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Originally Posted by MikeM
Well, it is April Fools Day, after all. And exactly which Americans with motorcycle building experience would they have been? Expats from the Harley plant in Milwaukee? LOL
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From the ducati.com website:
"In 1996 Ducati was taken over by Texas Pacific Group, an American investment firm that brought much needed cash and a new group of international managers. Simultaneously, the launch of the ST family allowed Ducati to enter the Sport Touring segment of the market.
The new management team, together with the old group of engineers responsible for product development, turned the company around posting quarter after quarter of record sales and profits."
"LOL" huh? Still laughing?
In addition to injecting cash and hiring a new management team, they also brought American manufacturing consultants over to re-vamp the entire factory. I don't know if they came from Harley Davidson, but I doubt it.
Their entire manufacturing process is different now. Before it was an assembly line where each person screwed something onto the bike and pushed it along to the next person. Now, 1 person pulls all the parts for say, an engine, and builds it themselves, so if the engine doesn't work, they know who to blame. Since they did that, reliability went through the roof. One worker follows the bike down the line and builds it, instead of sitting on their ass as bikes move past them. This is one of the many things that the Americans taught them. Another, is that Ducati doesn't manufacture anything anymore, they only assemble. Frames are built and painted elsewhere by subcontractors, gas tanks are built and painted elsewhere, entire wheel assemblies (wheel, tire, brake discs) are made and fully assembled elsewhere, cylinders and crank cases are cast elsewhere, etc, etc, etc. Only assembly and finish work are done at the factory.
I was there 4 months ago, so I'm not talking out my ass, and I'm certainly not spreading "stereotypes". There is no stereotype involved in saying that Ducati used to build bikes that required tons of expensive maintenance, no stereotype in saying that they bought rockers from several different subcontractors and some of them flaked badly, but they had no idea which. Also no stereotype in saying that it took several years for them to work out all the manufacturing and subcontracting issues. Your 996 was built at time when the were still working things out, so it has issues. The switchover wasn't instant in 1996, it took a while.
Tell me what issues the XX9 bikes have had, along the lines of flaking rockers or leaking oil? I haven't heard of any, and I researched pretty hard before I bought my bike (including a day at the factory in Bologna asking a lot of questions).
Cheers!
