Year 12 IB Extended Essays 2018

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Case Study :

Musk once asked an employee to source an actuator for the Falcon 1:

"Naturally, [Davis] went out to find some suppliers... He got a quote back for $120,000," Vance wrote. "'Elon laughed,' Davis said. 'He said, 'That part is no more complicated than a garage door opener. Your budget is $5,000. Go make it work.''- Ashlee Vance 34 . He literally asked his employee to produce an actuator twenty-four times cheaper than what it cost to source. The result: “Davis spent nine months designing and building the thing for a grand total of $3,900.” Repeat that process hundreds of times, and you’ve got a rocket that’s cheaper…, just as reliable as anything that’s ever been made” – Ashlee Vance 35 For that reason, SpaceX can minimize cost significantly unlike their competitors. There is no doubt that this is another important aspect Musk implements which contributes towards SpaceX’s success.

34 " How Elon Musk Willed Spacex Into Making The Cheapest Rockets Ever Created", Motherboard, Last modified 2018, https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/kbz5jv/how-elon-musk-willed-spacex-into-making-the-cheapest-rockets- ever-created. 35 " How Elon Musk Willed Spacex Into Making The Cheapest Rockets Ever Created", Motherboard, Last modified 2018, https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/kbz5jv/how-elon-musk-willed-spacex-into-making-the-cheapest-rockets- ever-created.