How Harley-Davidson uses cross-functional teams
By Mark Brunelli -- Purchasing, 11/4/1999
Cross-functional teams are at the heart of every motorcycle produced by Harley-Davidson Motor Co.All the way from conception and design of a motorcycle to its production and product launch--teams of buyers, suppliers, manufacturing engineers, and beyond will all have their voices heard, says Leroy Zimdars, Harley-Davidson's director of supply chain management.
"We utilize [cross-functional teams] in a lot of different areas," says Zimdars. "In the purchasing areas and in product development, cross-functional teams are kind of a way of life."
For several years now, says Zimdars, Harley-Davidson has recognized the need to be able to produce quality, reliable products within target production costs. He says the best way to accomplish this goal is to engage all those responsible for building motorcycles.
"We link together our design people to our suppliers, and then we also engage our manufacturing engineers. That's how we develop products," says Zimdars.
Zimdars says there is a different cross-functional team responsible for each line of Harley-Davidson Motorcycles. Those platform teams are responsible for the life cycle of their particular line. Each platform team consists of a program manager who is generally from the design community, as well as a manufacturing lead, a purchasing lead, and a marketing lead.
Once the platform team decides, based on information from many sources, what the general design and style of the bike will be, the project is then turned over to the company's engineering center of expertise.
The center of expertise is a cross-functional team in itself. It consists of purchasing professionals, engineers, suppliers, and others who work together to integrate all design components in a cost-effective, high-quality manner.
Once the design is done, the platform team is responsible for getting the design into production and getting the end product into the hands of customers. The platform team also is responsible for accumulating and analyzing field reports, surveys of owner satisfaction levels, and marketing information.
"They're responsible for the success of the motorcycle in the marketplace," says Zimdars.
Zimdars says that many times throughout this process, a member of the platform team or the center of expertise will bring in an "ad hoc" team member to help the group. For instance, he says, if the group runs into a financial problem they might bring in one of the companies cost analysts, or if there is a perceived problem with how the finished product will look, a style expert could be asked to join the team.
Of course, with all those folks working together from different departments, there's bound to be some tension when one wants something that another cannot deliver.
"We call it creative friction," says Zimdars. "In reality there's always the feeling that 'my voice needs to be heard' and there is a real balance that needs to be made."
Zimdars says that when there is a squabble, it is usually because someone feels they can't deliver what's needed for whatever reason, whether it's money, time, supply, or design constraints. He says these situations generally resolve themselves because the team will come up with a new way to deliver whatever aspect of the design was in question, and that can involve compromise or a change in a particular process, or both.
Also, since Harley-Davidson has been utilizing cross-functional teams for quite a while, most of the workers there are familiar with the quality products such cooperation can deliver. The end product serves as encouragement to keep the teams together and running efficiently.
Note: Zimdars will be giving a forty-five minute luncheon presentation on Tuesday, December 14 at the Cahners-Tracom Conference to be held at the Drake Hotel in Chicago. He'll speak about the challenges of creating and working in cross-functional teams and how various challenges can be met and problems overcome. For conference registration information, refer to the box on this page.
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