Photo: Harley-Davidson
With so many of the parts used in car and motorcycle making coming from third-party suppliers it's easy to see how fragile the entire process is. Just consider how an issue at any of these suppliers can significant effect of an automotive company's operations. And Harley-Davidson is experiencing this a lot these days.
Back on May 19, the Milwaukee-based behemoth said it was forced to stop the assembly lines at its York, Pennsylvania facility for two weeks due to what at the time it said were "supply chain" issues. The company said it was doing this because of some concern regarding "a regulatory compliance matter" relating to one of its supplier's products. No other details on the matter were provided at the time, but there was word of a brake hose issue being the cause of that.
Initially, plans were to resume production on June 6, but that didn't happen, so the date was pushed to June 13. On that day though the bike maker came out with another announcement, telling us the York facility will be "running limited motorcycle manufacturing operations."
This time we're told the cause of the production halt is a "potential quality issue relating to brake hose assemblies provided by a tier-2 supplier." The company is called Proterial Cable America, and apparently the June brake hose issue is separate from the May hose issue.
York is the largest Harley facility, the place from where incredible machines from the Sportster, Softail, Touring and CVO families roll out the assembly lines and onto our roads.
The American company does not say which of the models are affected by the production freeze, but we are given assurances the recently announced 2023 CVO Road Glide and 2023 CVO Street Glide, which are supposed to become available for order as soon as next month, are not impacted. That's because they simply "do not utilize these brake hose assemblies."
And that's great news, given how the two new CVOs are instrumental to the company's plan for success this year. That's because they not only come with a new breed of Milwaukee-Eight engine in their frames and a lot of tech and features never before seen on a Harley two-wheeler, but because they are also a central piece of the celebrations planned for next month over in Milwaukee.
Harley-Davidson now says it expects full production to resume at York on June 26, and says the issue with its supplier does not impact international operations in a meaningful way.
Until then, the American market should not worry, says Harley's CEO Jochen Zeitz, as there is a "strong inventory" in the network to last until the issues are solved. What exactly that means in numbers was not disclosed.
Initially, plans were to resume production on June 6, but that didn't happen, so the date was pushed to June 13. On that day though the bike maker came out with another announcement, telling us the York facility will be "running limited motorcycle manufacturing operations."
This time we're told the cause of the production halt is a "potential quality issue relating to brake hose assemblies provided by a tier-2 supplier." The company is called Proterial Cable America, and apparently the June brake hose issue is separate from the May hose issue.
York is the largest Harley facility, the place from where incredible machines from the Sportster, Softail, Touring and CVO families roll out the assembly lines and onto our roads.
The American company does not say which of the models are affected by the production freeze, but we are given assurances the recently announced 2023 CVO Road Glide and 2023 CVO Street Glide, which are supposed to become available for order as soon as next month, are not impacted. That's because they simply "do not utilize these brake hose assemblies."
And that's great news, given how the two new CVOs are instrumental to the company's plan for success this year. That's because they not only come with a new breed of Milwaukee-Eight engine in their frames and a lot of tech and features never before seen on a Harley two-wheeler, but because they are also a central piece of the celebrations planned for next month over in Milwaukee.
Harley-Davidson now says it expects full production to resume at York on June 26, and says the issue with its supplier does not impact international operations in a meaningful way.
Until then, the American market should not worry, says Harley's CEO Jochen Zeitz, as there is a "strong inventory" in the network to last until the issues are solved. What exactly that means in numbers was not disclosed.
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