Within 22 months, Tesla’s Gigafactory was in Grünheide. Former boss Harald Schlarb gives insights into the construction and tells what it’s like to work with Elon Musk.
Harald Schlarb spent most of his career at Daimler before moving to Tesla in 2020. He was one of the minds behind the Gigafactory near Berlin and was responsible for the planning and construction of the Tesla factory.
Schlarb came to Tesla through a close employee of Elon Musk, who is responsible for automotive matters for him. That’s what he says in the latest episode of Royal GS with Martin Eyerer (Ex-CEO Factory Berlin, entrepreneur, techno DJ) and Nikita Fahrenholz (Founder of Delivery Hero & Fahrengold).
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The Gigafactory in Grünheide was built within two years. The first electric cars were produced there in 2022. When Schlarb started two years earlier, Tesla had already selected the site, he says. He initially worked with four others in Tesla’s design office near Berlin’s Ostbahnhof, before the team grew larger and larger – to include thousands of employees.
About working with Elon Musk
Schlarb also exchanged a lot with Elon Musk – mainly via video conferences, but also in person. What is it like working with Musk? The Tesla boss is not the type for small talk, says Schlarb.
“His topic is basically efficiency. So if the car needs a change and the factory needs a change so that the customer has an advantage, then that will be done,” says Schlarb. “And if a wall is moved, that’s what will be done.” Musk is flexible, fast and bears the risk. Schlarb describes him as “fact-oriented and product-oriented”.
And Musk also follows a few principles when it comes to meetings and emails. For example: “If you don’t contribute anything in a meeting, you have an obligation to leave the meeting,” says Schlarb. “When you write emails, you have an obligation not to attach any attachments.” Instead, graphics and slides should be put directly into the email so that Musk only has to scroll over and see directly what the email is asking about.
The Gigafactory
According to Schlarb, the Gigafactory cannot be compared with classic automotive workshops. The approach is to have everything on site, where it is needed. That’s why there are containers with car parts right next to the factory hall. Where which parts are located is managed digitally. The parts come from the container to the assembly line, so to speak, without traditional warehouses. “Warehouse on Wheels,” is how Schlarb describes it.
Musk is currently planning to further expand the factory in Grünheide. The fact that it could only be built in two years was mainly due to the fact that processes such as construction, planning and approval ran in parallel, says Schlarb.
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