Milwaukee Business Journal – by David Schuyler
Harley-Davidson Inc. has confirmed that its factory in Kansas City, Missouri, had its last day of production on Friday.
The Milwaukee-based motorcycle manufacturer confirmed to KMIZ-TV in Columbia, Missouri, that it has closed the plant as of May 24. The factory’s closure, which was announced in January 2018, resulted in the loss of about 800 jobs.
“The Kansas City plant has been assembling Harley-Davidson motorcycles since 1997, and our employees will leave a great legacy of safety, quality, collaboration and manufacturing leadership,” Harley-Davidson (NYSE: HOG) said in a statement provided to the TV station. “We are grateful to them and the Kansas City community for their many years of support and their service to our dealers and our riders.”
The company said it has been providing support for employees’ transitions with a staffed workforce development center that has operated for the past year at the plant, hosting job fairs with more than 100 local employers and offering free employment skills workshops and training.
Harley-Davidson said at the time the closure was announced that production from the Kansas City plant would be shifted to the company’s plant in York, Pennsylvania. Harley is completing an approximately $150 million expansion in York, where it is expected to hire up to 450 more workers to support the increased production, WHTM-TV in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, reports.
The Kansas City plant has been the center of controversy since Harley-Davidson’s surprise announcement 16 months ago that it would shutter its Kansas City operations and lay off its 800-person workforce as a result of declining motorcycle sales. The closing has kicked off several public disputes with the union representing the plant’s workers as well as the Trump administration and local officials.
Earlier this year, Harley-Davidson put the 507,729-square-foot plant, which sits on 314 acres about five miles east of Kansas City International Airport, on the market for $26.5 million. The list price includes a paint booth system that originally cost $30 million.
Traitors, what arent they telling us?? These bikes are just too goddamned expensive. Billions was given by Americans to keep this damn company alive, WTF?
Tariff the hell out of the foreign bullshit you idiots! Do your fkg jobs…where the hell is Trump the traitor? Oh, that’s right, hes in China on his fkg knees.
Price is one reason I keep riding my older Harley’s plus when they build a better motor then the evo I may look . 80.000 miles on my 1998 king and running strong the old pan head for show they day she still gets a few miles on her 1964
$30,000,000 paint booth?!?!
I’m happy with my pre- injection 80” evo 1997 heritage classic
I won’t need another one
HD rode a wave back in the 90’s and that wave is over
Millinials can’t ride a motorcycle
Because they can’t text and ride or learn wtf a clutch is for let alone the rules of the road
So bikes arnt selling as much as they did before
Also with all the jackass texters out there running everyone over , it’s pretty scary to be a motorcyclist
They’re buying the 36,000.00 goldwing trikes. I see em all over the damn place.
40 grand when said and done.
The wife’s dont like the Harley trikes.