Read Case 5-1 “Santa Cruz Bicycles” and then answer the following questions. Wha
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Question
Read Case 5-1 “Santa Cruz Bicycles” and then answer the following questions. What, in your opinion, was the key factor in Santa Cruz Bicycles’ successful process redesign? Why was that factor the key? What outside factors had to come together or Santa Cruz Bicycles to be able to make the changes they did? As CEO of the organization, what would you have done differently and why?
CASE STUDY 5-1 Santa Cruz Bicycles Bicycle enthusiasts not only love the ride their bikes provide but also are often willing to pay for newer technology espe- E cially when it will increase their speed or comfort. Innovating new technologies for bikes is only half the battle for bike manufacturers. Designing the process to manufacture the bikes is often the more daunting challenge. Consider the case of Santa Cruz Bicycles. It digitally designs and builds mountain bikes and tests them under the most externe conditions to bring the best possible product to its customers. A few years back, the company designed and patented the Virtual Pivot Point (V PP) suspension system, a means to absorb the shocks that mountain bikers encounter when on the rough terrain of the off-road nde. One feature of the new design allowed the rear wheel to bounce 10 inches without hitting the frame or seat, providing shock absorption without feeling like the rider was sitting on a coiled spring The first few prototypes did not work well; in one case, the VPP joint's upper link snapped after a quick jump. The expe- E ? = E E E rience was motivation for a complete overhaul of the design and engineering process to find a way to go from desi E prototype faster. The 25-person company adopted a similar system used by large. global manufacturers: product life cyce management (PLM) software. ? E develop a new design, and if the design failed, starting over would be the only solution. This design approach was a drain E not only on the company's time but also on its finances. The design team found a PL.M system that helped members analyze The research and development team had been using computer-aided-design (CAD) software, but it took and model capabilities in a much more robust manner. The team used simulation capabilities to watch the impact of the new designs on rough mountain terrain. The software tracks all the variables the designers and engineers need so they can representing a very large improvement over their previous design software, which took seven hours to run a simulation. build and test prototypes in house and invested in a van-size machine that can fabricate intricate parts for the proto quickly and easily make adjustments to the design. The new system allows the team to run a simulation in a ferw The software was just one component of the new process design. The company also hired a new master frame builder to process the company previously outsourced. The result was a significant decrease in its design-to-prototype process. What once averaged about 28 months from start of design to shipping of the new bike now takes 12 to 14 monthsExplanation / Answer
In my views, the key factors in Santa Cruz Bicycles’ successful process design were the lessons that the company learned after the failure of its first prototypes. After the failure, the management realized that the product development was taking quite a lot more time than what was expected. There was no structural approach in the product development management. It is then, that the company resorted to the PLM (product life cycle management) program, which gave a structure to their business approach and worked on the weaknesses of the previous approach.
The outside factors that facilitated the change process was the training of its employees to make them aware about the features and the application of the PLM software. Any change is successful only if the company’s employees have embraced the change and facilitated the transition. The training of the employees, especially the design team was critical for successful change management in the project. The need for in house master frame builder and a machine to create prototypes can also be considered as the outside factors, which facilitated the change process at Santa Cruz.
In my views, if I were the CEO of this company, I would have dealt the case in a similar way. The only different take of mine would have been addressing the people’s concerns before the initiation of the change so that the whole organization had an alignment towards the change process.
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