Tesla, the U.S. electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer, is confronting an internal issue at its Grunheide plant near Berlin, where approximately 65,000 coffee cups have gone missing, as reported by Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) on Thursday.
During a staff meeting on Monday, factory manager Andre Thierig addressed the situation, playfully noting, “Statistically, each of you already has five Ikea coffee cups at home,” according to the Handelsblatt business newspaper citing a recording of the meeting on Wednesday.
Thierig clarified that his comments were not meant as an accusation but rather highlighted the puzzling disappearance of the cups. In addition to this issue, he discussed plans for a new gym facility for the plant’s roughly 12,000 employees.
Over time, Tesla had provided numerous coffee cups for its workforce, but the whereabouts of the cups remain unclear, a common issue not unique to Tesla but seen in other companies as well. The decision on whether to replace the missing cups has yet to be finalized.
In response to cutlery disappearing from small kitchens at the plant, Tesla has ceased providing these items and instead introduced recyclable cups.
Led by tech mogul Elon Musk, Tesla inaugurated its first and only electric car factory in Europe in Grunheide over two years ago. The company is in the process of expanding production and is currently undergoing approval procedures in the state of Brandenburg.