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| WELCOME! Välkommen - Witajcie - Velkomin - Hau Koda | | Date Created: Jul 07, 7777, 06:07 AM |
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| Thanks for wheelin' by MILES AND SMILES! You will find all HARLEY-DAVIDSON all the time with news, rants and more. Read a bit from The_Articles and click some pix. Man, its impossible to get enough Harley stuff, dig? Please tell your riding buddies too. Comments or Questions = Email MilesAndSmiles.net! |
- The_Articles > WELCOME! Välkommen - Witajcie - Velkomin - Hau Koda
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| NEWS : Possible Early Retirees Learn about Harley Package | | Date Created: Jun 19, 2008, 05:56 AM |
 Possible Early Retirees Learn about Harley Package
Jun 18, 2008 (York Daily Record)-- Harley-Davidson is sharing details of an early retirement package with production employees in Springettsbury Township, company spokesman Bob Klein said Monday .
But he is unaware whether any early retirement offers have been made.
The company is looking for volunteers to take early retirement to begin cutting the overall production workforce in Springettsbury Township by about 300 workers.
If and when the company cannot find 300 workers to retire, it will resort to permanent layoffs at its Eden Road facility to make up the difference.
Klein said it could be a few weeks to a few months before all workers know where they stand.
Production employees with the least experience would be the first to go during permanent layoffs, Tom Boger, business representative for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local 175, said earlier this spring.
Boger could not be reached for comment today.
Harley said in April it plans 730 total job cuts companywide this year because of poor domestic motorcycle sales.
About 370 of those workers are hourly production employees. About 300 of the cuts are coming from the company's York operations, Harley's largest manufacturing facility.
Klein said the process of reducing Harley's production workforce is running behind Harley's plans to eliminate about 360 nonproduction employees.
Most nonproduction employees are being cut from the Milwaukee operation, where volunteer retirees have been identified,
Klein said. The remainder of employees are expected to find out soon whether they will lose their jobs.
Klein said he did not know whether Harley was making any of the nonproduction cuts in Springettsbury Township. |
- The_Articles > NEWS : Possible Early Retirees Learn about Harley Package
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| NEWS : Temporary Layoffs Set to Begin at YORK Plant | | Date Created: Jun 19, 2008, 05:52 AM |
 Layoffs Set to Begin at YORK Plant
Harley-Davidson is laying off workers at its Springettsbury Township facility next week beginning Monday.
Rebecca Bortner, a company spokeswoman, said Wednesday the temporary layoffs are in addition to Harley's planned shutdown from June 30 through July 3.
The number of layoffs for the week beginning Monday was not immediately known.
Renee Henry, a worker at the plant for eight years, said she and other employees were informed about the layoff last week. Most, but not all, of the workers got the notice, she said.
Henry said she wasn't surprised.
"We knew it was coming," she said.
Harley said in April more layoffs like the one it ordered for four days in fall 2007 - when the Springettsbury Township facility shut down to cut production - were on the table for the future.
The company's first quarter 2008 earnings, released April 17 were down, showing particular weakness in the North American market.
The company also said in April that it would permanently cut about 300 workers from the Springettsbury operation, in addition to another 70 production workers in Milwaukee and elsewhere.
Harley also plans to cut about 360 nonproduction workers company wide.
The company said it hopes to make most of the workforce reductions with early retirees.
Harley spokesman Bob Klein said Monday potential retirees were receiving information about an early retirement package in Springettsbury Township, but
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to the best of his knowledge, no offers had been made.
The June 30 to July 3 shutdown is to allow for the company's annual line changes to make new motorcycles for the next model year.
Tom Boger, business representative for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local 175, could not be reached for comment.
Henry said she is worried financially about not working for two weeks. But she is single and said those with families are probably more worried.
"It gets a little tight around the belt," Henry said.
EARNINGS
The company's first quarter 2008 earnings released April 17 were down, showing particular weakness in the North American market.
Accompanying the earnings release, the company also said in April that it would permanently cut about 300 workers from the Springettsbury operation, in addition to another 70 production workers in Milwaukee.
Harley also plans to cut about 360 nonproduction workers companywide.
The company is hoping to make most of the workforce reductions with early retirees.Harley spokesman Bob Klein said Monday potential retirees were receiving information about an early retirement package in Springettsbury Township, but to the best of his knowledge, no offers had been made.
The June 30 to July 3 shutdown is to allow for the company's annual lines changes to make new motorcycles for the next model year.
The number of layoffs for the week beginning Monday were not immediately known.
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- The_Articles > NEWS : Temporary Layoffs Set to Begin at YORK Plant
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| NEWS : Harley-Davidson Museum - Capturing the Harley Spirit | | Date Created: Jun 10, 2008, 06:48 AM |
 Harley-Davidson Museum - Capturing the Harley Spirit
One month away from its grand opening, Milwaukee's Harley-Davidson Museum has unveiled a crowning touch: a 16-foot-tall, 5,000-pound, hill-climbing bronze biker.
The larger-than-life image - one-and-one-half times life size, to be exact - emerged from beneath black drapes Monday afternoon. The sculpture is of a vintage 1930 Harley rider, frozen in a skyward wheelie. Its daring young driver, with only one hand on the handlebars, has reached the pinnacle of an uphill ride - and is on the verge of falling backward and wiping out.
The idea, said its creator, was to glorify biker culture while avoiding cliché images. No Marlon Brando, no Peter Fonda.
The sculpture, standing on the most visible part of the museum campus in the Menomonee Valley, depicts a sport called hill climbing, which was popular in the 1920s and '30s. The precarious bronze biker has no fear in his eyes. One leg is flying off the bike.
"It's really a piece of realism, but in a romantic way," said Jeff Decker, a Harley enthusiast who designed, sculpted and welded the 200 bronze pieces.
The piece was a gift from the family of Willie G. Davidson, a senior vice president and chief styling officer at Harley who is the grandson of one of the company founders, William A. Davidson.
Hill-climbing epitomizes motorcycle competition and thrill, Davidson said.
"We are a family of artists and passionate motorcyclists," Davidson said, introducing the piece with his family.
The objective of hill climbing was to race up steep hills that often had names like "widow maker." Participants invariably wiped out, Decker said.
"He is crashing," Decker said of the helmetless young rider. "But every hill climber crashes. It's part of the race."
Harley CEO Jim Ziemer, on hand for the ceremony, called hill-climbing one of the early "extreme sports."
"It was a matter of speed and balance," and it was for hard-core bikers only, Ziemer said.
Museum opens July 12
Davidson called the museum, which opens to the public on July 12, a milestone for his family and his company.
The facility, replete with exposed steel-beam architecture, is meant to reflect the city's factory past. Given that Harley has a worldwide following - it exports to 70 nations - the museum has potential to be a major international tourist attraction.
The statue stands in the middle of the campus of museum buildings in the city's Menomonee Valley, once the heart of the city's industrial economy and rail yards.
Access to the museum grounds will be available to the public for free, 24 hours a day.
Inside, admission for non-members will be $16 for adults, $10 for children 5 and older, $12 for seniors and students, and free for children younger than 5.
Exhibits will include a hill-climber motorcycle from roughly the same vintage, although Harley didn't build that many, said curator Jim Fricke. The archives, in a separate museum building with fewer windows, has footage of hill-climbing competitions replete with de rigueur wipeouts.
Looking up at his creation, Decker called the biker "heroic" and "acrobatic."
"These guys," Decker said, "broke arms and legs." |
- The_Articles > NEWS : Harley-Davidson Museum - Capturing the Harley Spirit
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| NEWS : Harley Softail Stars in New Indiana Jones Movie | | Date Created: May 23, 2008, 10:22 PM |
 From a Harley-Davidson Press Release:
A Harley-Davidson Softail Springer Classic features prominently in the new Indiana Jones movie "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" opening in theaters across the country on today. Customized Springer Softail Classics will join H-D Museum Collection
Shia LaBeouf riding the 2007 Harley-Davidson Softail Springer Classic
Directed by Steven Spielberg, the latest in the series of cult Indiana Jones movies stars Harrison Ford and Shia LaBeouf along with a 2007 Harley-Davidson Softail Springer Classic customized to reflect the movie's 1957 period setting. The bike's starring role comes during one of the film's signature action-packed chase scenes, and features Shia LaBeouf tearing through a college campus with Harrison Ford along for the ride as a passenger.
The Harley-Davidson Motor Company prepared five bikes for this movie and was closely involved with the on-set handling of the bikes. After the completion of the filming, two of the bikes will be returned to the Motor Company and will be on display in the soon-to-be-opened Harley-Davidson Motorcycle Museum, which opens to the public on July 12 in Milwaukee.
IRST PERSON/OPINION
Via e-mail:
RE: Indiana Jones Bikes / HD Press Release
For the record, I built all five bikes for the new Indiana Jones film. My crew also was in charge of handling the bikes / upkeep on set for MC stunts .
Harley Davidson provided Paramount with the bikes and parts. Myself, and two of my mechanics built the bikes. At no time, did we even meet anyone from the Harley Davidson Company.
I would greatly appreciate you amending or correcting the information on your web site. This is how I make my living and I do not work for Harley Davidson.
I would be more than happy to talk to your publication about the process of building these bikes for the film.
Best Regards,
Justin Kell
Los Angeles, California
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- The_Articles > NEWS : Harley Softail Stars in New Indiana Jones Movie
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