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Harley: By the numbers, through the years
Daily Record/Sunday News


Article Last Updated: 04/17/2008 01:14:23 PM EDT


About 9,000 people work for Harley-Davidson worldwide.

Harley-Davidson's Springettsbury Township plant is its largest manufacturing facility with about 3,200 employees.

There are more than 970 independent Harley-Davidson dealers in Asia and the Pacific area, Canada, Europe, Latin America, South America and the United States.

Harley-Davidson has seven facilities that perform manufacturing operations. They are in East Troy, Wis.; Menomonee Falls, Wis.; Tomahawk, Wis.; Wauwatosa, Wis.; Kansas City, Mo.; Manaus, Brazil; and Springettsbury Township.

THROUGH THE YEARS

Here's a look at the company's history:

1901: William S. Harley, 21, drafts a blueprint drawing of an engine designed to fit into a bicycle.

1903: Harley and Arthur Davidson, 20, make available to the public the first Harley-Davidson motorcycle, built in Milwaukee. Walter Davidson, Arthur Davidson's brother, joins the company.

1907: William A. Davidson, Arthur Davidson's brother, joins the company.

1910: The bar-and-shield logo is used for the first time. It's trademarked one year later.

1920: Harley-Davidson is the largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world.

The association with a hog starts when the racing team's mascot, a pig, is carried on a victory lap after each race won by the Harley-Davidson team of racers. Sixty-three years later, Harley-Davidson begins HOG, Harley Owners Group.

1937: William Davidson dies


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at the age of 67.
1942: Walter Davidson dies at the age of 66.

1943: William Harley dies at the age of 63.

1950: Arthur Davidson dies at the age of 69.

1965: Harley-Davidson goes public for the first time, and the founders officially relinquish control.

1969: Workers at the Springettsbury Township plant walk out for a couple months.

1971: Jeffrey L. Bleustein, who would become part owner of Harley-Davidson, is an engineer with AMF, which owned Harley-Davidson at the time.

1974: Workers at the Milwaukee plant walk out.

1981: Bleustein and a group of 12 other senior executives at Harley-Davidson buy the company from AMF.

1983: Harley Owners Group, known as HOG, starts. Membership grows from more than 90,000 to more than 500,000 by 2000.

1991: Ninety-one percent of the unionized workers at the Springettsbury Township plant vote to strike. The strike lasts two weeks. Major issues were overtime notification and hours.

1993: Bleustein becomes president and chief operating officer of Harley-Davidson.

1997: Bleustein becomes president and chief executive officer of Harley-Davidson; a year later, chairman is added to his title.

2003: The company expands its Springettsbury Township plant by 350,000 square feet, improving upon technology, work environment and efficiency.

2006: Harley opens its first Chinese dealership.

On Aug. 16, President Bush visits the motorcycle maker's Softail plant in Springettsbury Township. It is the third visit to Harley by an incumbent president in 20 years.

2007: Ninety-eight percent of 2,722 unionized workers at the Springettsbury Township plant vote to strike after rejecting the company's proposed contract. Workers later approve an agreement and return to work after three weeks.

Source: York Daily Record/Sunday News archives








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