The plan was to produce 500,000 vehicles a year, but since its opening in March, only 10 percent of the originally planned volumes have been realized, notes the Polish edition of “Business Insider”. In addition, many of the cars produced end up in repair shops – it turns out that they have a factory defect.
As a result, as first reported in “Bild”, the plant is closing its doors for 2 weeks in July – barely three months after it started its operations, in order to perfect the production processes.
This is a big blow to the image of Elon Musk, who is considered one of the most talented and successful entrepreneurs in the world. The gigafactory near Berlin, which was high on the scale of his priorities, has become a source of headache for the multibillionaire, writes “Business Insider”.
What didn’t go right?
At first glance, it is not difficult to understand why Musk chose Germany as the location of his European factory. It’s the heart of the global automotive industry, but why exactly the suburbs of Berlin?
The answer to this question is a little more difficult. After all, the big German companies don’t have factories in this part of the country. The only exception is BMW, but only motorcycles of this brand are produced in Berlin. If Musk wanted to “bribe” workers at the German auto giants to work for him, he should have built his gigafactory in other parts of Germany, according to Business Insider. For example, in Stuttgart, where the headquarters of “Mercedes” and “Porsche” are located.
Moreover, such a “bribery” would also be a problem, since Musk is paid less compared to the German car giants. One of the largest trade unions in the country, IG Metall, emphasized that what the workers in the Tesla gigafactory receive is even 20 percent less than in the factories of the big German concerns.
It begs the question, why has Musk built a large factory far from places where he can hire people, and why are the wages he offers lower than those of the competition?
At first glance, it doesn’t make much sense, but if we look more closely at the map of the region, the billionaire’s decision may make sense, notes “Business Insider”. Grünheide is about an hour’s drive from the border with Poland, making the facility quicker to reach than some parts of the Berlin agglomeration.
There are Polish cities like Szczecin and Gozów Wielkopolski whose residents can quickly commute to Tesla’s gigafactory by commuting every day without having to move to Germany.
In addition, the remuneration at the Tesla plant is attractive to Poles, as they cannot count on similar wages in their homeland. There are many Poles working in Grünheide and their number is increasing month by month.
However, Musk can’t fill the jobs. He wants to hire about 9,000 people, but so far there are only 4,500.
The Polish edition of “Business Insider” spoke to some workers at the factory, as well as to people employed through companies that cooperate with “Tesla”. They usually speak highly of their work and remuneration.
However, not everyone wants to talk about their salaries – their contracts oblige them not to divulge the details. However, it is said that those working in production can receive a monthly salary of 4,500 euros gross.
From a Polish perspective, this is a lot of money, but the workers are required to speak German.
However, not many Poles, including those working in production, have such a good command of the language, and this undoubtedly hinders the recruitment process. Musk must have thought that every Pole knows German and dreams of working at Tesla, says one of the workers with a smile on his face.
In the end, the American company was forced to change the language proficiency requirements for those wishing to work in the gigafactory. Thus, she once again incurred the wrath of German trade unions and civil servants, with whom Musk already has quite a few clashes. For example, the factory had to wait a long time for the relevant permits to start the plant. And accordingly, Musk is already aware that it is not an easy task to deal with the German bureaucracy, and perhaps it is preferable to encourage the Poles to learn German…
If you add to these problems with the gigafactory the withdrawal from the deal for “Twitter” (Twitter), as well as the upcoming legal battles in connection with it, then Elon Musk’s summer will certainly not be cloudless…
–
