The company is temporarily suspending the majority of production at its U.S. manufacturing facilities through March 29 to help support employee health and further bolster coronavirus containment efforts.
Facilities affected are York Vehicle Operations in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin facilities Tomahawk Operations and Pilgrim Road Powertrain Operations.
“We recognize the unprecedented nature of this global crisis. In order to best support our employees and following the social distancing guidance issued by public health authorities, we are temporarily suspending the majority of production at our U.S. manufacturing facilities,” said Jochen Zeitz, acting CEO and president, Harley-Davidson. “We will continue to monitor the situation and take necessary steps to prioritize employee health and safety.”
Harley-Davidson officials said they will continue monitoring the situation closely and make additional adjustments as necessary in accordance with World Health Organization and Center for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines. The majority of its United States production employees will be on temporary layoff with medical benefits. The company will use this idle time to continue their deep cleaning and disinfecting its production areas and common areas to further protect workers for when they return back to work.
Harley-Davidson closed its Pilgrim Road Powertrain Operations facility after an employee tested positive for coronavirus and is thoroughly cleaning and disinfecting the building, per the company’s coronavirus response protocol.
On Monday, Harley-Davidson asked employees at its Milwaukee-area headquarters and Product Development Center, except those business-critical roles that must be done onsite, to work remotely through at least the end of March.
The plant in Springettsbury had about 950 employees in 2018 when the company announced it would add an additional 450 there because Harley-Davidson was shuttering its facility in Kansas City. The Springettsbury plant had about 2000 employees a decade earlier.
Earlier Wednesday, General Motors, Ford and Fiat Chrysler suspended all of their North American production plants to mitigate the spread of the virus.
Additionally, the company is proactively working with its dealers to assess individual impacts and its encouraging dealers to follow the public health guidelines in their communities for the safety of its consumers. In accordance with social distance guidelines, all Harley-Davidson sponsored events have been cancelled until mid-April.
SOURCE: Yahoo Finance
