Sadly the Harley engineers get a bad rap.... it may well be they hire the cheapest, least experienced engineers available...

OR....

I suspect there are some engineers among the Harley family that routinely go home with their head in their hands....

I believe that most of these issues are caused by the bean counters. The bean counters hold the power in a publicly traded company whose CEO & Board are beholding to share holders (Profit).

I have no doubt there are many tests, designs, & innovations that engineers come up with only to hear... well, we have to skip that, or dumb down that, or change that, and of course the ever popular, "Whoa, that costs too much, find a way to do it cheaper"...... all in the name of profit...

Having said that, HD must realize the financial importance of fixing this problem.... but then again, the bean counters want to make sure that any fix won't cost too much....

The battle continues.....

 

Being a retired engineer, I think the bean counters get a bad rap.. If you want to blame anyone, blame management..

 

Don't forget the board. Often times the board puts management in an untenable position because of their lack of direction. Either way, there is always plenty of blame to go around.
On the subject of resident engineers, I am not sure that the MOCO has a lot of engineers on the payroll full time. I think they tend to farm out a lot of things in order to keep costs down. Just a guess though.

 

And don't forget the vendors. It's not like any manufacturer makes every single piece of stuff on a vehicle. They design specs and tolerances and go to vendors for bearings, seals, forks, shocks, electrics, castings, gears etc. You can have the best design in the world, but if you get a crap part from a vendor, that awesome design is useless.

 

You're right. Blaming the accountant in this case is similar to blaming the doctor when you get sick.

The finance team monitors performance and makes suggestions to meet the OWNERS targets. If one wants to lower the performance expectations of the company, simply buy the company and accept a lower return.

 

Like most company's they probably take lowest bid, you get what you pay for except the end user...we just get IT in the end

 

In a few weeks when a new owner lays the whip to one of the 2018's we'll know if they've corrected the transfer problem. If so here's hoping they can backfill earlier production.

 

one dealer is promising me a DEAL on a 2017, once the 2018's hit his floor.

just wondering if I can get him to stipulate "free tranny refills for life"

 

havent refilled my tranny yet. Most of us have not had this particular issue. I feel terrible for those who have. So, no tranny refill for me. I bought the bike, you know the only mistake I have made so far? I took it for a ride.......

 

Being a CURRENT engineer, I'll second that!