Two high-ranking engineers in charge of production automation at Tesla have left the company.
According to Jalopnik, engineers Jason Mendez and Will McColl both recently left Tesla for unknown reasons. Mendez had been with the company since 2005 and held the position of senior director for manufacturing engineering when he departed. McColl, meanwhile, was a senior manager for equipment engineering.
In a post on his LinkedIn page, McColl confirmed his departure from the California-based electric vehicle maker.
“The news seems to be out: last Friday I resigned from Tesla. It was an action-packed 7 years of automation equipment design and I will truly miss the team. I will treasure our countless moments of laughter as we fearlessly dismantled the edifice of ‘impossible!’ I’m continually inspired by my colleagues’ resolve, and I wish them strength as they ramp and refine Model 3. It’s an amazing car!” he wrote.
SEE ALSO: What Would Make a Tesla Pickup Truck Successful?
A source told Jalopnik both Mendez and McColl worked on the Model 3 production line, but it’s not clear if their departures are linked to the vehicle’s troubled production ramp. Tesla had hoped to be building 5,000 Model 3s per week by the end of 2017, but has since pushed that milestone back to the end of Q2 of this year. In a statement, the company said it expects “to have a slightly more gradual ramp through Q1, likely ending the quarter at a weekly rate of about 2,500 Model 3 vehicles.”
[Source: Jalopnik]
The post High Ranking Production Automation Engineers Bail on Tesla appeared first on AutoGuide.com News.