Financial Performance Management

**** Writers: kindly place your bid for this order Instructions to Students for the submission of this Coursework Task 1. Submission will be via the online portal on the module Blackboard site. This can be found in the Assessments Section of the site. You may submit up to two times to the Portal by the deadline - the last submission will be the one that is marked. 2. You must also submit your assignment to the Turnitin FINAL portal. IMPORTANT You MUST submit to BOTH the online submission portal AND the Turnitin FINAL portal by the deadline. Work submitted to only one portal will NOT be marked. Turnitin - the Turnitin portals are available in the Assessment Section of Blackboard Before the deadline, you can use the "Turnitin - Draft Submission" portal to check whether you have correctly used and referenced your sources of information. You can use the "Turnitin - Draft Submission" portal more than once. When your assignment is completed, you must submit the final version to the "Turnitin - FINAL" portal. You can only submit your assignment once to the FINAL portal. Guidance on how to use Turnitin is posted on the Blackboard site in the Assessments section. Deadline time You must not leave the submission to the last few minutes. If your file is uploaded onto the On-line Submission Portal from 1 second after 3.00 pm on 8th March 2022, it will be classified as LATE and the mark-reduction penalty will be applied. Hence, please allow time for the file upload and any unexpected problems with the computer and the Internet. Last minute rush often leads to mistakes and problems. Extensions Module tutors cannot grant extensions. If you have valid reasons to request for an extension, you need to apply well before the deadline through the on-line extension system on MyHallam and evidence is required. Poor time management, IT problems, loss of memory sticks/laptop and no internet connection will not be accepted as valid reasons. Assessment Task 1 Details You are required to research Tesla, to understand their current position in the market and their current stance on quality within the business as a whole. Here are two articles to get you started: Tesla is diving deeper into automated quality control to fix ongoing build problems Rob Stumpf (23rd January 2023) Link: Tesla Article 1 Tesla hasn't exactly had a glowing reputation regarding quality control. Whether missing suspension bolts, panel gaps, glass roofs flying off, or crucial components cobbled together with fake wood, there seems to be a stigma that the company can't quite shake. It seems like these items should be something that an automaker has addressed after nearly 15 years of building cars, right? Well, better late than never, apparently. Tesla is working to implement new automated quality control measures to address its ongoing quality issues. via Tesla Tesla has previously listed an open position on its employment site for a "Quality Inspection Engineer." The job description states that the candidate would be part of Tesla's Vision Automation team. Specifically, the position will "contribute to Tesla’s in-house efforts to purpose-build automated inspection systems." The job description hints that Tesla already has some of these automated inspection systems in its arsenal, though the effectiveness of these systems may have room for improvement—something the candidate is responsible for finding and contributing to. In addition to the job posting, Teslarati recently uncovered a permit application filed by Tesla to install an “Automatic Inspection System" at its facility in Fremont, California. The permit states that it is for the “[i]nstallation of power and structural anchorage to support two new robots required to automate fascia inspection.” This isn't the first time that Tesla has dabbled in automation. After all, the company has set out to solve its flavor of full self-driving. This extends to the factory floor, where Tesla has previously heavily relied on robots to build its cars. CEO Elon Musk said in 2018 that this reliance on robots and automation was "excessive" and a "mistake," even going as far as to call humans "underrated" in the automobile building process. Whether robots will fix Tesla's ongoing quality control problems may take some time. For now, several pre-delivery checklists exist for customers who plan to assess whether their would-be vehicle has been properly QC-checked at the factory. Ideally, the problems outlined in these checklists would be resolved before the vehicle made its way to the consumer. That may one day happen using Tesla's improved automated quality control assessment tech. Elon Musk admits Tesla has quality problems - CNN Chris Isidore (3rd February 2021) Link: Tesla Article 2 Critics have slammed Tesla for Model 3 quality issues for years. And now CEO Elon Musk is admitting even his harshest critic was right. In early 2018 engineering consultant Sandy Munro, who tears apart and reverse-engineers’ cars to assess quality, issued a brutal appraisal of the Model 3 citing "flaws that we would see on a Kia in the '90s." He noted inconsistencies such as uneven gaps between exterior panels and paint job issues, telling Autoline, "I can't imagine how they released this." Surprisingly Musk, who has often bristled at criticism, agrees. "I thought your criticism was accurate," Musk told Munro in an interview that aired Tuesday on the YouTube channel and podcast "Munro Live." In the interview Musk also admitted that it might not be a good idea to buy a Tesla during a new model's ramp-up period. Munro's "Kia" critique came when Tesla was still struggling to meet early production targets for the Model 3. Musk's admission is quite a warning considering that the company is getting ready to start production of the Cybertruck pickup late this year, and is set to open new plants outside of Austin, Texas, and Berlin, Germany. "Friends ask, 'When should I buy a Tesla?'" Musk said. "Well, either buy it right at the beginning or when production reaches steady state. During that production ramp, it's super hard to be in vertical climb mode and get everything right on the details." Munro also questioned Musk about quality control problems more recently. He bought a 2021 Model 3 late last year and compared it to a Model 3 someone else purchased a month later -- and saw significant improvement. "At the end of the day, this guy's car was fabulous ... as good as anybody could possibly do," Munro said. "I just don't understand. Mine was built this month, his was built a month later. Mine had problems. His was perfect." Musk said Tesla continued to make progress even as recently as December of last year, noting that the company is finding issues more quickly as the pace of production continues to speed up. "When you go faster, you just discover these things," he said. "If we knew them in advance, we'd fix them in advance." Tesla recalls 135,000 cars after pushing back against regulators Musk also discussed some other challenges that the company has previously experienced. After Munro praised the seats in the Model 3 as the most comfortable, he has ever experienced in a car, Musk volunteered that he used to refer to the seat in the early Model S, one of the company's first vehicles, as a "stone toadstool." "The early Model Ss probably had the worst seat of any car I ever sat in," Musk said. Munro isn't the only one to highlight quality control problems at Tesla. Consumer Reports, which has praised the design of many Tesla models, said poor quality control -- including hair embedded in paint jobs -- meant it could not recommend its newest vehicle, the Model Y SUV. Of the four vehicles Tesla currently sells, only the Model 3 has the coveted "recommended" rating from Consumer Reports, although it briefly lost that designation in early 2019.