Harley-Davidson Operations, York, PA

We drove over to the Harley-Davidson Vehicle Operations Factory in York (http://www.harley-davidson.com/) this morning to go on their factory tour (the tour is free). The York facility is Harley-Davidson's largest manufacturing operation; about half of their production employees work here. The York facility is on more than 230 acres and is over 1.5 million square feet in size. The factory operates around the clock assembling their Touring & Softail models, as well as producing limited, factory-custom motorcycles.

From Harley-Davidson, York, PA

We watched the introductory movie, then picked up our safety goggles & headsets. The usual tour take you to the Touring production line, but it was not in operation that day. So we got on a bus & were taken over to the Softail production facility which is not normally open for tours. The tour lasted about an hour and because of the headsets we were able to hear the tour guide. We watched hydraulic presses form sheets of metal into fuel tanks, fenders, and tailpipes. The motorcycles travel by conveyor to different work stations for attachment of parts and assembly. They use state-of-the-art technology and ergonomically designed equipment to assist the employees in assembly. Each employee enters their code (it contains their personal info such as height) at their work station. Then as the conveyor reaches the employee's station, it's height is adjusted up or down according to the height of the employee. That way the employee can attach the parts to the motorcycle without having to bend, stoop or stretch. Once the motorcycles are assembled they go to the roll-test booth, where they are placed on rollers and "driven" at speeds up to 60 miles per hour. Finally, the motorcycle is wrapped in plastic and crated by a robot.
After the tour was over we returned to the Vaughn L. Beals Tour Center where the gift shop is and where current production motorcycles are on display & anyone can sit on them. We saw some nice 2009 models that haven't been sent to dealerships yet.
We stopped at an Olive Garden for lunch, got gas in the Vue (paid $3.559 a gallon) & then bought groceries at Wal-Mart Supercenter in York before driving the 14 miles back to Gifford Pinchot State Park.