As much as Harley charges for their bikes, it should be 100% American made. Makes no sense, but I guess it's ok to screw over the U.S. economy and send the money to foreign countries just to make a tiny bit extra. ******!

Shawn

 

Technically simple, I disagree. Where does Apple have their products made? China! Rush Limbaugh (love him or hate him) did a segment on why Apple is contracting offshore yesterday. China has proven they are quick to adapt and they can pretty much make anything they want at this point. They have the brain power, man power, natural resources, infrastructure, manufacturing capacity and distribution do do whatever they are contracted to make.

The wheels that are pictured in this thread that are made in China are plated correct? Try to get a permit from the EPA to run a plating operation. 99% of the plating shops I know of are running as grandfathered operations, and can not upgrade their process without complying to current regulations. All they can do is repair their current equipment, and some of the places I have seen look like Rube Goldberg was their Manufacturing Engineer.


The last gig I had as a M.E. before I went to work for the State, had me going to a finishing shop. They were masters at mirror polishing stainless, taking stainless sinks we had welded and finishing them to a high standard, hiding every weld, etc etc etc.

So this in 1988, and the owner was telling me he was originally a plating and finishing shop, but the EPA and State D.E.P. put him out of business.

Just try to find a plating shop, bet you can't.

 

So HD released the 4Q11 earnings today. In the 4th quarter of 2011 they sold about $1B in sales of motorcycles... and T-shirts They made only about $35M or 3.5% profit on sales. However, they made another $57M on making loans to HD customers (financial operations are always very lucrative), so altogether they made a tidy 9% profit on sales.

 

Hey, a company's primary (and arguably only) reason to exist is to MAKE MONEY. It's not to employ people or provide them with work, or to enable them to maintain a lifestyle. If Harleys were made with all American parts, they'd be Victories - and cost upwards of $40k. How'd THAT work out for them? It makes all the sense in the world! If you have to make 10000 different parts to make your product, those parts are going to cost more than buying them from a supplier whose business is making ONE part...and there's absolutely no advantage in making the part yourself.

Just hard to believe that you own a store in L.A. and don't understand this.

 

Apple makes almost 24% - where's the outrage!!!

 

I was referring to HD parts. However, what you point out is true and China has become THE BEST manufacturer of Apple-type products anywhere and that's where companies will go to have similar products built.

 

Yes, Chromium-6 processing is very toxic.

 

I disagree with this statement.
The primary reason a company is in business is for the common good of society or mankind. To achieve this end and to stay in business it must make a profit so the second reason is to make a profit. If it reverses these two objectives then you trade-off the long term for the short term driving everything into the ground. This is the quarterly reporting system of the USA today. Who cares about the future, just the present.

Overall, this entire thread sadness me. Lets face it USA manufacturing is just too costly. The USA workforce must retool themselves. Manufacturing and/or factories jobs can not support our lifestyle (both our demand for high salaries and low cost goods. Us USAmerican's love their luxury items and toys more so than any other country). The time for this type of workforce has past. Whining about it will not changing anything. Also, sticking to National boundaries for manufacturing has proven over and over to fail. So many counties have tried it and failed! In the end they were worse off than we they began. The USA didn't get to where we are by closing our boundaries and nationalizing our market.

The USA is still the highest technology based country in the world. That is what we need to exploit. Moving low paid manufacturing jobs to China will not prove to to help their industries grow over the long haul. For them to continue this type of growth they must step up the food chain technology wise. At this time they are at the bottom of the food chain. This is what Japan did in the 70's and 80's. Korea is another prefect example who initially started with low cost manufacturing jobs and then grew up the food chain of industry. Their automotive and electronic companies are a perfect example of this. So far Korea did this faster than anybody. They are the ones to watch.

Unless China allows private industry to flourish it will fail. The top 100 companies in China are nationally owned and the innovation level is very low compared to the other industrial nations. They simply just provide low cost labor and pretty much just that. The national run companies have little motivation to innovate - they just rake the profits in and don't reinvest it well. I work with China companies all the time in the high tech electronics industry. They are horrible to work with, lack basic understanding, and really are not that motivated to grow technology wise.

That said - forget who makes your parts - so what they are made outside the USA as long as the quality is good. Its a global economy and accept it. Look what the EU is doing to us today with their debt issues! Overall this is the same broken record we heard in the 80's about Japanese auto imports. Did anything really change? USA moved on to the next generation of technology - mobile and internet technology, bio-science etc.

So people complain about how low tech the harley's are Really? I remember soooo many people whining about the TC88 when it came out - they wanted to stay with the Evo. Remember the initial thoughts the riders thought about EFI - there are still kits today to retro fit back to carbs - go figure. I firmly believe if HD radially changed the technology of their line-up they would create a huge whine-fest.

Personally, I do try to buy the best trade-off I can - quality, price, and the attitude of the company. USA items does have a unfair advantage for me since they immediately get a check in the good column just for being USA, After that its based on the quality, performance, cost etc of the item. If you choose an USA product just because its USA, but its inferior you are doing nobody a service. You are reenforcing an inferior product and giving that company no reason to grow. Nature has the rules down pat - only the strongest survive. This ensures survival.