The Lean Machine : How Harley-Davidson Drove Top-Line Growth and Profitability with Revolutionary Lean Product Development

There may be no more iconic American brand than Harley-Davidson. But like many storied companies, Harley has had to evolve to stay on top and at times its very existence has been threatened. Practically extinct in the mid-1980's, the company began a miraculous turnaround centered on a product development and manufacturing revolution. With dramatic improvements in efficiency and bottom-line results, Harley returned to dominance. At the core of this incredible story was author Dantar Oosterwal, who brings the transformation of Harley-Davidson to life in "The Lean Machine". Filled with crucial lessons for any product development environment, it's also a great American success story. Contents......Page 8 Acknowledgments......Page 12 Introduction......Page 14 1 Working Hard......Page 20 Springtime in Paris......Page 21 The Concurrent Product Development Process......Page 23 A Reality Check......Page 26 Unexpected Competition......Page 27 Problems Late in the Development Process......Page 29 2 The Harley-Davidson Environment......Page 44 Harley-Davidson Was Different......Page 46 We Fulfill Dreams......Page 49 Lessons from the Dark Days......Page 52 The Circle Organization......Page 55 Consensus-Driven Organization......Page 57 The Harley-Davidson Business Process......Page 58 Organizational Learning......Page 60 3 Harley-Davidson’s Product Development Leadership Learning Team......Page 62 The PDL[sup(2)]T Journey......Page 65 Learning Organizations......Page 66 4 The PDL[sup(2)]T......Page 80 Systems Thinking......Page 83 Learning to See the Product Development System......Page 86 Learningful Conversations......Page 89 Creating Shared Vision......Page 94 5 Firefighting and the Tipping Point......Page 99 The MIT Connection......Page 100 Firefighting......Page 101 The Tipping Point......Page 102 Past the Tipping Point......Page 103 Lessons from Beyond the Brink......Page 110 6 Cadence and Flow, Bins and Swirl......Page 113 The Outstanding Corporate Innovator......Page 116 Product Development Flow......Page 118 Product Development Cadence......Page 119 The Application of Cadence and Flow......Page 123 Bins......Page 126 Heuristic Rules of Thumb......Page 130 The Innovation Swirl......Page 132 7 Supply and Demand......Page 135 The System Dynamics Model of the Motorcycle Business......Page 141 Generating Product Demand......Page 145 Developing New Products......Page 147 8 A Left Turn: Implementing Lean Principles in Product Development......Page 150 Don’t Bring Lean Manufacturing Upstream......Page 152 The Roots of Knowledge-Based Product Development......Page 155 The Systems Approach to Flight......Page 157 Work Smarter, Not Harder......Page 162 9 The Product Development Limit Curve......Page 164 Haste Makes Waste......Page 166 Bad Systems Beat Good People......Page 169 Design Rework Loops......Page 171 Product Development Is Predictable......Page 172 10 Integration Points and False Positive Feasibility......Page 177 False Positive Feasibility......Page 181 Design Cycles and Integration Points......Page 183 11 Learning Cycles......Page 186 The Learning Cycle......Page 189 Set-Based Product Development......Page 193 12 Set-Based Design......Page 198 A New Framework for Product Development......Page 202 The Second Piece of the Limit Curve Puzzle......Page 203 13 Leadership Learning and Pull Events......Page 212 The Leadership Learning Change Model......Page 213 Early Pull Events......Page 218 Creating Leverage Through Pull Events......Page 222 14 Quickening Product Development......Page 225 Railroad Planning versus Combat Planning......Page 226 Establishing and Using Help Chains......Page 229 Using Visual Management......Page 231 Collaboration Using the Oobeya Process......Page 236 The Oobeya Process......Page 240 The Wall......Page 245 Quickening the Pace of Innovation......Page 249 16 Knowledge-Based Product Development......Page 253 Indications of Success......Page 256 Creating Change......Page 260 Notes......Page 264 C......Page 268 G......Page 269 M......Page 270 P......Page 271 S......Page 272 W......Page 273 In this insider guide, former Harley-Davidson executive Dantar Oosterwal offers an exclusive look at how Harley-Davidson was able to adapt in an ever-changing world to stay on top and stay in existence.From near-extinction in the early eighties, Harley-Davidson rose to worldwide recognition and is still today one of the great, iconic American motorcycle brands. In this insider guide, former Harley-Davidson executive Dantar Oosterwal offers an exclusive look at how Harley-Davidson was able to adapt in an ever-changing world to stay on top and stay in existenceIn The Lean Machine, you will learn about their secret weapon and go-to formula for outstanding success as well as:the day-to-day transformation at Harley-Davidsontheir adapted Knowledge-Based Product Developmentidentifies universal change and improvement issues so that any company can incorporate thisRooted in Japanese productivity improvement techniques, the Knowledge-Based Product Development method helped Harley realize an unprecedented fourfold increase in throughput in half the time--powering annual growth of more than ten percent.The Lean Machine is part business journal, part analysis, and part step-by-step toolkit that will help companies in all industries achieve predictably excellent results. Some things never change. Harley-Davidson is still the great, iconic American motorcycle. But like many storied companies, Harley has had to evolve to stay on top, even to stay in existence. From near-extinction in the early eighties, it has risen to worldwide recognition for management excellence and innovation. The Lean Machine is an inside look at how Harley-Davidson was able to adapt in an ever-changing world and accelerate product development. Rooted in Japanese productivity improvement techniques, Knowledge-Based Product Development helped fuel Harleys incredible period of sustained growth. Even after the company earned the PDMA Corporate Innovator Award in 2003, Dantar Oosterwal, a Harley-Davidson executive, took the improvement a quantum leap further. By implementing Lean Product Development techniques, Harley realized an unprecedented fourfold increase in throughput in half the time, powering annual growth of more than ten percent. In The Lean Machine , Oosterwal shows the day-to-day transformation at Harley and identifies universal change and improvement issues, so that companies in any industry can incorporate Knowledge-Based Innovationwith predictably excellent results. Shows the day-to-day transformation at Harley and identifies universal change and improvement issues, so that companies in any industry can incodporate knowledge-based innovation with predictably excellent results The extraordinary leadership qualities of a great but unsung hero