SuperTrapp is Lean and Mean.
Reprinted from American Motorcycle Dealer magazine, June 2003, by Richard Burton
SuperTrapp was founded in 1972 by Canadian born engineer Dr. Paul Moller. He remained CEO until 1988 when he sold the company to help fund the development of his Skycar - a vertical take off and landing vehicle intended to one day replace the conventional automobile. Then based in Northern California, SuperTrapp was bought by Cleveland, Ohio-based Dreison International.
In the mid-nineties, along with fellow acquisition and exhaust manufacturer Kerker, SuperTrapp was relocated to the parent company's hometown where the two and brands were united under one roof. By the time he had handed over the reigns, however, Dr. Moller had left behind the legacy of his unique design philosophy, not to mention a tunable disc diffuser type exhaust system that has helped position SuperTrapp at the forefront of high performance engine silencing systems.
Jon Hedges came to SuperTrapp as General Manager in June 2001. "SuperTrapp is now focused primarily on the V-Twin and ATV markets, while Kerker products are aimed at both V-Twin applications and the sportbike sector," he explains. The SuperTrapp product range includes all types of drag pipes and disc-based mufflers and the V-Twin motorcycle sector accounts for much of the company's overall business." And the popularity of our drag pipes and Road Legend series means this area of business is growing still further," he adds.
SuperTrapp's overall sales so far this year are up around 25% on last year's figure and the company's OEM business, which accounts for about a third of the overall, is also considerably up. But keeping up with the demand for increases in volume as well as new products represents an ongoing challenge, according to Jon. "We like 20% of all sales to come from new products," he says, "though, because of the OEM component, not all of that is visible to the public." When Jon started working with the company the new product sales figure stood at around 5%.
There is, of course, still considerable demand for the older systems still on offer though SuperTrapp takes its new product development responsibility very seriously and that means giving the market exactly what it wants. "We try very hard to keep out finger on the pulse of what's going on out there," says Jon. "We gather our own market data but also listen very closely to what customers have to say." Feedback comes via various industry contacts, distributors, distributors' reps, dealers and directly from end-users.
SuperTrapp is also making every effort to reduce time to market through initiatives such as the introduction of more digital development. SuperTrapp's product range includes the successful Mean Mothers double walled drag pipes for Softail, Dyna Glide and Indian models. The easily changeable pipes come completely assembled with welded heatshield and feature a stepped design that is said to both maximize power and improve sound. Mean Mothers are available as original stacked pipes, a longer version or staggered.
Of the company's most recent products, the V-5 two into one system for the V-Rod, is regarded by Jon as one of SuperTrapp's best. "By simply bolting one on you save 21 pounds in weight and gain an additional 8 horsepower." He says that the V-Rod engine presented a unique challenge. "We had to come up with a new product that provided more power but also made the bike sound more like a traditional Harley." By giving a much deeper tone to the V-Rod, the sound characteristics of the V-5 system has proved to be a real selling point and playing sound clips at trade shows gives interested parties a taste of what's on offer.
Another new product line doing well is the latest straight through design "X" pipe for Softails from Paul Yaffe. "Paul Yaffe is a trend maker," says Jon, "plenty of companies are selling large radius pipes but nobody has anything that looks quite like the X pipe."
On the subject of trends, what does he believe is currently important to the market? "Sound levels are very important to people right now," he replies, "especially with California and other areas cracking down. This is why we try to give our customers all the relevant information [on sound levels] they need to make a smart purchasing decision when it comes to an exhaust system." The adjustable disc mufflers obviously offer an advantage in this respect with the option of either a loud or soft exhaust note. "Importantly, there are no detriments and even benefits when removing discs to produce a quieter sound," explains Jon, "in the form of more low-end torque."
Developing a constant stream of new products to address a diversity of requirement can cause complications, so SuperTrapp has been busy streamlining its process with a SKU rationalization project. "Also to accommodate the requirement we have been increasing our manufacturing capacity by adopting lean manufacturing and increasing the number of shifts."
Lean manufacturing was implemented on the 160-employee site in August of last year at which time SuperTrapp began to establish several product family specific manufacturing cells, which has been key to increasing throughput. "Before we adopted lean manufacturing," points out Jon, "a single two into one exhaust system would travel up to 1800 feet during its complete manufacturing process (excluding the raw material coming in and finished product being shipped out). Since adopting lean principles that distance has now been reduced to around 30 feet."
A present-state, future-state value stream mapping exercise also showed that the previous 134 days taken to produce a complete 2 into 1 exhaust system (including raw material delivery time) had been reduced to less than 30 days. Fittingly, though ultimately intended to benefit the market it serves, SuperTrapp's efforts have not gone unnoticed or unrewarded. The company was recently the recipient of a Manny Award, which showcases the innovation, and excellence of manufacturers in Ohio.
Copyright AMD 2003, all rights reserved. SuperTrapp, Kerker and Mean Mothers are trademarks of Dreison International, Inc.