Continuous Improvement: Shiny Side Up

By Mark Mederski
Updated on September 11, 2024
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by Mark Mederski
Bought for $25, I’ve owned this 1962 Honda CL72 Type 2 since the 1970s. Over time, I gathered knowledge and parts and learned restoration skills. Continuous improvement of myself and the bike brought it to complete, restored, correct condition.

I think you’d agree that any private American corporation with over 120 years in business is a success. They have endured several wars, the Depression, recessions, strong competition, strikes and high interest rates many times over — yet they may still be making the same basic products. They must be doing many things correctly, remaining relevant and making four or five generations of customers happy.

Could their secret be focusing on “continuous improvement”? And along the way, in those 120 years, did they assume that improving product design, marketing, manufacturing systems, materials procurement, employee benefits and their relationship with their sales force would all go well, if they always strived for improvement on all fronts?

That’s where I’m at, more specifically, where WE are at. We are carrying on from what Richard Backus conceived 20 years ago and, more recently, what Landon Hall followed through with. I’m the new editor-in-chief of Motorcycle Classics, and following on all my career experiences, I’m excited to be in this position. Luckily there’s a skilled, cohesive, and attentive magazine production staff as well. And of course, the stories you read here come from passionate and knowledgeable writers working with great photographers.

Harley-Davidson is the company mentioned above that, at some point since 1903, created the Continuous Improvement System, though there are many others. What you are paging through today  is what I hope we can continuously improve.

I am a big fan of the print medium. Each month I receive about 12 motorcycle club journals and magazines, as well as publications from the automotive world. In a comfortable chair, with good light, I digest one or two stories most evenings. Even after all these decades of experience, I continue to learn as I read; refreshers are always good. Through magazines, I experience what I can’t ride or ride to. The Sammy Miller Museum collection and The Quail Motorcycle Gathering are far away for most of us. Through skilled writers and photographers, this magazine brings these experiences and these places right to you.

But getting to the point, I need your help with this continuous improvement thing. Give me feedback on what stories in Motorcycle Classics you have enjoyed reading or skipped over. I want the bikes we bring to you each issue to be relevant. Tell me about our photography, our story length, our detail, even the type font we are using. Do we need to bring back how-tos? Do you want to know about appraisals, experience metal plating or upholstery, lost wax casting, even if you are only curious and would never attempt these things yourself?

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