Elon Musk has sparked a manufacturing revolution, but no one is paying attention

In addition to electric vehicles and autonomous driving technology, Tesla is also leading innovation in manufacturing. Recently, Jeff Lutz, CEO of Launch I/O, pointed out that Tesla is redefining manufacturing and reshaping factory production models, which may be the company's most influential yet underrated innovation. Lutz stated: “Regarding Tesla, the most overlooked point in the analyst world is not the upcoming new models, nor the much-discussed automation, but Tesla's next product: their entirely new manufacturing approach.” Lutz mentioned that Tesla views factories as products, rethinking the entire production process from first principles—not merely relying on cheap labor or existing models, but fundamentally redesigning the manufacturing process. Specifically, Tesla designs, tests, and refines factories just as it does with its cars, establishing specifications and performance metrics, and this focus on manufacturing efficiency will significantly reduce production costs, potentially bringing them close to zero. Most importantly, this shift in manufacturing methods could set new standards for the entire manufacturing industry. Expert Farzad Mesbahi believes that for decades, many companies have relied solely on cheap labor rather than truly pushing the boundaries of engineering and manufacturing. Tesla's approach represents a completely new manufacturing philosophy that could trigger a transformation across the entire manufacturing sector: “I think many people have not fully recognized this. In the future, whether it's the Cybertruck or the Optimus robot, this method will be used for production.” Lutz predicts that there will be a large-scale localization of manufacturing—while some believe this will lead to increased production costs, Tesla's approach shows that innovative manufacturing methods can actually lower costs through localized production.