jgoose71 0 #1 April 15, 2011 Was reading in one of my Motorcycle Magazines the other day that Goldwing production was moved to Japan from Ohio, where they have been produced for over 30 years. Having been to Japan numerous times, all I can say is, what happened? How did it become more cost effective to build something in Japan and ship it to the states? The Cost of Living in Japan is way beyond anything in the states. They didn't move manufacturing to Mexico, Taiwan, or China, but Japan. I won't even got into the lost jobs.... I've said it before and I will say it again, we need to bring down the cost of doing buisness in America. Source:http://www.asphaltandrubber.com/news/honda-closes-goldwing-plant/"There is an art, it says, or, rather, a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss." Life, the Universe, and Everything Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billvon 3,078 #2 April 15, 2011 >we need to bring down the cost of doing buisness in America. Easiest way to do that is to open the borders and eliminate minimum wage. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Belgian_Draft 0 #3 April 15, 2011 They stopped Goldwing production in Ohio almost two years ago. On a better note, Honda is putting in a new transmission plant near Marysville that will create more jobs than were lost when bike production moved out.HAMMER: Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive parts adjacent the object we are trying to hit. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jgoose71 0 #4 April 15, 2011 Quote >we need to bring down the cost of doing buisness in America. Easiest way to do that is to open the borders and eliminate minimum wage. Way to come forward with a comment to completely mis- interpret my position with something that would obviously destroy the way of life in the U.S. Would expect nothing less...."There is an art, it says, or, rather, a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss." Life, the Universe, and Everything Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jgoose71 0 #5 April 15, 2011 QuoteThey stopped Goldwing production in Ohio almost two years ago. On a better note, Honda is putting in a new transmission plant near Marysville that will create more jobs than were lost when bike production moved out. Glad to hear it. The story I linked suggested that honda was moving everything back to the mother land. Like I said, it's just hard to believe that it's cheaper to manufacture something in Japan..."There is an art, it says, or, rather, a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss." Life, the Universe, and Everything Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PhreeZone 20 #6 April 15, 2011 Not really, lots of the parts to the Goldwing were already made in Japan and were just being assembled here. Moving the entire chain back to Japan saves them the cost of shipping each part over and now they just ship fully assembled bikes. I've toured that line before and it was pretty outdated and in need of modernization. The sheer cost to upgrade the line was going to be a limiting factor.Yesterday is history And tomorrow is a mystery Parachutemanuals.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CarrieByTheSea 0 #7 April 15, 2011 I agree--not that anyone here cares. But, I love a Goldwing. It is what I grew up on and have put more than 300k as a passenger on. So... My family and my hunny all have Harleys now and that is fun, but not so much for me as a passenger after a couple hours. I have a motorcycle license, but I like riding as a passenger with my man. Sue me for trusting someone to do the work and let me just look around and enjoy the ride and the scenery. "Nature is cruel, but we don't have to be." ~ Temple Grandin Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jgoose71 0 #8 April 16, 2011 QuoteNot really, lots of the parts to the Goldwing were already made in Japan and were just being assembled here. Moving the entire chain back to Japan saves them the cost of shipping each part over and now they just ship fully assembled bikes. I've toured that line before and it was pretty outdated and in need of modernization. The sheer cost to upgrade the line was going to be a limiting factor. I was under the impression that most of the parts were made in Korea and Taiwan, then shipped to the US to Assemble. Still, putting together a whole new plant in Japan as opposed to upgrading a plant in the US.... I may have believed it in the 80's, but it's still hard to imagine now. Times are a changin'"There is an art, it says, or, rather, a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss." Life, the Universe, and Everything Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jgoose71 0 #9 April 16, 2011 Quote I agree--not that anyone here cares. But, I love a Goldwing. It is what I grew up on and have put more than 300k as a passenger on. So... My family and my hunny all have Harleys now and that is fun, but not so much for me as a passenger after a couple hours. I have a motorcycle license, but I like riding as a passenger with my man. Sue me for trusting someone to do the work and let me just look around and enjoy the ride and the scenery. Nothin wrong with that. It's a lot more fun to ride with with my wife holding on to meRather than get a harley, my next bike will most likely be a Victory Cross Country. American made you know...."There is an art, it says, or, rather, a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss." Life, the Universe, and Everything Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hookitt 1 #10 April 16, 2011 I'm sorry to hear they moved away from the Goldwing. Those bikes handle extremely well and offer comfort that is hard to match when it comes to touring bikes. The plant in Ohio was in need of an upgrade. I remember reading about it a couple years back on a bike forum. If I recall, they chose to move it to Japan since there are already great bike assembly lines in place plus they have it pretty dialed in when it comes to building a bike. For a very quickly mass produced bike, Honda is hard to beat. A Honda CBR 1000rr is assembled in an hour. It competes with a BMW 1000r which is pretty amazing in its own right. (plus the maintenance is minimal).My grammar sometimes resembles that of magnetic refrigerator poetry... Ghetto Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Belgian_Draft 0 #11 April 16, 2011 Quote Quote I agree--not that anyone here cares. But, I love a Goldwing. It is what I grew up on and have put more than 300k as a passenger on. So... My family and my hunny all have Harleys now and that is fun, but not so much for me as a passenger after a couple hours. I have a motorcycle license, but I like riding as a passenger with my man. Sue me for trusting someone to do the work and let me just look around and enjoy the ride and the scenery. Nothin wrong with that. It's a lot more fun to ride with with my wife holding on to meRather than get a harley, my next bike will most likely be a Victory Cross Country. American made you know.... I'm thinking my next bike will be a non_V-twin, something that will stand out in the crowd. The new Triumph Thunderbird Storm looks fantastic and has had good reviews. Then there is the Triumph Rocket III. Touring edition, of course.But just maybe the Roadster would be fun....HAMMER: Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive parts adjacent the object we are trying to hit. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PhreeZone 20 #12 April 16, 2011 As I understood it they just changed one of the lines in an existing Japanese plants to run the Goldwing that had already been modernized but was not running at its capacity due to lower demand on the bikes it was putting out. The cost to retool the line was much lower than the cost was going to be to basically build a while new line in the Marysville plant. I might be wrong since I heard it from a temp worker at HAM. HAM was much smaller compared to the Honda car plant influence in this area.Yesterday is history And tomorrow is a mystery Parachutemanuals.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Amazon 7 #13 April 16, 2011 QuoteQuoteNot really, lots of the parts to the Goldwing were already made in Japan and were just being assembled here. Moving the entire chain back to Japan saves them the cost of shipping each part over and now they just ship fully assembled bikes. I've toured that line before and it was pretty outdated and in need of modernization. The sheer cost to upgrade the line was going to be a limiting factor. I was under the impression that most of the parts were made in Korea and Taiwan, then shipped to the US to Assemble. Still, putting together a whole new plant in Japan as opposed to upgrading a plant in the US.... I may have believed it in the 80's, but it's still hard to imagine now. Times are a changin' Perhaps the Japanese have learned that putting their people to work is more important to them... so they can actually afford the products they make. Maybe American companies can learn something here. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sundevil777 102 #14 April 16, 2011 My memory was that they were stopping motorcycle production at Marysville, doing other things with that space. They no longer list cycle production on their mfg website: http://www.ohio.honda.com/CompanyInfo/operations.cfm I think the goldwing was the start of cycle production in the states. Sad to see it gone, but Honda is very smart about having extremely flexible mfg operations. They can make many different car models on the same production line (I worked R&D and factory). For example at the East liberty plant, they've made Civics, Elements and CRVs at the same line. Flexibility gives them a great advantage long term.People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jgoose71 0 #15 April 16, 2011 Quote Perhaps the Japanese have learned that putting their people to work is more important to them... so they can actually afford the products they make. Maybe American companies can learn something here. Mighty Republican of you to say that.....Have you started toe tappin' in the bathroom stalls yet?"There is an art, it says, or, rather, a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss." Life, the Universe, and Everything Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Amazon 7 #16 April 16, 2011 Quote Quote Perhaps the Japanese have learned that putting their people to work is more important to them... so they can actually afford the products they make. Maybe American companies can learn something here. Mighty Republican of you to say that.....Have you started toe tappin' in the bathroom stalls yet? Nope/// I will leave that action to the conservative "experts" since they can't sem to get enough... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AggieDave 6 #17 April 16, 2011 QuoteI think the goldwing was the start of cycle production in the states. I believe it was, but I do know that foreign manufactures opened assembly plants in the US to get around the tariff for import motorcycles that the US Government put in place in an attempt to "save" US based motorcycle production. The Kawasaki US assembly plant in Nebraska was shut down in 2004, my Vulcan was one of the last put together there. At least in the realm of foreign forged but US assembled motorcycles, Harley Davidson still exists! (Although the company threatened to move production last year due to unions).--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
