In 1996, Harley-Davidson began the development of a corporate Supply Management Strategy (SMS) intended to move the company from a site-specific, transactional mentality to a long-term focus on supplier relationships. By July 1997, the initial planning meeting was held for an integrated procurement system, the supplier information link (SiL’K).

Harley-Davidson followed a very thorough and rigorous process in implementing SiL’K to allow the organization time to become comfortable with this new philosophy and to ensure engagement and enthusiasm for SMS. By November 1997, momentum had built to the point that procurement managers were will to provide several part-time resources to the SiL’K project team. Their goal was to move the project from strategy to action. The next four months were spent mapping existing procurement processes to find commonalities across business units. Starting in April 1998, a reduced core team consisting of a smaller number of full-time resources started developing the desired future state (“to-be” processes). This team also began work on the detailed specifications and actively managed expectations through frequent communications with the stakeholders. By the end of September 1998, the team had completed a functional specification for the SiL’K system and distributed an RFQ to key stakeholders for review.

The team’s shared vision of new processes and activities simplified the task of completing a jointly written RFQ. Internal acceptance and validation of the RFQ was prompt and positive, therefore the supplier selection process began to pick up speed. The most notable weakness was at the provider conference because this was the suppliers’ first exposure to the team who would make the selection decision, which had no executives or high level decision makers. However, I do feel that their RFQ and vendor selection processes has