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HEALTH
Cleveland Clinic Is The Latest Hospital To Dump McDonald’s
Benjamin Snyder/Fortune
2:57 PM ET SHARE
Justin Sullivan—Getty Images
A McDonald's employee prepares an order during a one-day hiring event at a McDonald's restaurant on April 19, 2011 in San Francisco, California.
The clinic says it wants to promote healthier options.
A hospital cafeteria probably isn’t the first place you’d think of to get your McDonald’s fix. But after September 18, it will no longer be an available option at the Cleveland Clinic.
The hospital announced it’s cutting ties with the fast food chain in order to promote wellness, NPR reported.
“Cleveland Clinic wants to help patients and visitors and our employees turn to healthier lifestyles and healthier choices,” according to clinic spokeswoman Eileen Sheil to The Salt.
The hospital is reportedly the seventh since 2009 to get rid of a McDonald’s in its cafeteria, according to NPR.
In other McDonald’s news, the chain is hoping to boost sales with a new innovation: Egg McMuffin’s offered all day.
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Sponsored Links by
6 Must-Knows about Cow Milk Allergy in Children
The Asian Parent
Hawker Haute: Singapore Food Festival 2015
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IDEAS SOCIETY
Law Enforcement Should Learn To Recognize the Signs of Mental Illness
Michael Lindsey, New York University / The Conversation @US_conversation
3:22 PM ET SHARE
The Crisis Intervention Training teaches how to address mental illness matters in a health-oriented rather than enforcement manner
The untimely death of Sandra Bland in a rural Texas jail last month has led to many unanswered questions.
Texas prison authorities say Bland hanged herself with a plastic garbage bag in her cell, a claim her family has questioned. Many suspect that Bland was murdered by corrupt law enforcement officials or correctional officers.
Lost in the emotion of yet another tragic death of a young African American in police custody is the real possibility that untreated mental illness led to Sandra Bland’s death.
Regardless of what happened in that Texas jail, Centers for Disease Control data tell us that rates of suicide have seen a steady increase each year since 2000. Suicide is now the 10th leading cause of death among all Americans.
And, while African Americans have lower suicide rates relative to whites, the rate of suicide among African-American males and females has also been climbing each year since 2009.
As a mental health services researcher, I’ve spent years examining factors that prevent vulnerable youth from getting mental health services. My work as a psychotherapist has involved treating folks suffering from depression – folks like Sandra Bland who told police she had tried to commit suicide last year.
The importance of the social network
Sociologist Bernice Pescosolido suggests that mentally ill individuals don’t decide about getting treatment in a vacuum. Those closest to the individual are critical to facilitating entree into care, providing care or doing nothing.
Through my work, I have seen how serious mental illness such as chronic depression or bipolarity can wreak havoc on not just the ill individual, but also on their families and friends. In a sick individual’s social networks, accusations fly. Loved ones duck for cover or they hold back for fear of offending. At this unstable and vulnerable juncture, finding a way to treatment is difficult and staying in treatment is even tougher.
Depression is one of the most debilitating health issues anyone can experience. It is a leading cause of engagement in suicidal behaviors – a precursor, of sorts, to suicide.
At the same time, depression is one of the most successfully treated mental illnesses. Both talk therapies and psychotropic medications are replete with evidence of their successes in the treatment of depression.
The problem is that not enough people with depression actually receive treatment. The numbers vary widely by age and race. Approximately one third of youth with depression receive treatment. That number increases slightly – to about one half – for 20-somethings like Sandra Bland. The lack of care is even more disproportionate in ethnic minority communities relative to white communities. African Americans, Latino Americans and Asian Americans all have lower treatment rates.
My own research indicates these groups are also likely to have greater connections to their families and friends, who pray with them about their condition or offer advice. This might help explain their overall lower rates of suicide relative to whites.
Responsibility of law enforcement
While it is critical for social network members to both see and do something to help their loved ones get connected to treatment, it is equally critical for law enforcement to be trained on how to successfully address interactions with the mentally ill.
Imagine for a moment what would have happened if Sandra Bland had been pulled over by a police officer who was trained to recognize if she was suffering from a mental illness that required immediate attention. Imagine a police officer having the skills to engage Bland – or many others much like her – in a process of recovery.
That novel notion is being carried out by Dr Michael Compton and others who implement the Crisis Intervention Training, a program that trains law enforcement officials on the signs and symptoms of mental illness and how to address these matters in a health-oriented rather than enforcement manner. This program has helped police redirect countless individuals into mental health treatment instead of jails. Indeed, successful CIT programs have emerged all over the country, including in Memphis and Chicago.
The circumstances surrounding Sandra Bland’s death remain unclear. But many who are struggling with a mental illness surround us. Paying attention to the signs and having true engagement with the presenting behaviors can save lives.
This article originally appeared on The Conversation
TIME Ideas hosts the world's leading voices, providing commentary and expertise on the most compelling events in news, society, and culture. We welcome outside contributions. To submit a piece, email [email protected].
AROUND THE WEB
Sponsored Links by
Are There Health Risks When Eating Durians?
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Human soup? Japanese spa offers a ramen noodle bath
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IDEAS BUSINESS
Elon Musk Could Be the Next Henry Ford
W Rocky Newman, Miami University / The Conversation @US_conversation
3:04 PM ET SHARE
Scott Olson—Getty Images
Elon Musk at the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho on July 7, 2015.
Can Tesla revolutionize the world by making an affordable electric car for the masses, much the way Ford did with the Model T?
The share price of Tesla Motors shot up this week after a financial analyst said that the electric vehicle maker is “uniquely positioned to dominate” the auto industry.
Is Tesla, with its tightly integrated supply chain, following the strategy of another one-time dominant automaker – the Ford Motor Company – of more than 100 years ago? Can it revolutionize the world by making an affordable electric car for the masses, much the way Henry Ford did with the Model T in 1908?
Henry Ford took control of his supply chain and made his own parts rather than buy from suppliers, which gave the company the scale needed to improve performance and lower costs. Now Musk is building a new “giga” battery factory, giving Tesla more control over this strategic component. Will it work out the same as it did for Ford?
Putting Ford in the black
In his 1926 book, Today and Tomorrow, Ford claimed his integrated approach was the key to his success (“if you want it done right, do it yourself”). In fact, he claimed to mine iron ore in Minnesota, ship it to the famous River Rouge facility in Detroit and have it sitting as a Model T in a Chicago driveway in 84 hours! However, at the time, complete standardization (yes, Ford is said to have stated “You could have any color you wanted as long as it was black”) was necessary to make this happen. No options were available as they are for today’s cars, but standardization led to lower prices.
Prior to the Model T, the typical car’s sticker price would often hit $2,000, or almost five years of wages, which put cars out of reach for all but the rich. Working to make his car affordable, Ford sold the Model T for $260 by 1926, leading to massive market share – more than 50% of the automobiles on the road worldwide were Ford’s.
Ford also paid his workers a startling $5 per day to reduce employee turnover.
By this time the average working household income had reached about $1,300 per year. That put the Model T at two to four months of a typical factory worker’s wages, something comparable to or less than today’s economy car!
Huxley’s Brave New World and Fordism
Ford’s significance can even be seen in Aldous Huxley’s classic futuristic science fiction work Brave New World from 1932. Huxley anticipated a world with intercontinental rocket plane travel and TV networks, in vitro fertilization, cloning and genetic engineering. Huxley also saw Ford’s approach to be so central to the future that Fordism – Ford’s system of mass production – would become the primary religion!
Huxley correctly saw so many things to come, yet clearly we don’t all worship Henry Ford today. So why did this prediction not come true? Maybe it is because not long after the book was written, the growing design complexity of cars and the demands of customers made Ford’s black-only Model T no longer competitive.
To offer multiple lines of vehicles and options, Ford’s integrated supply chain had to be broken into separate companies supplying specialized sets of products. No one company could handle it all.
Yet by the 1980s, local area networks meant computers could autonomously control machines and make multiple products from the same facility at relatively low costs. Then in the 1990s, the Internet made physical proximity unnecessary for achieving economies of scale since manufacturers didn’t need to control every component in the supply chain.
What Huxley missed, in other words, was the impact of computers and IT innovations, considered one of the key facilitators to modern supply chain management.
What can Musk learn from Ford?
Let’s roll the clock ahead 100 years. Elon Musk and Tesla Motors are looking to bring the electric car to the masses much the way Ford did with the Model T.
Parallels include decisions to build a “giga” factory to make batteries that are currently sourced from Panasonic in Japan, paying a premium wage to workers to reduce turnover, and planning to make an electric vehicle priced for the mass market – the upcoming Model 3.
Even model names – Tesla sells the Model S and soon the Model X – may be more than coincidental. Will it work for Tesla the way it worked for Ford? Does today’s technology allow Tesla to do even more than Ford?
The battery pack is the single most important and expensive component in an electric car. A battery can exceed $15,000 per vehicle (or $500 per kilowatt-hour of capacity). The Nissan Leaf electric car has a 24 kilowatt-hour battery and has an average range of 84 miles.
Some industry experts believe batteries need to cost about $100 per kilowatt-hour and have almost triple the current range to be truly mass market. Achieving that sort of reduction in cost and improvement in performance comes from manufacturing at greater scale, rather than relying to suppliers.
In other words, as Tesla makes more batteries, it gains more opportunities to refine production and product design.
Ford found that out, and Tesla will as well. It plans to use most of the “giga” factory capacity in Reno, Nevada to supply Tesla’s auto assembly plant in Fremont, California, but also make batteries for utilities, homes and businesses.
Because there are common battery designs and production, Tesla will be able to transfer any product and process improvements between batteries for vehicles and the grid. Tesla estimates that they will reduce battery costs by over 30% with the “giga” factory.
Claims that Tesla with pay an average of $25 per hour in Reno have not been confirmed by the company, but the ability to retain high-caliber workers is necessary to leverage the accelerated experience that comes from scale into lower costs and improved design. Ford demonstrated that a long time ago. Tesla appears to have learned that lesson.
What will it take to be the Next Model T (or Model 3!)?
Musk’s public goal of 500,000 cars per year and a $35,000 price tag on the Model 3 will need every bit of output and resulting innovation the “giga” factory creates. Ford’s limitations in communicating along his supply chain meant very little variation in what was done or how things were done.
Today, models for left-side driving, back seats big enough for customers who want a chauffeur, a third row of seats, four doors, two doors add volume but unfortunately bring complexity as well. Today’s computer-controlled process technology makes design variety much more scalable than in 1920. Research and practice show that now, the ability to collaborate with others (within or outside of Tesla) makes physical proximity moot as well.
Unlike Ford, Tesla can use a global supply chain to make a wide variety of products while still pursuing the cost benefits of large-scale manufacturing. At the same time, Tesla can focus on making in-house “core” components, like batteries, with high learning and innovation potential.
Henry Ford had to control it all because even a missing hubcap could stop the line. Musk can now choose to outsource the more commodity-like components where the potential for process or product design improvement is small.
Not there yet
Musk has increased production from 10,000 vehicles in 2012 to a projected 50,000 by the end of 2015. However, forecasts and supply issues for a variety of parts (especially batteries) are causing scheduling hiccups, which has made Wall Street anxious.
While the new “giga” factory coming online in the next couple of years (and others like it) may help achieve many of the needed performance and cost objectives, Tesla is not there yet. Here are three things the company needs to remember to achieve its goal of mass-market electric cars:
First, keep your eye on the core aspects of your business that define your competitive strategy. Tesla making their own batteries fits their strategy of a high-performance, low-cost electric car for the masses. Accumulating experience here moves them toward both volume and cost goals. These are both defined criteria necessary and sufficient for strategic success.
Second, avoid allocating resources to noncore aspects because the payback is not there. Shortages or failures in hubcaps or trunk carpeting are as much problems now for Tesla as for Ford. But you can outsource to supply chain partners far more easily now than then.
Finally, new products or variations of existing ones should be consistent with maintaining your core competency. That is the key to transferring innovation. If adding scale through color choices or design combinations can add to accumulated experience in the core areas without unnecessarily adding to the burden of complexity, great!
Ford’s view on color choice is no longer relevant. But Tesla’s Musk can still learn from Henry Ford’s strategy of making strategic components. Making batteries for home and business can help Tesla fuel more innovations in car batteries and vice versa.
This article originally appeared on The Conversation
TIME Ideas hosts the world's leading voices, providing commentary and expertise on the most compelling events in news, society, and culture. We welcome outside contributions. To submit a piece, email [email protected].
AROUND THE WEB
Sponsored Links by
Tourists watch hungry lions take down prey on African road
Yahoo Travel Inspirations
How are youths today using smart city technology to pursue new…
Hitachi on The Straits Times BrandInsider
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ENTERTAINMENT CELEBRITIES
Sheriffs to Recommend Manslaughter Charges Against Caitlyn Jenner
Associated Press
3:00 PM ET SHARE
Brian van der Bru—Los Angeles Times/Getty Images
LA Sheriff's investigators work an accident scene on PCH where one person was killed and at least seven other people were injured in a four-vehicle crash in that may have been triggered by paparazzi chasing Olympic gold medalist and tabloid star Bruce Jenner on Feb. 7, 2015 in Malibu, Calif.
Investigators found that Jenner was driving "unsafe for the prevailing road conditions"
(LOS ANGELES) — Sheriff’s investigators plan to recommend prosecutors file a vehicular manslaughter charge against Caitlyn Jenner for her role in a fatal car crash on the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu last February.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Nicole Nishida says investigators found that Jenner was driving “unsafe for the prevailing road conditions” because her SUV rear-ended a Lexus, pushing it into oncoming traffic.
The Lexus driver, 69-year-old Kim Howe, was killed when her car was struck head-on by a Hummer.
Nishida says the case will be presented for final review next week. The district attorney will determine what charges Jenner ultimately faces.
If convicted of such a charge, Jenner would face up to one year in county jail.
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Cleveland Clinic Is The Latest Hospital To Dump McDonald’s
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Law Enforcement Should Learn To Recognize the Signs of Mental Illness
Elon Musk Could Be the Next Henry Ford
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SOLUTIONS THAT MATTER
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U.S.
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Tech
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Living
Sports
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TIME Labs
Money
LIFE
The Daily Cut
Photography
Videos
PITTSBURGH: THE COMEBACK
NEXT GENERATION LEADERS
THE 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE
ASK THE EXPERT
KNOW RIGHT NOW
NEW ADVENTURERS
PERSON OF THE YEAR 2014
SHAPING OUR FUTURE
SOLUTIONS THAT MATTER
TIME EXPLAINS
TOP 10 EVERYTHING OF 2014
TOP OF THE WORLD
WONDERS OF THE WORLD
A YEAR IN SPACE
SUBSCRIBE
NEWSLETTERS
FEEDBACK
PRIVACY POLICY
YOUR CALIFORNIA PRIVACY RIGHTS
TERMS OF USE
AD CHOICES
RSS
TIME APPS
TIME FOR KIDS
ADVERTISING
REPRINTS AND PERMISSIONS
SITE MAP
HELP
CUSTOMER SERVICE
© 2015 TIME INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
HEALTH
Cleveland Clinic Is The Latest Hospital To Dump McDonald’s
Benjamin Snyder/Fortune
2:57 PM ET SHARE
Justin Sullivan—Getty Images
A McDonald's employee prepares an order during a one-day hiring event at a McDonald's restaurant on April 19, 2011 in San Francisco, California.
The clinic says it wants to promote healthier options.
A hospital cafeteria probably isn’t the first place you’d think of to get your McDonald’s fix. But after September 18, it will no longer be an available option at the Cleveland Clinic.
The hospital announced it’s cutting ties with the fast food chain in order to promote wellness, NPR reported.
“Cleveland Clinic wants to help patients and visitors and our employees turn to healthier lifestyles and healthier choices,” according to clinic spokeswoman Eileen Sheil to The Salt.
The hospital is reportedly the seventh since 2009 to get rid of a McDonald’s in its cafeteria, according to NPR.
In other McDonald’s news, the chain is hoping to boost sales with a new innovation: Egg McMuffin’s offered all day.
AROUND THE WEB
Sponsored Links by
6 Must-Knows about Cow Milk Allergy in Children
The Asian Parent
Hawker Haute: Singapore Food Festival 2015
Yahoo Travel Inspirations
0
IDEAS SOCIETY
Law Enforcement Should Learn To Recognize the Signs of Mental Illness
Michael Lindsey, New York University / The Conversation @US_conversation
3:22 PM ET SHARE
The Crisis Intervention Training teaches how to address mental illness matters in a health-oriented rather than enforcement manner
The untimely death of Sandra Bland in a rural Texas jail last month has led to many unanswered questions.
Texas prison authorities say Bland hanged herself with a plastic garbage bag in her cell, a claim her family has questioned. Many suspect that Bland was murdered by corrupt law enforcement officials or correctional officers.
Lost in the emotion of yet another tragic death of a young African American in police custody is the real possibility that untreated mental illness led to Sandra Bland’s death.
Regardless of what happened in that Texas jail, Centers for Disease Control data tell us that rates of suicide have seen a steady increase each year since 2000. Suicide is now the 10th leading cause of death among all Americans.
And, while African Americans have lower suicide rates relative to whites, the rate of suicide among African-American males and females has also been climbing each year since 2009.
As a mental health services researcher, I’ve spent years examining factors that prevent vulnerable youth from getting mental health services. My work as a psychotherapist has involved treating folks suffering from depression – folks like Sandra Bland who told police she had tried to commit suicide last year.
The importance of the social network
Sociologist Bernice Pescosolido suggests that mentally ill individuals don’t decide about getting treatment in a vacuum. Those closest to the individual are critical to facilitating entree into care, providing care or doing nothing.
Through my work, I have seen how serious mental illness such as chronic depression or bipolarity can wreak havoc on not just the ill individual, but also on their families and friends. In a sick individual’s social networks, accusations fly. Loved ones duck for cover or they hold back for fear of offending. At this unstable and vulnerable juncture, finding a way to treatment is difficult and staying in treatment is even tougher.
Depression is one of the most debilitating health issues anyone can experience. It is a leading cause of engagement in suicidal behaviors – a precursor, of sorts, to suicide.
At the same time, depression is one of the most successfully treated mental illnesses. Both talk therapies and psychotropic medications are replete with evidence of their successes in the treatment of depression.
The problem is that not enough people with depression actually receive treatment. The numbers vary widely by age and race. Approximately one third of youth with depression receive treatment. That number increases slightly – to about one half – for 20-somethings like Sandra Bland. The lack of care is even more disproportionate in ethnic minority communities relative to white communities. African Americans, Latino Americans and Asian Americans all have lower treatment rates.
My own research indicates these groups are also likely to have greater connections to their families and friends, who pray with them about their condition or offer advice. This might help explain their overall lower rates of suicide relative to whites.
Responsibility of law enforcement
While it is critical for social network members to both see and do something to help their loved ones get connected to treatment, it is equally critical for law enforcement to be trained on how to successfully address interactions with the mentally ill.
Imagine for a moment what would have happened if Sandra Bland had been pulled over by a police officer who was trained to recognize if she was suffering from a mental illness that required immediate attention. Imagine a police officer having the skills to engage Bland – or many others much like her – in a process of recovery.
That novel notion is being carried out by Dr Michael Compton and others who implement the Crisis Intervention Training, a program that trains law enforcement officials on the signs and symptoms of mental illness and how to address these matters in a health-oriented rather than enforcement manner. This program has helped police redirect countless individuals into mental health treatment instead of jails. Indeed, successful CIT programs have emerged all over the country, including in Memphis and Chicago.
The circumstances surrounding Sandra Bland’s death remain unclear. But many who are struggling with a mental illness surround us. Paying attention to the signs and having true engagement with the presenting behaviors can save lives.
This article originally appeared on The Conversation
TIME Ideas hosts the world's leading voices, providing commentary and expertise on the most compelling events in news, society, and culture. We welcome outside contributions. To submit a piece, email [email protected].
AROUND THE WEB
Sponsored Links by
Are There Health Risks When Eating Durians?
Food For Life TV
Human soup? Japanese spa offers a ramen noodle bath
Yahoo Travel Inspirations
0
IDEAS BUSINESS
Elon Musk Could Be the Next Henry Ford
W Rocky Newman, Miami University / The Conversation @US_conversation
3:04 PM ET SHARE
Scott Olson—Getty Images
Elon Musk at the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho on July 7, 2015.
Can Tesla revolutionize the world by making an affordable electric car for the masses, much the way Ford did with the Model T?
The share price of Tesla Motors shot up this week after a financial analyst said that the electric vehicle maker is “uniquely positioned to dominate” the auto industry.
Is Tesla, with its tightly integrated supply chain, following the strategy of another one-time dominant automaker – the Ford Motor Company – of more than 100 years ago? Can it revolutionize the world by making an affordable electric car for the masses, much the way Henry Ford did with the Model T in 1908?
Henry Ford took control of his supply chain and made his own parts rather than buy from suppliers, which gave the company the scale needed to improve performance and lower costs. Now Musk is building a new “giga” battery factory, giving Tesla more control over this strategic component. Will it work out the same as it did for Ford?
Putting Ford in the black
In his 1926 book, Today and Tomorrow, Ford claimed his integrated approach was the key to his success (“if you want it done right, do it yourself”). In fact, he claimed to mine iron ore in Minnesota, ship it to the famous River Rouge facility in Detroit and have it sitting as a Model T in a Chicago driveway in 84 hours! However, at the time, complete standardization (yes, Ford is said to have stated “You could have any color you wanted as long as it was black”) was necessary to make this happen. No options were available as they are for today’s cars, but standardization led to lower prices.
Prior to the Model T, the typical car’s sticker price would often hit $2,000, or almost five years of wages, which put cars out of reach for all but the rich. Working to make his car affordable, Ford sold the Model T for $260 by 1926, leading to massive market share – more than 50% of the automobiles on the road worldwide were Ford’s.
Ford also paid his workers a startling $5 per day to reduce employee turnover.
By this time the average working household income had reached about $1,300 per year. That put the Model T at two to four months of a typical factory worker’s wages, something comparable to or less than today’s economy car!
Huxley’s Brave New World and Fordism
Ford’s significance can even be seen in Aldous Huxley’s classic futuristic science fiction work Brave New World from 1932. Huxley anticipated a world with intercontinental rocket plane travel and TV networks, in vitro fertilization, cloning and genetic engineering. Huxley also saw Ford’s approach to be so central to the future that Fordism – Ford’s system of mass production – would become the primary religion!
Huxley correctly saw so many things to come, yet clearly we don’t all worship Henry Ford today. So why did this prediction not come true? Maybe it is because not long after the book was written, the growing design complexity of cars and the demands of customers made Ford’s black-only Model T no longer competitive.
To offer multiple lines of vehicles and options, Ford’s integrated supply chain had to be broken into separate companies supplying specialized sets of products. No one company could handle it all.
Yet by the 1980s, local area networks meant computers could autonomously control machines and make multiple products from the same facility at relatively low costs. Then in the 1990s, the Internet made physical proximity unnecessary for achieving economies of scale since manufacturers didn’t need to control every component in the supply chain.
What Huxley missed, in other words, was the impact of computers and IT innovations, considered one of the key facilitators to modern supply chain management.
What can Musk learn from Ford?
Let’s roll the clock ahead 100 years. Elon Musk and Tesla Motors are looking to bring the electric car to the masses much the way Ford did with the Model T.
Parallels include decisions to build a “giga” factory to make batteries that are currently sourced from Panasonic in Japan, paying a premium wage to workers to reduce turnover, and planning to make an electric vehicle priced for the mass market – the upcoming Model 3.
Even model names – Tesla sells the Model S and soon the Model X – may be more than coincidental. Will it work for Tesla the way it worked for Ford? Does today’s technology allow Tesla to do even more than Ford?
The battery pack is the single most important and expensive component in an electric car. A battery can exceed $15,000 per vehicle (or $500 per kilowatt-hour of capacity). The Nissan Leaf electric car has a 24 kilowatt-hour battery and has an average range of 84 miles.
Some industry experts believe batteries need to cost about $100 per kilowatt-hour and have almost triple the current range to be truly mass market. Achieving that sort of reduction in cost and improvement in performance comes from manufacturing at greater scale, rather than relying to suppliers.
In other words, as Tesla makes more batteries, it gains more opportunities to refine production and product design.
Ford found that out, and Tesla will as well. It plans to use most of the “giga” factory capacity in Reno, Nevada to supply Tesla’s auto assembly plant in Fremont, California, but also make batteries for utilities, homes and businesses.
Because there are common battery designs and production, Tesla will be able to transfer any product and process improvements between batteries for vehicles and the grid. Tesla estimates that they will reduce battery costs by over 30% with the “giga” factory.
Claims that Tesla with pay an average of $25 per hour in Reno have not been confirmed by the company, but the ability to retain high-caliber workers is necessary to leverage the accelerated experience that comes from scale into lower costs and improved design. Ford demonstrated that a long time ago. Tesla appears to have learned that lesson.
What will it take to be the Next Model T (or Model 3!)?
Musk’s public goal of 500,000 cars per year and a $35,000 price tag on the Model 3 will need every bit of output and resulting innovation the “giga” factory creates. Ford’s limitations in communicating along his supply chain meant very little variation in what was done or how things were done.
Today, models for left-side driving, back seats big enough for customers who want a chauffeur, a third row of seats, four doors, two doors add volume but unfortunately bring complexity as well. Today’s computer-controlled process technology makes design variety much more scalable than in 1920. Research and practice show that now, the ability to collaborate with others (within or outside of Tesla) makes physical proximity moot as well.
Unlike Ford, Tesla can use a global supply chain to make a wide variety of products while still pursuing the cost benefits of large-scale manufacturing. At the same time, Tesla can focus on making in-house “core” components, like batteries, with high learning and innovation potential.
Henry Ford had to control it all because even a missing hubcap could stop the line. Musk can now choose to outsource the more commodity-like components where the potential for process or product design improvement is small.
Not there yet
Musk has increased production from 10,000 vehicles in 2012 to a projected 50,000 by the end of 2015. However, forecasts and supply issues for a variety of parts (especially batteries) are causing scheduling hiccups, which has made Wall Street anxious.
While the new “giga” factory coming online in the next couple of years (and others like it) may help achieve many of the needed performance and cost objectives, Tesla is not there yet. Here are three things the company needs to remember to achieve its goal of mass-market electric cars:
First, keep your eye on the core aspects of your business that define your competitive strategy. Tesla making their own batteries fits their strategy of a high-performance, low-cost electric car for the masses. Accumulating experience here moves them toward both volume and cost goals. These are both defined criteria necessary and sufficient for strategic success.
Second, avoid allocating resources to noncore aspects because the payback is not there. Shortages or failures in hubcaps or trunk carpeting are as much problems now for Tesla as for Ford. But you can outsource to supply chain partners far more easily now than then.
Finally, new products or variations of existing ones should be consistent with maintaining your core competency. That is the key to transferring innovation. If adding scale through color choices or design combinations can add to accumulated experience in the core areas without unnecessarily adding to the burden of complexity, great!
Ford’s view on color choice is no longer relevant. But Tesla’s Musk can still learn from Henry Ford’s strategy of making strategic components. Making batteries for home and business can help Tesla fuel more innovations in car batteries and vice versa.
This article originally appeared on The Conversation
TIME Ideas hosts the world's leading voices, providing commentary and expertise on the most compelling events in news, society, and culture. We welcome outside contributions. To submit a piece, email [email protected].
AROUND THE WEB
Sponsored Links by
Tourists watch hungry lions take down prey on African road
Yahoo Travel Inspirations
How are youths today using smart city technology to pursue new…
Hitachi on The Straits Times BrandInsider
0
ENTERTAINMENT CELEBRITIES
Sheriffs to Recommend Manslaughter Charges Against Caitlyn Jenner
Associated Press
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Brian van der Bru—Los Angeles Times/Getty Images
LA Sheriff's investigators work an accident scene on PCH where one person was killed and at least seven other people were injured in a four-vehicle crash in that may have been triggered by paparazzi chasing Olympic gold medalist and tabloid star Bruce Jenner on Feb. 7, 2015 in Malibu, Calif.
Investigators found that Jenner was driving "unsafe for the prevailing road conditions"
(LOS ANGELES) — Sheriff’s investigators plan to recommend prosecutors file a vehicular manslaughter charge against Caitlyn Jenner for her role in a fatal car crash on the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu last February.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Nicole Nishida says investigators found that Jenner was driving “unsafe for the prevailing road conditions” because her SUV rear-ended a Lexus, pushing it into oncoming traffic.
The Lexus driver, 69-year-old Kim Howe, was killed when her car was struck head-on by a Hummer.
Nishida says the case will be presented for final review next week. The district attorney will determine what charges Jenner ultimately faces.
If convicted of such a charge, Jenner would face up to one year in county jail.
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