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The Lean Machine: How Harley-Davidson Drove Top-Line Growth and Profitability with Revolutionary Lean Product Development
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 existence
In The Lean Machine, you will learn about their secret weapon and go-to formula for outstanding success as well
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.
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 existence
In The Lean Machine, you will learn about their secret weapon and go-to formula for outstanding success as well
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.
274 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 13, 2010
73 people are currently reading
450 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
January 4, 2019
A great read to understand lean principles in a context
This book is really approachable. I would have given it 5 stars but it could have used another round of editing to clean up duplicated content, use much better graphs/charts to underscore the authors point (graphics more often than not were not helpful in the kindle edition - better in print?) and to more closely align the reader to the internal elapsed timescale at Harley. The reader looses site of how long the journey is until the last chapter.
Having said this the key learnings in this book around lean, product development and learning cycles are not to be missed especially if you are in the world of SAFe.
This book is really approachable. I would have given it 5 stars but it could have used another round of editing to clean up duplicated content, use much better graphs/charts to underscore the authors point (graphics more often than not were not helpful in the kindle edition - better in print?) and to more closely align the reader to the internal elapsed timescale at Harley. The reader looses site of how long the journey is until the last chapter.
Having said this the key learnings in this book around lean, product development and learning cycles are not to be missed especially if you are in the world of SAFe.
January 21, 2021
Another fundamental book to the SAFe framework. This books reads almost like a novel, but still dives deep into detail of product development. While you would think that this book only applies to hardwar based products, the idea of product development here is generic and can be applied to any product hardware or software. It has been written many years ago and it would be great to read a revised version with how Harley-Davidson has continued it‘s journey. Yet it is still relevant today.
June 8, 2019
More technical at some points and less accessible than a few other books in this space, but one of the best I've read in taking you on a compelling authentic journey of a company transforming itself. It's not a Lencioni style fictional tale. Rather, it's a real story in all its slightly more tedious details. But it is extremely well written and shines the light of deeply relatable classic errors found in many companies.
Most importantly, it does not peddle simplistic, silver bullet, pre-fab solutions. Instead, it squarely confronts us all to accept responsibility for our own continuous learning. They lead us by example in how we can each continuously improve our own corporate cultures and processes.
Powerful design and development patterns are shared, but they are not plug and play. You have to work together to apply them to your context.
Most importantly, it does not peddle simplistic, silver bullet, pre-fab solutions. Instead, it squarely confronts us all to accept responsibility for our own continuous learning. They lead us by example in how we can each continuously improve our own corporate cultures and processes.
Powerful design and development patterns are shared, but they are not plug and play. You have to work together to apply them to your context.
September 7, 2017
Very little real content or ideas that can be applied in a company, too slow and repetitive for me. I love reading different types of books and I'm very interested in the topic but this book took me months to finish. My favourite part were the quotes at the beginning of each chapter. I don't understand why this book is so much on fashion in big companies.
December 5, 2020
Just a little dated now, but this book is a fantastic read on Agile development that is obviously more focused on hardware and manufacturing than software. Oosterwal takes you through Harley-Davidson's learning journey to improve their product development flow. I highly recommend this book for anyone looking at Agile development in a non-software context.
March 4, 2023
Very inspiring! This is a book for those who want to learn about the application of Lean principles in product development. In traditional PD methods, testing is inspection, redesign loops are rework, and both are waste. Lean focuses on learning and experimentation. Test before Design! Create cadence and flow through learning cycles, instead of gates.
September 7, 2024
I think the content is quite interesting and informative. Definitely works for learning processes. However, it can become very dense in different parts of the book, which makes it hard to keep track without re-reading sections.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 7, 2019
It was the perfect book to get introduced into the world of lean product development
July 11, 2020
SAFe
Les bases du Scaled Agile Framework SAFe
Ce livre a inspiré Dean Leffingwell dans la création de SAFe. En tant que formateur SAFe c'est une inspiration.
Les bases du Scaled Agile Framework SAFe
Ce livre a inspiré Dean Leffingwell dans la création de SAFe. En tant que formateur SAFe c'est une inspiration.
February 26, 2021
Leseempfehlung bei einer SAFe Schulung. Herzig, langweilig, lest was besseres!
January 23, 2022
Not very technical
I was expecting to read into a bit more details about the philosophy which went behind the transformation. But it continued to stay at a very high level
I was expecting to read into a bit more details about the philosophy which went behind the transformation. But it continued to stay at a very high level
March 27, 2018
La description faite de ce livre par l'auteur du framework SAFe mettait la barre assez haut. Finalement, je trouve ça assez mal écrit et ça manque un peu de linéarité. Beaucoup moins bon que "The Goal"... Quelques bonnes idées à prendre sur l'intégration complexe du Lean dans un process de développement de produit, notamment les "set-bases design" et le fonctionnement en Pull pour forcer les intégrations des composants entre eux.
October 4, 2010
An intriguing spin through Harley-Davidson’s production cycle
The Harley-Davidson Motor Company revels in the marketing image it has crafted and maintained for more than a century. Mere mention of the motorcycle giant conjures up visions of tattooed, muscle-bound renegades blazing an intimidating trail on the nation’s highways. Harley’s corporate environment exists in stark contrast to this image. Their staff features progressive, astute individuals who enjoy a stellar reputation for innovative business practices. Author Dantar P. Oosterwal, Harley’s former director of product development, is eminently qualified to critique the organization’s operation. To his credit, Oosterwal resists engaging in self-congratulatory back-slapping. Instead, he presents a backstage tour of Harley-Davidson, expounding on its philosophies, procedures and problem-solving methods. Oosterwal, who earned a master’s degree in management at MIT, focuses on business theories and dynamics, not personalities. While the book is not necessarily geared toward novice professionals, getAbstract nevertheless believes that Oosterwal’s mantra should resonate loudly within corporations everywhere: Practice innovation and emphasize quality – or risk extinction.
To learn more about this book, read the following online summary: http://www.getabstract.com/summary/12...
The Harley-Davidson Motor Company revels in the marketing image it has crafted and maintained for more than a century. Mere mention of the motorcycle giant conjures up visions of tattooed, muscle-bound renegades blazing an intimidating trail on the nation’s highways. Harley’s corporate environment exists in stark contrast to this image. Their staff features progressive, astute individuals who enjoy a stellar reputation for innovative business practices. Author Dantar P. Oosterwal, Harley’s former director of product development, is eminently qualified to critique the organization’s operation. To his credit, Oosterwal resists engaging in self-congratulatory back-slapping. Instead, he presents a backstage tour of Harley-Davidson, expounding on its philosophies, procedures and problem-solving methods. Oosterwal, who earned a master’s degree in management at MIT, focuses on business theories and dynamics, not personalities. While the book is not necessarily geared toward novice professionals, getAbstract nevertheless believes that Oosterwal’s mantra should resonate loudly within corporations everywhere: Practice innovation and emphasize quality – or risk extinction.
To learn more about this book, read the following online summary: http://www.getabstract.com/summary/12...
January 31, 2017
A wonderful book on how Harley-Davidson used lean ideas in product development. The most important insight the book quotes from the Lean guru Jim Womack is "Don't bring lean manufacturing upstream to product development" and Allen War's words that "Phase gate is evil!". Even though there have been umpteen number of advances in knowledge-based product development in the recent times, I think the book provides a solid foundation for the same.
April 25, 2017
A good introduction to knowledge-based product development
The book provides good insights about how Harley-Davidson has successfully improved its product development process. Most of the problems described are well known by the community and the author has done a very good job in explaining them. However, when it comes to the solutions taken to fix those problems, the book is very superficial. Only short, generic descriptions are provided. The oobeya implementation, for instance, is highlighted as one of the main enablers of the structural changes that increased the product development rate. But, I've finished the book without a good understanding of how the oobeya has been implemented. This is the main reason for I rating the book with 3 stars.
The book provides good insights about how Harley-Davidson has successfully improved its product development process. Most of the problems described are well known by the community and the author has done a very good job in explaining them. However, when it comes to the solutions taken to fix those problems, the book is very superficial. Only short, generic descriptions are provided. The oobeya implementation, for instance, is highlighted as one of the main enablers of the structural changes that increased the product development rate. But, I've finished the book without a good understanding of how the oobeya has been implemented. This is the main reason for I rating the book with 3 stars.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews