According to Isaacson's biography of Musk, Musk relentlessly challenges the existence of every part in Tesla and SpaceX machines. He's willing to go too far, having to sometimes put a part back in.

Everything in the manufacturing process is also challenged to justify its existence.

This is how he managed to reduce the costs by 90%.

▲

nickff 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

>"According to Isaacson's biography of Musk, Musk relentlessly challenges the existence of every part in Tesla and SpaceX machines."

This removal of surplus-age is common in the automotive industry, and one of the reasons that cars are such an amazing value. It seems like Musk's remarkable ability to achieve cost reductions (at least in the aerospace context) is attributable to his pursuit of vertical integration. Airframers (aeronautical vehicle designers & manufacturer) are bound by the costs dictated by their component suppliers, especially after a configuration has achieved regulatory approval. SpaceX has managed to avoid being 'held hostage' by pseudo-monopoly suppliers.

▲

s1artibartfast an hour ago | parent [-]

yes and no. Like you said, automotive and aviation industries are bound by a lot regulatory and path dependent constraints.

Elon's strength is his willingness to pull the plug and transition away from suboptimal solutions. This is bolstered by his willingness to double down.

Imagine if Boeing said "screw all this recertification technical debt for the 737 MAX airframe, we will start fresh. Customers can take it or leave it"

	▲	InTheArena an hour ago \| parent \| next [-]
		This is exactly correct in the context of the decision as it played out, but stretches and re-engines are very common in commercial airlines. Changing that decision without reinforcing the safety culture probably would have ended in the same place.
	▲	WalterBright 28 minutes ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		The decision to re-engine the 737 rather than design a new airframe saved the airlines a vast amount of money.

▲

WalterBright 30 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I've been inspired by that to refactor my code so that function parameters are minimized (many pass TMI).

▲

nortlov 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Slight aside, he also has driven capability that was challenging to justify existence for, and was later removed re: Dragon 2 propulsive landing via SuperDracos, landing legs, and the ballast sled. I'm sure the Dragonfly programs matured their abort programs, but surely, that was a ton of time and effort wasted.

You win some, you lose some.

	▲	WalterBright 35 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		If you aren't failing now and then, you aren't really trying.