| Author | Message | ||
     Lemonchili_x1 |
Hi Court, I've worked for companies who had meaningful mission statements/vision statements/core values, and others which were just products of the marketing department, but reading about the "Buell Values" in your book really struck a chord with me. I've never seen any quite like them, very admirable. Do you when they came into being, formally or informally? Oh, and Happy belated Birthday! I hope you're out enjoying the Uly  cheers, chili | ||
| Court |
I've got to run to a meeting this morning and an appt this afternoon, but do not let me forget. This is something we need to talk about. It's important for Buell owner to understand the BUELL VALUES as, in my opinion, they apply to owners just as much as to Buell employees. Thank you for the birthday wishes . . . man am I getting old! | ||
| Crusty |
Listen, kid; you ain't old yet. Hell, I ain't old yet, and I'm older'n you. You don't stop riding because you get old; you get old because you stop riding. | ||
| Lemonchili_x1 |
No rush, I won't let you forget. I look forward to hearing your thoughts. . . . man am I getting old! Listen to what Crusty said! And I'm guessing you've got more life in you than a lot of people half your age | ||
| Froggy |
Damn true, I am 22 and Court has at least 10x as much more life in him as me. | ||
| Bombardier |
You are only as old as the woman you feel. | ||
| Lemonchili_x1 |
How's that Uly going? It's important for Buell owner to understand the BUELL VALUES as, in my opinion, they apply to owners just as much as to Buell employees. Ok... The Buell Values: TELL THE TRUTH BE FAIR KEEP YOUR PROMISES RESPECT THE INDIVIDUAL ENCOURAGE INTELLECTUAL CURIOSITY I can see that it would be mutually beneficial for owners to understand and apply the values when dealing with Buell, or a dealer... the first four in particular are fairly straight forward, though not always what a customer does. What about the last one? Would this mean an owner suggesting to Buell a possibly better way to do something, whether it be a product or a service? It is the last value that interests me the most. For most employers I've worked for it's been hard to introduce new ways of doing things, or even investigate different ways of doing things. Too often the attitude has been "That's the way we've always done it" or they just want to do it the way they know how. I'm curious as to when and how Buell introduced that value. cheers, chili | ||
| Court |
Erik Buell and I think a great deal alike. During the years I owned my own company there were only TWO things I would summarily fire someone for. 1) Not checking the oil in a piece of equipment. We bought all brand new equipment, had the best in the country and I expected folks to take pride in it and care for it. 2) Saying "That's the way we've always done it". One of the reasons we did things that others dubbed "impossible" was that we encouraged innovation and constantly challenged our processes and procedures. This was precisely why we were the Small Business of the Year, The City of Dallas waived the public competitive bidding procedure and negotiated with us for one of the largest projects in Dallas and the reason we were the "go to" guys from Kansas City to Sacramento if you had a major electrical construction project and were in a bind. One of the reasons we were the best is that we were unconstrained by the comfy ways and complacency that most my competitors had fallen into. I hired the best folks, paid them well and asked them to "THINK". When I was gone they knew the rules. . . "Never delay a decision. If I am not here, you have complete authority to make the best decision you can and agree or disagree I will ratify and support it". I found that it was always best to let the person with the most to loose from a bad decision makes decisions. Each year our foreman met, defined the type of work we did best and where we wanted to target. The chose their own pickup trucks annually (I chose the brand, model and color) and I found that simply letting them choose the options tended to "personalize" the truck and they felt invested. While other folks' equipment showed up looking like construction trucks ours (to the extent we were featured on the cover of Ford Fleet Buyer" magazine) showed up washed, waxed and ready for duty. If you want to find the BEST way to crate and ship a motorcycle. . . ASK THE FOLKS WHO DO IT 65 times a day. Buell uses a system whereby any member of a team can stop the process. Doing so is seen as genuine concern for doing the best, not as slowing progress. I have seen Erik Buell livid over a delay but the thing that makes him unique is that, in such a situation, he will inevitably work around the clock, give whatever it takes to properly solve the problem before he'd ever attack the person who pointed out the problem. I, myownself, over the years have had to cry out "this is a screwed up system". Erik ALWAYS listens but I'd better damn sure have facts, data and at least two suggestions for how to fix the process. At Buell . . . WHINERS - are out. WINNERS - are in. Flick "gets it" That help? | ||
| Borrowedbike |
I put this on my screen during breaks when I run improvement events, has an impact sometimes. Oh and wait until you see a Air Sep plant compressor started without oil in it. When it seized it caused a "seismic event". Start with a cage containing five monkeys. Inside the cage, hang a banana on a string and place a set of stairs under it. Before long, a monkey will go to the stairs and start to climb towards the banana. As soon as he touches the stairs, spray all of the other monkeys with cold water. After a while, another monkey makes an attempt with the same result - all the other monkeys are sprayed with cold water. Pretty soon, when another monkey tries to climb the stairs, the other monkeys will try to prevent it. Now, put away the cold water. Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one. The new monkey sees the banana and wants to climb the stairs. To his surprise and horror, all of the other monkeys attack him. After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs, he will be assaulted. Next, remove another of the original five monkeys and replace it with a new one. The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. The previous newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm! Likewise, replace a third original monkey with a new one, then a fourth, then the fifth. Every time the newest monkey takes to the stairs, he is attacked. Most of the monkeys that are beating him have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs or why they are participating in the beating of the newest monkey. After replacing all the original monkeys, none of the remaining monkeys have ever been sprayed with cold water. Nevertheless, no monkey ever again approaches the stairs to try for the banana. Why not? Because as far as they know that's the way it's always been done around here. And that, my friends, is how company policy begins | ||
| Lemonchili_x1 |
Court - yes, that helps, thank you. I've met people like you and Erik, and I've worked with a few, and was lucky enough to have a mentor of sorts at one stage with a similar attitude - boundless enthusiasm and the same "bring me problems, but bring me solutions too" attitude. I guess I'm still trying to get my head around that sort of thinking and attitude flowing through a motorcycle company! But it makes a lot of things about Buell make sense. Borrowedbike - I haven't seen that for a long time! I might have to bring that one up at work  . Speaking of which, I better go to work!!! | ||
| Reuel |
What happens if you get a whole new group of monkeys and put just one of the tainted monkeys in the room? Does he try to beat up the other monkeys? | ||
| Rainman |
He buys a Harley, gets a doo rag and wears buttless chaps on his Fat Boy. | ||
| Jaimec |
"buttless chaps" Ya know, I've seen that term thrown around quite a bit here on BadWeb and it makes me wonder: what other kind ARE there?? Is that like a "Sleeveless vest?" | ||
| Court |
We're getting a bit astray for the BUELL VALUES discussion . . . | ||
| Lemonchili_x1 |
I just realised H-D has the same values. Any idea if Buell had input into their formal creation? | ||
| Court |
The "Elves" hit another out of the park home run today for a Buell owner in need. We'll be revisiting this, and the Customer Service thread, in the coming days. Court | ||
| Lemonchili_x1 |
Nice to hear the "Elves" are still doing their thing. I'm happy to discuss, and learn, more... | ||
| Lemonchili_x1 |
How far down the chain do the Values get applied? Are dealers expected to follow and apply the values? What about outside the U.S.? Eg H-D/Buell Australia? | ||
| Petereid |
What about outside the U.S.? From my experience in Canada the values don't really apply here. Seems our national distributer has the same attitude as some of the more "unsavory" dealers. It makes the warranty a joke when it has been several weeks and they still don't know IF they are going to do ANYTHING about it! I guess that takes care of all but the last one. They did build a great bike. I love my XT and plan on keeping it. I'm looking for a second bike in the new year and I know it will not be a Buell or HD product. This is my third bike I have owned. The other two were HD's and until my experience with my Buell I would never have considered buying anything other then HD/Buell. BTW my issue is sidebags that collect water if you ride in the rain.....not a drop or two but a cup or two. Enough to soak everything in the bag. To me it seems simple to fix. Replace the seal and if that doesn't work replace the bags. (Message edited by petereid on October 14, 2008) | ||
| Bombardier |
The Harley Davidson Motorcycle Company and The Buell Motorcycle Company have been started and run by true visionaries. The trouble starts when the dealerships are run by 'Business Men/Women' with all the heart and soul with regards to motorcycles of a Tax Collector. Erik Buell and his wonderful machine sold me on his dream and his bike. It is a damn shame that the heartless bastards who think of nothing but their next model Lexus will drive me or others away from it. | ||
| Crusty |
It is a damn shame that the heartless bastards who think of nothing but their next model Lexus will drive me or others away from it. Ain't it the truth! | ||
| Lemonchili_x1 |
My local dealer, Morgan & Wacker, actually seems pretty good. A few of the people who work there own, or have owned, Buells, and they were the Buell importer at some stage (before H-D created "H-D/Buell Australia"). H-D/Buell Australia aren't really responsive to enquiries though. I've sent them stuff on errors on the website and asking when '09 models arrive and never had a response from them. | ||
| Court |
>>>> I've sent them stuff on errors on the website and asking when '09 models arrive and never had a response from them. Likely wont. All the website stuff is done in Chicago. If you still have things and want to send them to me I'll try to get them to the right place. Court | ||
| Petereid |
The "Elves" hit another out of the park home run today for a Buell owner in need. It will be interesting to see how those Elves handle warranty on a "Canadian" bike in the USA as they would have nothing to do with it in Canada. Hopefully the American Elves are better then the Canadian Trolls Pete | ||
| Court |
It's always a process in evolution but I know at least one foreign owner who's seen first hand just how good Buell is in the last 24 hours. Buell really is an amazing company. |
