| Author | Message | ||
     Johnnymceldoo |
Unemployment in Ohio is 11.1% as of yesterday the lowest since 1983. | ||
| Ferris_von_bueller |
lowest???? | ||
| Johnnymceldoo |
highest!  | ||
| Ourdee |
Court agreeing with My girlfriend, Buellgrowl  . The end is at hand! | ||
| Oddball |
A sign of the Buell-ocalypse. | ||
| Firebolt32 |
Their dropping like flies in Brandon. Sad to see so many nice and qualified people go. | ||
| Johnnymceldoo |
Threatening US tax payers with high energy bills, more taxes and regulation is a sure way to make people spend less. Now we're worried how bad theyre going to F up healthcare. I mean....come on | ||
| Ferris_von_bueller |
I've noticed eBay is way off but people still want top dollar for their junk. | ||
| Court |
>>>A sign of the Buell-ocalypse. Perhaps. Watch for news. | ||
| Oddball |
 | ||
| Ourdee |
 | ||
| Ferris_von_bueller |
Court is always speaking in code  | ||
| Court |
________________________________________ Let me clear it up . . . Buell is experiencing great success, has a bright future and is doing exciting things with exciting and excited people. The team at Buell is in the process of redefining what American Manufacturing CAN BE. Harley-Davidson is a company largely constrained by its own success, "not invented here" mindset and corporate territorialism. The ways that worked, and were a stroke of genius at the time, for Harley-Davidson . . won't work now. Can Harley-Davidson get rid of the chains that bind them? Can the company (and I confess a bit of personal bias here) that tried to keep Buell owners from seeing "25 Years of Buell" and won't allow it to be sold in a dealership, pull their head out of their corporate ass and come into the modern age? I'm not sure. Bringing Keith Wandell on board was a good start. Key is to see if he can get enough folks fired and do it fast enough. Harley, make no mistakes about it, is currently in the crapper. But I think there is a bright future. However the leftover folks from 1990 are going to be the ones to lead the way. Time will tell. Buell will be in great shape. We'll see about Harley-Davidson. I met some of the old Harley-Davidson executives at Road America and I could name 3 that are nice folks but need to be let go immediately . . . their thinking and ways will not work going ahead. Court | ||
| F_skinner |
It would be hard to walk away from the HD distributing, bike shipping and dealerships already setup to supply parts and service but would it not be nice to have a "Buell Buy Back". Similar to HD Buy Back from AMF. There are some similarities but all AMF did was supply much needed cash. I think it was Beals behind the buy back and they had to believe they could do better without the AMF "Bailout" money. If Buell was bought back and they allowed owners to invest I would sink most of my savings into it. With EB and the talent he has at Buell it cannot fail. After all, look at what they have over come so far. As far as Harley goes, you can only go so far selling an imagine. Eventually you will be called on it. It was a good ride while it lasted. Imagine a Buell dealership that also sells Harleys, back in the corner behind the scooters! (Message edited by f_skinner on July 22, 2009) | ||
| Ferris_von_bueller |
that tried to keep Buell owners from seeing "25 Years of Buell" and won't allow it to be sold in a dealership because they couldn't get a cut from it???? | ||
| Oddball |
Hopefully they will be able to clear the ranks and get some new passion and drive. New directions, designs, methods of operation. It would be nice but that's asking quite a bit from the chrome set. | ||
| Ourdee |
I will trade my 100 years of Harley-Davidson By: Willie G. Davidson for your 25 Years Of Buell. The cover of mine shows a little wear, books in good shape. Here is one like it on e-bay. Mine is not new. http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-100-Years-of-Harley-Davids on-Willie-G-Davidson_W0QQitemZ400037959977QQcmdZVi ewItemQQptZUS_Nonfiction_Book?hash=item5d241ed929& _trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A12%7C66%3A2%7C 39%3A1%7C72%3A1205%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50 | ||
| Buellgrrrl |
BTW, BMW is having the same demographic problems as HOG. At the big BMWMOA rally last week I noted the same demographic as the HOG clientelle- mostly aging white guys' except they were profiling on GSs instead of big twins. BMW, showing they hyave at least half a clue, put on an events for GS rders on the fairground's motocross track. With what seemed like half of the events 6000+ riders on GSs they got all of 19 participants. BMW's been pitching there 450 and 650 singles at younger dirt riders, but if BMW wanted to snare them they should have given some free admission coupons to the local dirt riders... Meanwhile, there were rays of hope at the Airhead encampment. Airheads are the older BMW boxer twins last built from 1970 to 1996. They've proven to be an excellent entry level bike for young riders as a good one can be had for as little as $2000. BMW continues to provide parts for these bikes and the airheads provide excellent support- under the airheads tent a valve was replaced and transmission case repaired as well as more mundaine repairs during the rally. Buell might be wise to learn a lesson from the airheads and BMW- Instead of disowning the "tubers", support them with parts and service advice to lure young riders into the fold who will be back in a few years to buy a new Buell. | ||
| Buellinachinashop |
"The ways that worked, and were a stroke of genius at the time, for Harley-Davidson . . won't work now." My uncle, who's a retired HD exec, said the same thing to me last weekend. He said that HD's production facility in KC should have been the model for everything HD makes, instead, its looked at as the "expensive" experiment. He said that if HD doesn't modernize its ways, this company will be in a great deal of trouble and by modernizeing, he didn't mean equipment upgrades. In large part, he meant in personel. This is why HD is offering not only early retirment packages, but very lucerative "quitting" packages. | ||
| Court |
Your Uncle is dead on. Harley-Davidson has taken the early steps to "do something" but they have a long way to go. I've not sold my stock but I watch the company closer. I think, perhaps, what your Uncle meant was not so much upgrades in terms of personnel, but in the way they are managed. I've had several brushes and dealings lately with old pals who have risen to the higher ups within Harley-Davidson. Many simply have not a clue and their entire mindset is stuck in the "chrome it and throw a party" era. Several years ago I got very, far more than I should have, involved in a crucial union vote at Buell. I've had a couple e-mails in the last month thanking me for taking a stand when my impassioned e-mail got pasted all over the walls at Buell and the union withdrew the organizing petition. I simply couldn't stand by and watch my friends commit Hari-Kari. If the union had not withdrawn the petition, the 200 folks at Buell would have been the 200 least senior members and they'd all be looking for work. Simply citing "times are tough" is an excuse. Frankly, times have changed. I should threaten to send the Harley-Davidson folks the speech I gave at the recent Columbia University Commencement. It dealt with change, having, for the first time in history, four generations in the work place, and generally how effective people work in teams. Rich Teerlink would never tolerate some of the crap that's currently taking place and I seriously doubt Keith Wandell will either. It's a great time to be cleaning out some dead wood. One of the quitting packages seems to be offering a senior exec the chance to "work for" a new 28 year old employee. . that seems to get them out in a hurry.  We'll see. | ||
| Buellinachinashop |
"I think, perhaps, what your Uncle meant was not so much upgrades in terms of personnel, but in the way they are managed." Exactly. Some very bright folks at HD, but the operational management senario is lack luster. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Buell might be wise to learn a lesson from the airheads and BMW- Instead of disowning the "tubers", support them with parts and service advice to lure young riders into the fold who will be back in a few years to buy a new Buell.  | ||
| Danger_dave |
Co-pilot has a diploma in Change Management Court. Fascinatin' subject. But I never get the same Muesli two weeks in a row. | ||
| 46champ |
Buellgrrrl that isn't a bad idea having the kids buy tubers my son who is 23 thinks my M2 is cool. The problem is idiots my age are buying them to make Choppers, their won't be a lot left in 10 years. (Message edited by 46champ on July 21, 2009) | ||
| Buellgrrrl |
Court, there's a downside to promoting a 28 year old fresh college grad over an old guard manager... I had a great transpotation dept. manager at our old Minneapolis bakery. He started loading trucks, rose through the ranks, and even learned how to drive a big rig. When that bakery closed he transferred to KC and straightened out their mess of a loading dock. A couple years later I got a call from him- Top management had decreed that all managers had to have a college degree. He was ordered to fire his assistant manager, take that job himself, then hire a college grad to replace himself as manager. It was stupidity like that which drove a company that made profits clear through the depression into bankruptcy. | ||
| Johnnymceldoo |
It was stupidity like that which drove a company that made profits clear through the depression into bankruptcy. HOly crap! I cant believe you just made that statement! That statement sums up government ran programs that you most likely support. LOL! | ||
| 46champ |
BLAKE!! someone is impersonating Buellgrrrl that is the second post that this Buellgrrrl has made today that made sense. | ||
| Mattwhite |
Court, was the union trying to turn the elves into HD employees? Just out of curiosity, do you know what they were offered. I know of a couple cases where bringing a plant into a union has some odd results. Auto Alliance (Ford and Mazda joint operation) - When the UAW was trying to organize the workers in this plant they offered to take each employee's plant seniority and recognize it as Ford seniority, so that ended up as the opposite of the scenario you described. Auto Alliance dropped a shift and the new UAW members got to bump people out of nearby Ford plants. My dad and several aunts and uncles work at the nearest Ford plant, but they were there long enough that they didn't get bumped by the Mazda workers. On the other hand, the first round GM employees that moved down to Tennessee to work at Saturn got screwed more along the lines of what you described. It's not quite the same scenario, but it ends the same. GM-UAW employees signed some forms saying they quit GM and started working for Saturn. So they started fresh with no seniority. The first time they got screwed over by the union was the second round of transfers from GM to Saturn. Those employees kept their GM seniority. It didn't really matter at the time because they weren't laying people off. Plant seniority decided who got what job. They really got screwed when GM brought Saturn back into GM. All those employees who "quit" GM to work for Saturn lost a lot of seniority when they became GM employees again. I was at the former Saturn plant last year when they rebuilt it to make Chevys - Nashville is a great place, by the way. Great nightlife if you like live music, fun roads right outside of town. Some are even in the city limits. Anyway, I'll get back to the rant. A GM plant in Alabama closed and a bunch of the local employees got bumped by people from Alabama, even though many were with GM longer. (Message edited by MattWhite on July 22, 2009) | ||
| Court |
>>>Court, was the union trying to turn the elves into HD employees? Just out of curiosity, do you know what they were offered. It was the topic of a month long discussion, including lots of details and copies of the NRLB filing, on Badweb. Things worked out very well for The Elves. | ||
| Buellgrrrl |
Court & friends, I don't think a layoff of another thousand workers is the time to be venting pro or anti union animosity. The goal is to turn HOG around and put those thousand people back to work, not argue about who should get laid off first. I'd worry more about HOG's new management not understanding Buell and the fact that Buell is doing much better in the market than Harley. When new executives come in, don't really know the company, and are looking for something to cut... A relatively small operation like Buell is an easy target. Look at the way GM killed off their medium truck operation recently even though it was probably profitable. |
