fortune magazine
Harley Retooled
by
Scott S. SmithBleustein: What we've learned over the years is that you can't
over-communicate. We have a newsletter that goes to all employees,
location newsletters, town hall meetings with management, and
constant communication from supervisors. There's also a silent
video feed with data about the company on monitors in dining rooms,
the lobby, and hallways. We have hotlines so employees can call in
questions, so we can funnel them to the right person. And there's
an intranet called RIDE [Rapid Information Delivery and
Exchange].
American Way: The average age of Harley customers has risen from
38.7 in 1987, when much of the reorganization was started, to 44.4
now. How is Harley going to bring in younger customers?
Bleustein: Actually, the age of our customers has been stable
for five years, and we're making efforts to broaden our base to
younger riders.
Our Riders Edge course has provided training through our dealers to
almost 6,000 people, half of them women and a third 18 to 34. We
use our Buell Blast motorcycle, which weighs half as much as a Hog,
and it's easy to operate.
We also are bringing in new riders through our rental program. Last
year we had 110,000 rental days - once people get in the saddle,
they don't want to get off! And our new V-Rod has a sleek design
with a liquid-cooled engine that appeals to a whole new group of
enthusiasts.
Even though demand exceeds supply, we can't be complacent, and I
tell everyone at
Harley-Davidson that we need to act as if we were
being chased by 10 fiery demons if we want to continue to
succeed.
hog heaven
at harley-davidson, employees are rewarded in many ways, tangible
and intangible. perhaps that's why the company has been named one
of
fortune magazine's "best companies to work for" every
year since 1997.
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