This German Harley-Davidson Story

I essayed a piece on Friday, and it's been on my mind.  The basic story is that a Berlin-city team (they work for the city) that tries to entice business operations to move into Berlin.....wrote up an invitational letter to Harley-Davidson, and encouraged them to make their home in Berlin.  The simple odds here?  Toss in taxation and cost of living....one in a million.

But I've sat for a number of hours trying to imagine how this would work.

Imagine the Harley-Davidson crew coming in, and setting up the factory, and hiring up the first 300 assembly-line people....all Germans.

So on day one, you can imagine the German machinists and engineer-detail people looking at the master plan and parts on the floor. 

After a while, young Hans says to the American 'chef'....well....we could fix this problem.  'What problem' responds the American chef?  Well...your motorcycle is built wrong, and this change on the master plan would fix this problem....pointing at the front assembly.

Then quickly.....Manfred would speak up....well, yes of course, and there's this other problem here...pointing at the clutch assembly.  Manfred notes in quick detail that two small changes would fix this problem.

Then quickly, Ernst would get all excited and talk about the stupid way that the brake-assembly is situated and that he could design a much better brake in twelve hours. 

Suddenly....the American Harley 'chef' would stop everyone.  He would say, "Listen guys, this is a Harley, and we have standards.  We don't want a Germanized Harley-Davidson.  I absolutely forbid you fixing or changing the master plan."

Weeks go by, and without saying much....Ernst, Manfred, Hans and a dozen others....have quietly modified the Harley with the changes.  These Germanized bikes start to go out.  A year later....the American 'chef' is at some Harley meeting in Hong Kong, and everyone is all hyped up about this one Harley-Davidson bike made in Berlin.  The boss can't understand why.  The bikers are showing him the improvements and wonders of the new bike.  Shocking as it sounds....some have ridden their Germanized Harleys for six months straight, and NOT a single breakdown.

The boss goes back to Berlin...all frustrated.  Don't you people realize what you've done, is the comment thrown to the team.  You've gone and made Harley-Davidson into a bike of perfection.  We were never supposed to be that kind of bike.

Ernst, Manfred, Hans and the others....all have tears coming down.  It was the best bike ever assembled.