Developing and increasing maturity of the R&D organization of the world’s largest motorcycle manufacturer to a global leading level

“With the help of 3DSE’s best practices and their systematic guidance, we were able to build the right development process landscape for us, imbued with the Hero DNA. Off-the-shelf solutions would not have been successful on the long run.

Susheel Sinha, Head of PMO as well as Electric/Electronics and long-term senior expert at Hero Motocorp Ltd.

With cumulative sales of 70 million motorcycles since 2001, Hero Motocorp Ltd. (formerly known as Hero Honda Motors Ltd.), based in India, is the largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world. Hero MotoCorp Ltd. split from Honda in 2011, setting itself the goals of maintaining its leadership in the local market, entering many new markets before 2020 and developing new technologies.

After splitting from Honda, Hero invested approximately USD 120 million in a new development center in Jaipur (Rajasthan, India). This site, named Hero Center of Innovation and Technology (CIT), is built up to allow a complete product development, from first sketches to handover to production. While establishing a world-leading infrastructure in the two-wheeler industry, Hero was also recruiting product development and technology experts from all over the world. By the end of 2017 the R&D team employed around 600 people. As well as developing and expanding both its infrastructure and technical expertise, the company also needed to create the right R&D process landscape and structures.

To do this Hero engaged 3DSE. A short and intensive analysis phase served to identify the areas where action was required and high potential impact was expected. The selected areas were then tackled in a series of realistic and consecutive maturity / implementation steps. Using 3DSE’s best practice concepts and Hero’s in-house expertise, customized solutions were developed, simultaneously piloted and ultimately implemented across the entire R&D organization. Within two years, the development logic had been established. Corresponding development plans, including prototype phases, had been implemented and ten additional core processes for product development and project management had been introduced. To ensure sustainable implementation, all key development staff were trained over the same period and given operational support during execution.

“Supported by the consultants from 3DSE, our R&D team has created an impressive maturity leap. This is reflected in the clear process landscape, the structures, and the significantly improved interaction between key roles,” explains Dr. Markus Braunsperger, CTO at Hero.

Overall, the R&D core processes and roles at Hero were defined and implemented over a two-year period. This means that all new and major adaptation development projects will use the new processes, which are familiar to and understood by all the relevant staff. As a result, Hero now has a significantly better development process stability, as well as an improved interaction between key roles.