Yamaha ...president....state of the company letter

[LEE337]

Based on that letter, I foresee a large order of the book "Who Moved My Cheese" for YMC employees.

LOL!.... Change and continuous improvements mentioned should come as second nature to them, since they are in the same country as Toyota.

 

[actionjack]

1st year model buyers are always the R&D department. This is not exclusive to the snowmobile market. CEOs are required to deliver the hot air. They speak like astrologers and can only be judged retrospectively. And even then different people use different prisms. Was product cycle improved? Was quality improved? Did sales rise? Did profitability increase? In light of all the 2014 nonsense, these statements can only lead to conjecture until the day the new sleds are unvieled.

 

[Heritage]

And I used to think I was the only negative SOB here...guess not....lol

 

[OVR4D]

I have a slightly different take on it ... Sounds to me like Yamaha plans to approach product development in a similar manner to Doo and others (i.e., less time spent in R&D, more emphasis spent on outsourcing components/materials, consolidation of engineering/design departments to eliminate redundancy - translation - some people will be out of a job - all in an effort to reduce overall production costs while bringing new products to market quicker). Question is, will YMC be able to do that and still maintain a high level of quality? Personally, I think that will be tough to accomplish ... and if product reliability declines, what difference will there be between Yamaha and any other OEM?

 

[Sled Dog]

I read that as if they are going to be increasing R&D and start putting new innovations into old and new products in less time without raising the cost. I say that is awesome it also reads like they are going to start listening to end user more and that would be us. This site is invaluable to them. We are their best real world research and development team they have, and dont think they are not on here lurking, reading and learning from us what works and what does not.

 

[w8tn4snow]

Just sounds like a bunch of normal corporate propaganda to me , Do more with less , cut the bottom line but hopefully dont affect quality. A busines even as large as Yamaha cant survive in todays economy without applying these principles. This may affect Yamaha quality some but they have alot more room to wiggle in the quality department in my opinion than the other manufacturers do . Yamaha in my opinion overbuilds their sleds structurally and doesnt skimp an inch on finish. I can deal with a little misalignment in panels to lose 100 pounds !

 

[pat the rat]

For once,we hear of new thinking at yamaha and everybody complains,to me,this site is not like it used to be,so much negativity lately,I guess it would of been better if he had said that yamaha plans to keep going in the same direction as the past 5 years

 

[low slung]

For once,we hear of new thinking at yamaha and everybody complains,to me,this site is not like it used to be,so much negativity lately,I guess it would of been better if he had said that yamaha plans to keep going in the same direction as the past 5 years

I sometimes wonder if yamaha made a belt ripping,industrial sounding,warranty wanting,recall prone snowmobile would there be less complaining on a forum?Maybe thats our problem,we have it too easy .Bring on the yamicat .

 

[OVR4D]

I wasn't trying to come off as negative ... I'm not the best at getting my point across sometimes though. I think Yamaha's new thinking/business plan will be good for the consumer who wants to see products that compete (feature for feature) with other OEM's, and who want them to keep pace or stay current with their industry rivals. The only thing I question is whether their proposed method of spending less time in R&D and finding less expensive ways of manufacturing, which involves many variables, will still yield equivalent quality.

I was happy with Yamaha's old method's ... I just think they were resting on their laurels when it comes to sled development. In other words, I don't believe they have been putting much money into R&D for sled in recent years. I remember reading somewhere that Yamaha has been focused on a booming small engine market, specifically scooters and small displacement motorbikes for the past several years. Don't quote me, but I think Yamaha produced somewhere in the neighborhood of 6 million units (scooters and the like) last year alone! Sounds like that their market focus has since shifted, and that they intend to spend some of those dollars on other markets (motorsports being one). This is a good thing for sledheads ... just hope they aren't too eager to rush a product to market, as in the past, Yamaha's engineers would design for a safety factor of 5 or greater, and under their new way of thinking, as I read into it, they may be lowering their expectations with regard to quality (reliability) in exchange for greater profitability ... which IMO, is only a short-term fix.

 

[w8tn4snow]

Just sounds like a bunch of normal corporate propaganda to me , Do more with less , cut the bottom line but hopefully dont affect quality. A busines even as large as Yamaha cant survive in todays economy without applying these principles. This may affect Yamaha quality some but they have alot more room to wiggle in the quality department in my opinion than the other manufacturers do . Yamaha in my opinion overbuilds their sleds structurally and doesnt skimp an inch on finish. I can deal with a little misalignment in panels to lose 100 pounds !

Im no rocket scientist but what i said didnt sound like complaining or was it meant to be. I was in my opinion paraphrasing the article. And in fact complimenting Yamaha on their quality and foresight to join the rest of the world in sensible economic business practice.

 

[kinger]

Agreed sounds like a shift in attitude from "Build it and they will come" to "Lets build what they want, much faster, and not sweat the small details"

Actually doing that though will remain to be seen.

 

[YammyRX1]

I like the fact that they are changing their pricing philosophy. People now expect more performance for the same price or less, not paying a premium every time bells and whistles are added. It doesn't take very long in manufacturing to realize that your product is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it- not what it cost you to build or what you would like to charge for it.

 

[whitedust1]

This is right size/downsize or whatever you want to call it to do more with less to increase profits for shareholders & reduce mass production cost & pricing to reach more endusers that can't afford current products due to high cost. Also known as value engineering or strip models pay as you want accessories & outsourcing services that can be bought at reduced costs than keeping inside. If you work for YMC hold on to your butt big changes coming if redundant process or crossover servcie it is gone. Ok with me no way to know what it means to snowmobile market but sounds like products will be brought to market faster not as much testing more like competitors. Since we have not had anything new since 2006 other than Nytro & Phazer probably will see new products soon but still could be another year or so.

 

[snoway]

sounds like a move to china.

 

[ccrider]

The most important piece in there was when he talked about pricing. I think they finally realize that a $15,000 sled is killing our sport. They can't just keep adding features and raising price. They need to create fun sleds that compete, at a price that is LOWER than they are today. If he is serious about that, and they pull it off...then Yamaha can take this market by storm. It has happened in the past. The Polaris Indy. The ski-doo Rev. When these guys get their price vs fun (NOT price vs features) equation right...the sled market responds well.

C'mon Yamaha! I've been gone from you for 10 years now waiting for you to get off you #*$&@!