Who Cares About Layoffs and Sabotage? All Management in Tesla’s Berlin Gigafactory Cares About Are Missing Coffee Mugs

  • Since its opening, Tesla’s Berlin Gigafactory has faced severe security and labor stability issues.

  • With the challenges facing the factory, its manager has countered with an unusual problem: the disappearance of 65,000 coffee cups.

Tesla’s Berlin Gigafactory manager’s main concern is a few cups
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Tesla is going through one of its most turbulent times. In addition to the already complicated challenge of electrifying the automotive sector, multiple power struggles have broken out between shareholders and the board of directors over the bonus the company paid its CEO Elon Musk. However, the problem that seems to be most worrying to the head of Tesla's Berlin factory is the disappearance of a batch of 65,000 coffee cups.

It’s a complicated time for Tesla. The brand led by Musk has faced negative results over the last quarters, forcing it to implement a budget adjustment plan. This adjustment has involved postponing projects such as its $25,000 electric car as well as a round of layoffs that has affected 10% of its global workforce.

As if all this weren’t enough, one issue in particular is worrying the manager of Tesla’s Gigafactory in Berlin, Andre Thiering: the location of 65,000 cups.

The mystery of the 65,000 cups. Tesla’s Gigafactory in Berlin is experiencing a tense situation with its security team following several attacks and sabotage by far-left groups and the impact of the round of layoffs announced by Musk. However, according to an audio recording leaked by German media outlet Handelsblatt, the manager’s primary concern is the location of a batch of coffee mugs that went missing from Tesla’s warehouse.

“We’ve bought 65,000 coffee cups since we started production here. 65.000! Statistically, each of you already has five Ikea coffee mugs at home.” Thierig told workers at Tesla’s factory in Germany, according to DW, who reacted with astonishment at the triviality of the matter.

The factory with the most workplace accidents but no mugs. IG Metall union representatives who attended the meeting where the leaked audio was recorded brought an agenda that addressed safety and job security issues at Tesla’s Gigafactory in Grünheide, south of Berlin.

According to Reuters, the factory had recorded three times as many workplace accidents as Audi’s Ingolstadt plant. As such, workers demanded improvements in workplace safety and threatened to go on strike “as a last resort” if the accidents weren’t stopped.

Faced with this safety problem, the plant manager said, “I’m really tired of approving orders for more coffee cups.” And promised that there would be no cutlery in the break rooms unless the thefts stopped immediately.

Tesla’s environmental problems in Berlin. The management of Tesla’s Berlin factory certainly has more pressing issues than finding out where 65,000 cups of coffee went. As reported by Electrek, environmentalists are up in arms against the factory because of the massive tree-cutting that took place to expand it and its impact on the area’s aquifers.

In March, a group of activists set fire to a high-voltage transformer near the plant, knocking out power to the factory and 60,000 nearby residents. The attack prompted Musk to visit the German plant to discover what happened. However, it's unlikely that the Tesla CEO will visit the factory to look into disappearance of 65,000 coffee mugs. 

Image | Tesla

Related | Tesla Claimed to Be Able to Produce 20 Million Cars by 2030. Toyota Has Proven It’s Impossible

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