York Plant Harley Davidson Latest news as of 10-28-09

[1potter1]

Originally Posted by dog155 Always sad to hear how these huge Co's cut to the bone.Especially outsourcing off the mainland. You think the company is outsourcing now, we haven't seen anything yet. "Cap and trade" will kill American manufacturing, indulge yourself in a small history lesson on how our country became such a strong super power so quick. We are allowing a small majority of radicals that are without common sense to destroy what are founding father invisioned and what are soilders have shed there blood for..

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[MidnitEvil]

Originally Posted by DeafUltra

Plan on getting chrome forks for my Ultra next Spring. If your comment above's correct, I will not purchase them and save my $500 plus dollars for an extra vacation trip next summer.

IF the comment is correct? Harley forks have not only been getting chromed in Japan, they are manufactured there. Your Harley has Showa forks.

[Jukebox]

My metric bike was very dependable,but I traded it for an H-D because that is what I want ride,not a whole bike that is built overseas. I worked for a union once,and that was enough for me. I hope everything works out for York,but maybe some workers need to work harder for the same pay and the plant would not be under such a strain. JMHO

[tda69]

Bottom line, this is about self preservation. Not that anybody likes the idea of outsourcing, scaling back, laying people off, etc, etc....but given the state of the economy (not just ours, but globally speaking) the company has to do whatever is necessary to keep their business running and while remaining profitable. In the absence of higher sales and profits....something else has to give. So outsourcing it is. My guess is China will get the nod because of the low cost of labor.

[carpetride]

Originally Posted by tda69

Bottom line, this is about self preservation. Not that anybody likes the idea of outsourcing, scaling back, laying people off, etc, etc....but given the state of the economy (not just ours, but globally speaking) the company has to do whatever is necessary to keep their business running and while remaining profitable. In the absence of higher sales and profits....something else has to give. So outsourcing it is. My guess is China will get the nod because of the low cost of labor.

Maybe so, but if quality goes down (chinese junk) causing potential buyers to feel that the price of a Harley just isn't worth it any more , what impact will that have on sales. IMO that could be an issue. The big 3 US auto companies went cheap for many years and lost a lot of market share.

[will2002]

Just what I always wanted, a new Harley-Davidson motorcycle, made with a butt load of parts that come from communist China!..........................NOT HARDLY!

[Dock Holiday]

The problem is simple.

At one time the customer was #1 with all companies. Usually the employee was #2 and the vendors were #3.

Companies were family owned and the family name was proudly displayed on the building and the product. These people took great pride in the quality of their products and that is what gave America the edge. "Made in America" meant something "QUALITY".

Well these families got rich and the second and third generations did not want to work because they did not have to and they sold out to investers who had one thing in mind $$$$$$$$$$$.

At this point the customer moved back a notch and was replaced by the "Share Holder" as #1 and who the company had to strive to keep happy. The employees moved way back along with the vendors who are only valued based on what they can do for the company right now.

I have wittnessed this over and over in the last 30 years I'm been in the Bearings & Industrial Power Transmission business.

It has definately become a world market. One of my key vendors sells to John Deere and this bearing manufacturer built a plant in China because John Deere told them they would have to to get the prices down where they need to be to remain a vendor.

When you max out the number of products you can sell and the price is not going up the only way to improve profit margins is to cut the bottom line which means people, finished goods and raw materials. The best way to do both in todays world is offshore.

Be honest with yourself when you answer this question. When you go to buy cloths, shoes, a television, etc to you really request and ONLY buy American? We all have sold out our country for the best price $$$ and I am the first to admit that I am guilty.

I hate to say it but the days of America being the leading manufacturing power in the world are behind us.

Even though he did not build anything one story I always admired was that of J.C. Penny. As a kid my mother took my brother and I to Penny's for cloths. J.C. Penny was a very religious man and he said if God could live on 10% that it was good enough for him and he gave 90% of his earnings to the church and lived on 10%. His stores were NEVER open on Sunday while he was alive and running them. He had good products at fair prices, good and happy employees and that transulated into happy and satisfied customers. I'm sure his 10% is much greater than my 100% will ever be. Those were the days and the people that made this country great before greed took over.

It's a WORLD ECONOMY folks and Harley is just like every other company doing what they have to to make a buck. The only thing that will keep them in line, on top of their game and working for us the customer is COMPETITION.

The more competition the better the product and the better the price.

Have a blessed day

[jwlehman]

I once worked for a company that made furniture parts for high-end furniture. Chinese imports killed off a lot of our competition, and also cut into our business. After a bit of time, our customers started experiencing quality problems from the chinese. They have a reputation of being dishonest also, i.e. changing specs, prices, etc.

Also when you have a problem with something you're having made in China the distance makes fixing problems a major issue. The distance and time involved, makes problem solving impractical.

End result, we got a lot of our customers back because they didnt want THEIR customers to see the crap that the chinese was making for them. You think we have a problem now? One day the chinese will solve their quality problems...just like the japanese did....then we'll be in big trouble! Dock Holiday is right, our country is no longer into manufacturing...we're mainly a service oriented economy.

[Lowridin packer]

I am not sure I should say too much here, but I am a supply chain manager, and know a lot about sourcing. I source manufactured parts both in the states and around the world. I have just read 3 pages of posts from a bunch of people who do not have much of a clue about sourcing, and I got a good laugh. Talk about jumping to conclusions, you guys get a lot of good exercise that way, don't you?
First of all - JAPAN is one of the highest cost countries, there is no way they will outsource there. The brakes are BREMBO and they are made in INDIANA as well as other US locations. As far as Showa, they have 3 plants in the US, the Sunbury, OH plant makes the motorcycle shocks (got that one on an internet search).
I have a huge problem with the MOCO buying all their motorcloths in China, and they do. But the majority of manufactured parts will not go to China for 2 reasons - cost and quality. Believe it or not, by the time you get things like stampings shipped to the US, they are cheaper to make here. Over 60% of the cost of a stamped part is raw material, the labor is minimal so it makes no sense to make in China. Same for castings, etc.

Now my guess is they will move the small stamped parts to local non-union stamping houses and save about 20%(I have been through that one).
The environmental issues with Chrome are real, and that is an issue. Not sure what they will do there.

There is an old saying, it is better to be quiet and have people wonder if you are stupid, than to open it and remove all doubt.
Unless you really know something, maybe you should take that advice.

[conroskie]

look at the bright side, this just might boost up the price of used bikes again!!!