Tesla factory goes 24/7 to hit 6,000 Model 3s per week by June

Tesla, we reported on Monday, briefly shut down production of its mass-market Model 3 car to improve efficiency at both its Fremont factory and at its Gigafactory 1 battery plant. But it looks like Elon Musk has bigger plans.

In an email to Tesla employees obtained by Jalopnik on Tuesday, Musk outlines plans for an added shift, meaning the Fremont plant will begin operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week. By Musk's calculations, this -- along with the upgrades in California and Nevada -- will put Tesla at 5,000 to 6,000 cars per week by June.

It will also translate to a massive hiring surge, with Musk stating that the company will be hiring upwards of 400 people per week between Fremont and Gigafactory 1.

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"Any Tesla department or supplier that is unable to do this will need to have a very good explanation why not, along with a plan for fixing the problem and present that to me directly," Musk said in the email. "If anyone needs help achieving this, please let me know as soon as possible. We are going to find a way or make a way to get there."

Musk also makes it clear that he intends to steer Tesla to profitability by the end of 2018 now that the company has reached economy of scale. He plans to do this by much more carefully monitoring expenditures and reducing costs wherever possible. He say he'll also be keeping a much closer eye on contractors, going so far as to say that those not up to Tesla's standards of excellence will have their contracts terminated in a week's time.

"There is a very wide range of contractor performance, from excellent to worse than a drunken sloth," he says. "All contracting companies should consider the coming week to be a final opportunity to demonstrate excellence. Any that fail to meet the Tesla standard of excellence will have their contracts ended on Monday."

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He also offers tips to increase efficiency, most of which have to do with having fewer and shorter meetings and feeling like it's OK to walk out of a meeting once you've stopped adding to it. He also suggests that communication practices should follow the shortest path from A to B and that a chain of command is counterproductive.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This all sounds pretty serious, but given the gravity of the situation that Tesla finds itself in of late, it comes across as entirely reasonable, even if other responses by the company to recent criticism have not.