To say it's David vs. Goliath is an understatement.

Erik Buell started Buell Motorcycles in 1993 in a small shop in tiny East Troy, Wis. to produce sport motorcycles—a field that had been totally taken over by Japanese giants such as Honda and Yamaha. Buell literally built bikes one-by-one until Harley-Davidson, based in nearby Milwaukee, injected cash in an effort to broaden its product line beyond its famous hogs.

Buell is growing rapidly, powered by a new approach to bike engineering that includes suppliers at the earliest stages of design—well before initial prototype development. The role of suppliers at Buell is reminiscent of product development at Chrysler in the Thomas Stallkamp heyday, when new projects like the Viper were rolled out on the backs of supplier sweat equity.

It's the role of a special corps of purchasing engineers, led by Lars E. LaVine—a West Point-trained engineer—to make sure designers have access to the latest process technology.

The effort yielded a series of design coups in the Buell Firebolt XB9R that will arrive in dealer showrooms later this year.

Value analysis projects resulted in significant breakthroughs in metals and plastics—including a spectacular injection molded magnesium piece—that would be remarkable for a Ford or a General Motors, let alone a fledgling sports bike builder in the fields of Wisconsin. The spirit of innovation and powerful role of VA at Buell is something the giant OEMs might need to re-learn.

The new front module, which houses twin projector beam headlamps, instrument panel, electrical components, and fairing, is produced in a special injection molding machine using a strong, inherently shielded magnesium alloy. The process is called Thixomolding. It was developed at MIT, and ironically widely implemented in the 1990s in Japan—not the US. Even more ironically, LaVine had just rolled out a global sourcing inititiative, but found the best supplier right in Wisconsin— Phillips Plastics of Menomonee.

In the Thixomolding process, metal chips are fed into a barrel fitted with a rotating screw, which breaks conventional dendretic formations in metal structures so the resulting melt stream flows more easily. "This allows the Thixomolding process to fill mold cavities easily, even while in a semi-solid state," says Ralph Vining, director of engineering at Thixomat, an Ann Arbor-Mich.-based company that owns all rights to the technology. "Process temperatures are lower than with die casting, resulting in fewer stresses, " he adds. Additionally, Thixomolded parts can be made to net shape.

Thixomolding is not a drop-in replacement for die casting. Experts at Thixomat and Phillips recommend that a part be designed for Thixomolding to take advantage of its properties.

That's what happened at Buell after Purchasing Engineer Greg Carlson discovered the process late last year after a technology search on the Internet. He introduced the idea to an engineering team that included Michael Samarzja, manager of industrial design; Ed Weston, styled surface engineering manager; Abraham Askenazi, manager of the Analysis Department; and Scot Ferguson, purchasing engineer and platform leader.

Samarza said the designers wanted the Firebolt to have a more fluid look that blended in better with the flow of the motorcycle than was possible with an early concept using a metal fabrication for the front module. "Also, the early fabricated parts we were looking at were very complex."

The front module (also called the fairing mount) in Buell's S2 model in 1995-96 weighed 3 pounds, 15 ounces and had 22 parts. The module used in the next model weighed 3 pounds, 2 ounces and had 10 pieces of steel that were fabricated and welded. The Thixomolded module is one piece and weighs 2 pounds, 6 ounces.

Final piece cost was not clear because Phillips was still testing the mold during Purchasing's visit in late August. LaVine felt per-piece costs would drop better than 50%, however.

"The added benefit of the magnesium alloy is that it is inherently shielded from electrical interference," says Ferguson. Adds Weston, "that's important because we incorporated a lot of electronics in the module."

The Buell team had earlier explored use of a molded plastic piece for the application. Plastics would have required a long-fiber process plus special shielding for electromagnetic interference. "Another factor is that it would have been difficult to hold dimensions on this piece in plastic," adds Donovan P. Doughty, project engineer for a new Phillips subsidiary focusing on magnesium injection molding.

Thixomolding allowed Buell to design the part with a variable wall thickness, another feature that would have been close to impossible in the type of plastic compound that would have been required. Weston also noted there are no sinkholes on the Thixomolded part—another potential problem when using plastic in thick sections, such as those with supporting ribs.

One oddity of the Thixomolded test part was a very large runner system, resulting from use of a cold manifold. Phillips is developing a hot sprue mold to improve cosmetics at the gate and eliminate reprocessing of runner waste. The single-cavity, single-gated mold was built by Mo-tech in the Minneapolis area. Weston, Askenazi, Carlson and the rest of the design team worked on the part design to minimize mold complexity. As it is, two actions are required. Mold actions add to capital expense and create potential maintenance problems. The part is molded on an 850-ton press made by Japan Steel Works. Husky Injection Molding Systems in Bolton, Ontario, is also licensed to build presses for the process.

Buell has an 11-member purchasing engineering team. The team works on product development and then passes purchasing responsibility to an eight-member operating purchasing team. The operating team makes sure suppliers are delivering parts on time and as specified. If a supplier change is required, the groups put their heads together. The purchasing engineering approach is an important part of how Buell does business. "The purchasing engineering team will also influence the component designs to about the same extent as the design engineers" says LaVine.

Ferguson adds: "We're the link to the outside world and we act like quarterbacks on the overall project. We're also the guardians of the project cost." That's an important goal at Buell, where there's a lot of emphasis on look, feel and performance—as well as price point. The Firebolt is projected to cost around $10,000. Some enthusiasts felt earlier Buell models may have been priced a little high in the budget-conscious sports bike market.

The purchasing engineering approach also resulted in breakthrough work on molded-in color plastic that is widely used in the Firebolt. Use of the technology started with the Buell Blast (PUR, March 8, 2001, p. 47)

The new bike also uses a unique, all-aluminum frame that serves as chassis and fuel tank. "Using the frame as a fuel tank significantly lowers the overall center of gravity and reduces moment of inertia," says Samarzja. The design fits into Buell's "Trilogy of Tech" design approach: mass centralization, frame rigidity, and low unsprung weight. Also unique, he points out on a bike walkaround, is a new approach to brake design: A 375-mm rotor is built directly onto rim of the wheel and coupled to a six-piston caliper. Braking forces are fed via the shortest path to the rim.

The development process at Buell begins with a supplier summit in which Erik Buell presents product visions and LaVine outlines expectations of the supplier base as well as the quality, cost and timing objectives developed from the business case. Teams of design and purchasing engineers introduce major systems' groups to give all suppliers a complete view of the vehicle. Projected volumes and timing are disclosed. Suppliers and engineers go into breakout sessions to discuss specifics. Suppliers are encouraged to work together to innovatively integrate parts within a systems group. Suppliers then develop target costs for specific components and the system group. In a "war room" setting, concepts are rolled up and presented with target costs. LaVine and Buell then present a delivery challenge to end the summit.

The concept of Thixomolding was not known to the Buell purchasing team at the time of the summit for the Firebolt, and wasn't introduced until about four months after that platform's summit.