Tesla Motors has been producing innovative all$-$electric cars since $2012.$ The company now produces the expensive Model S sedan and the similar Model X sport utility vehicle, together with the lower$-$priced Model $3$ and Model Y sport utility vehicle. Elon Musk, the brilliant CEO of the company, has said that he has confidence that the company can sell $500,000$ cars a year by $2020.$ Given the interest in the Model $3$ and Model Y$,$ some experts think this might be possible.

The fledging Palo Alto, California, automaker has struggled with ramping up manufacturing and has had some difficult quality problems. Tesla tends to make items, such as the seats in the cars, in$-$house rather than outsourcing them, which is done by many car manufacturers.

The issues associated with the production of the cars are a complex combination of mechanical and computer software problems. Popular features of the cars include page $362$driving$-$assist autopilot functions, auto$-$parallel parking, and auto$-$braking. The cars even have an auto$-$summons feature that lets a driver park and retrieve their car with no one inside. Many post$-$production issues have been addressed through software updates downloaded to customers over wireless connections. Other mechanical problems are more difficult to resolve.

TESLA MODEL X FALCON$-$WING DOORS

Oleksiy Maksymenko Photography$/$Alamy Stock Photo

One well$-$publicized problem was when owners complained that the Model X Falcon wing doors would not open reliably. When owners have problems like this, Tesla typically schedules a time to pick up the car for repair and leaves a loaner for use by the customer.

Another issue was a latch on the third$-$row seat that could come undone during a collision. Tesla decided to recall $2,700$ Model X cars to replace the latches with a new design. This recall totally overloaded Tesla$$s service outlets with waits of more than two weeks to make the repair. Some customers were offered rental cars due to the long wait.

So far, customers expect the $$white$-$glove$$ treatment that Tesla currently offers, but a big concern is what Tesla will do when there are hundreds of thousands of vehicles on the road. Mr$.$ Musk$$s Tesla cars have many loyal customers, even though problems have been encountered. But moving from tens of thousands of vehicles to hundreds of thousands may be difficult, unless some major service improvements are made.

Put yourself in the position of a manager at Tesla responsible for quality and customer satisfaction. What would you suggest relative to the following questions?

List and describe all the quality challenges facing Tesla described in the case study. Using at least two reputable $($not Wikipedia$)$ online sources, what other quality problems did the Model X face?

List all of the analytical quality tools available to Tesla. Match four of the challenges facing Tesla you detailed in question $1$ to four different quality tools, and describe why your tool of choice would be the best tool to address each of your four challenges.

What is benchmarking? How might benchmarking help Tesla with their quality challenges? List three companies Tesla could ask to benchmark and, assuming each company agreed, describe what Tesla could benchmark against each company.

What role would a $$champion$$ play in addressing the quality challenges facing Tesla?

What other suggestions would you have for Tesla relative to ensuring the quality of their Model X sport utility vehicle?