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23 February 2012 |

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The Ducati work philosophy

Farah Hesdin Farah Hesdin
Tuesday 22 November 2011

The Ducati factory is located in Bologna and is part of the prestigious Motor Valley: Italy's center of excellence in vehicle manufacturing.

Ducati-Factory-Bologna-black-white-red.jpgDucati motorcycles are almost entirely made in that factory as only 15% of the manufacturing is outsourced. One bike needs about 3.5 hours to get assembled and about 35,000 motorcycles are made every year, within a frame of 1000 employees. Behind these numbers however lies a respect for workers that is almost contradictory to the capitalist zeal of the company. Feeling as a big family has always been, and still is today, very important in the Ducati work ethic.

Firstly, employees can rent a Ducati motorcycle of their choice for a tiny fee, including full insurance, for a period of six months. After the term expiry, they can rent another Ducati for another 6 months under the exact same conditions; for a very small fee including full insurance. And so on and so forth as many times as wished; so working with Ducati does not simply mean producing Ducatis but also experiencing them. By living what they are building and accessing 'Ducati prestige' as a consequence, a very private relationship is created between workers and the factory.

Also, each employee has to work on a different part of the vehicle every day, which means that that each employee knows how to assemble a whole motorcycle. Moreover, a team of about six people is in charge of producing one motorcycle, which in turn means that a very familial environment is associated with the act of manufacturing a vehicle in contrast to detached chain work. Those six workers can even put their signatures on the vehicle after completion just like signing a work of art, making the whole process, again, highly personal.

The Ducatis also built a crèche right next to the factory for employees' children so that they could work in tranquility. The Ducatis were actually amongst the first in the region to create crèches where professionals would take care of children. The Ducati philosophy is therefore all about taking care of the big ones as much as the little ones to allow a comfortable, almost loving relation between work and workers.

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