Supply chain.....
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Road Warrior
Joined: Dec 2016
Posts: 1,812
Likes: 894
From: Lincolnshire, IL
Supply chain.....
I had an interesting conversation yesterday with the shop manager at an area HD dealership regarding how busy he was, or wasn't.
He was pretty honest about the HD "supply chain" issues with parts for his customers. Says HD is still using the pandemic as an excuse for parts delays. (which is basically just an excuse) Said HD has two sites for parts....a dealers ordering site and the general public parts ordering source....and the two don't "share" their parts inventory. Because of this, it's sometimes difficult for a dealer to get parts while at the same time the general public CAN.
I have no idea if all of that's true or not but interesting IF true.
He was pretty honest about the HD "supply chain" issues with parts for his customers. Says HD is still using the pandemic as an excuse for parts delays. (which is basically just an excuse) Said HD has two sites for parts....a dealers ordering site and the general public parts ordering source....and the two don't "share" their parts inventory. Because of this, it's sometimes difficult for a dealer to get parts while at the same time the general public CAN.
I have no idea if all of that's true or not but interesting IF true.
HDF Community Team
Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 6,186
Likes: 2,412
From: USA
I ordered a new Heritage this October.
Harley flat out could not supply the bike.
My dealership got it from another dealership.
I ordered upgrades to the bike. Reach seat, reach bars, heated grips, crash bars, and the stuff that you need for this.
Harley could not supply much of this in a timely manner. Some of it being projected out to April of this year.
My dealership spent a lot of time finding the parts from other dealerships inventories.
So I would agree Harley is doing a notably bad job of inventory.
But, look at what's going on with water shipping and the canals and piracy and such. It's not pandemic related, but there are very real global water shipping problems right now.
Harley flat out could not supply the bike.
My dealership got it from another dealership.
I ordered upgrades to the bike. Reach seat, reach bars, heated grips, crash bars, and the stuff that you need for this.
Harley could not supply much of this in a timely manner. Some of it being projected out to April of this year.
My dealership spent a lot of time finding the parts from other dealerships inventories.
So I would agree Harley is doing a notably bad job of inventory.
But, look at what's going on with water shipping and the canals and piracy and such. It's not pandemic related, but there are very real global water shipping problems right now.
Advanced
Joined: Aug 2017
Posts: 74
Likes: 11
From: Illinois
A great number of parts are manufactured outside of the good old USA. Given the current problems in the Red Sea and Suez Canal, we can expect further delays in receiving parts manufactured in Asia. We can also expect shipping costs to triple, because many vessels will have to sail all the way around South Africa to reach CONUS.
Last edited by High Mileage; Jan 19, 2024 at 12:45 PM.
Advanced
Joined: May 2020
Posts: 75
Likes: 59
From: Colorado
I work in an OEM environment and experience similar issues. We have inventory specifically for manufacturing and a separate inventory for parts sales, which is also located in a different location. We do allow transfer of parts within the separate inventories but not without special authorization. While the supply chain issues have subsided, it still remains a factor.
Thread Starter
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Road Warrior
Joined: Dec 2016
Posts: 1,812
Likes: 894
From: Lincolnshire, IL
It was explained to me that one of the issues was that the dealer parts inventory people didn't "talk" to the customer parts inventory "people", so while one group would tell the dealer "the part is on back order" the other parts group HAD the part in stock. To make matters even more confounding I was told the two inventory groups EACH order their own inventories. IF that's the case someone high up at HD better get their act together.
Basically, it sounds like a communications issue between two individual inventory groups.....not uncommon in corporate organizations.
Basically, it sounds like a communications issue between two individual inventory groups.....not uncommon in corporate organizations.
Club Member
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 66,102
Likes: 51,367
From: Niles Canyon Ca.
A lot of what's getting blamed on supply change problems is in reality corporate gaming the system for several reasons, main one being people are willing to pay well over book list if they can get it in a reasonable time frame.
We're being sucker rolled.
We're being sucker rolled.
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