Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, “Harley-Davidson geared up for selling season“:

Geared up for the motorcycle industry’s most important selling season, there’s cautious optimism for Harley-Davidson Inc. and other manufacturers.

A recent survey of Harley dealerships suggests that retail sales improved in the first three months of the year, according to analyst Joseph Hovorka of Raymond James & Associates. The firm contacted 40 dealerships to measure retail demand.

Austin American-Statesman, “The nuts and bolts of world motorcycle racing“:

World championship motorcycle road racing will come to Austin in 2013 at the new Circuit of the Americas, the racetrack’s promoters announced Tuesday. Here are some fast facts to get you up to speed:

Ducati, Honda, Suzuki and Yamaha are the four manufacturers, and the three racing divisions are based on engine displacement. Moto3 is 125 cubic centimeters, Moto2 is 600, and MotoGP is 800 but will rise to 1000 in 2012.

Autoblog, “Honda CEO Takanobu Ito used CB1000 motorcycle to tour quake area“: (continue reading…)

Associated Press, “Japanese Manufacturing Could Take Years, Billions To Recover,” starts by detailing the direct damage from the earthquake and tsunami to major manufacturers, the ports, and energy sector. Then …

[Widespread] power shortages from damage to four nuclear plants — an unfolding crisis in itself — have forced many companies to halt production.

Sony Corp. has halted output at several factories, including one that makes Blu-Ray discs. Toshiba Corp. has done the same. All automakers including Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s biggest, have stopped making cars nationwide.

Companies are also facing problems shipping components, receiving raw materials and getting workers to facilities that are working, said Dale Ford, an analyst at technology market research firm IHS iSuppli.

• BBC News, “Worries over component shortages after Japan earthquake“
• Reuters,  “Analysis: Central banks still set to tighten despite Japan”
• USA Today, “Computer chip shortage could zap automakers“
• Wall Street Journal, “Crisis Adds New Risk to Global Recovery“
• USA Today, “Rolling blackouts could take toll on Japan’s economy“
• PCWorld, “Quake May Affect Tech Industry for Six Months, Says Analyst“

Toyota statement, “Updated Toyota Statement Regarding Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan“: (continue reading…)

Awful news in Japan. Our thoughts are with them.

In addition to the loss of life, the earthquake could have a major impact on the global economy, supply chains and major industry sectors.

MediaPost.com, “Japan Automakers In Force Majeur“:

Nissan, Honda, and Toyota’s Japan operations are in force majeur because of the 8.9 magnitude earthquake that struck off the coast there. Toyota closed three factories, Honda Motor Co. has also suspended production, which could affect exports of Toyota’s Yaris sedan, Scion cars and Honda’s Fit small car. Toyota said it evacuated workers from several factories in the quake zone.

The Yaris is made at Toyota’s Miyagi Prefecture plant, which has capacity of 120,000 units per year. Honda reportedly lost two employees at its Tochigi factory, Kanto region, near Utsunomiya. Nissan Motor Company is still collecting the damage data.

Reuters reports, “Commodities, energy markets grapple with shutdowns“:

(Reuters) – Japan‘s earthquake forced port closures and shutdowns of oil refineries and metal plants in the world’s third-biggest economy on Friday, rattling commodity and energy markets as participants weighed up how quickly activity could return to normal….

All Japanese ports have closed, with discharging operations stopped, shippers said. Top refiner JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corp halted operations at three plants, while fire engulfed a storage tank at a unit of Cosmo Oil Co. The two make up about 20 percent of the country’s total refining capacity.

UPDATE (10:28 a.m.): Autoblog, “Report: Toyota, Honda, Subaru and Nissan close plants in wake of Japanese earthquake“

In the yet another absurd and offensive plan to bully companies into unionizing, the United Autoworkers are preparing to claim that auto manufacturers that resist labor organizing campaigns are human rights violators.

In a Washington Times analysis, “UAW doesn’t care what you think, Ivan Osorio and F. Vincent Vernuccio of the Competitive Enterprise Institute describe the scheme led by UAW President Bob King:

The UAW has laid out a set of demands, known as its Principles for Fair Union Elections, which are intended to facilitate the union’s organizing efforts…

Essentially, the UAW principles boil down to a company’s managers not telling workers their side of the story regarding what would happen if a union organized their business. The principles call for employers not to talk to their employees unless they also invite the UAW to speak, never to say that unionization would lead to job losses (and to disavow any group that does) and always to leave open the option of card-check organizing.

If a company reject this demand for a so-called neutrality agreement, the UAW will mount a campaign in alliance with outside groups to damage the business’ reputation. Basically, it’s extortion by negative PR. That’s a familiar and ugly tactic known as a “corporate campaign,” but the UAW has even more odious plans in the works.

Mr. King recently announced that if companies resist his organizing efforts, the UAW “will launch a global campaign to brand that company a human rights violator.” What would such a campaign look like? The Obama administration’s report to the United Nations Human Rights Council – whose members include such human rights champions as China, Cuba, Libya and Saudi Arabia – provides a hint. (continue reading…)

Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana announced this week that he will lead another Hoosier trade mission to China and Japan beginning in November. About 40 members will join the delegation, which will travel to Shanghai and Zhejiang, Indiana’s Chinese sister-state, then on to Nagoya and Tokyo in Japan.

From the news release, “Governor to travel to China and Japan“:

“Following our first trip to China last year, we’ve had several successes. The potential for more jobs from China is growing, and we’ll spend additional time there this year,” said the governor. “Of course, our trips are always built around visiting our customers in Japan, and we’ll do the same again this year.”

More than 42,000 Hoosiers are employed by more than 200 Japanese companies in the state. Those companies have investments here of more than $9.8 billion. Since last year’s trip, China-based Y.K. Furniture announced plans to establish a $24 million U.S. headquarters in Marion and lithium-ion battery maker EnerDel announced an agreement with Wanxiang, the largest auto parts producer in China, which EnerDel says will rapidly accelerate its business plan. The governor met with officials from Y.K. Furniture and Wanxiang during his 2009 trip to China. (continue reading…)

Various reports from the visit of John Engler, president of the National Association of Manufacturers, to Indiana last week. He visited the Honda plant in Greensburg, addressed the Japan Society of Indiana, and taped a segment on Inside Indiana Business.

Indiana Chamber blog, “

Insides Indiana Business video, “Top Story: Manufacturing in Indiana”

The Greensburg Daily News, “Manufacturing Leader Tours The Future At Honda,” reports Engler’s comments emphasizing workforce development:

Engler felt Honda was a case study for manufacturers in America and shows how job growth can be easily spurred with a little investment. For NAM, education has become key. With initiatives, like EcO15 in Indiana, students are learning skills to make successful lives for themselves.

“Even in a recession, you still have people retire,” Engler said.

Offering young people the training to fill those positions immediately will allow them to grow and build a life and career. Through that training, they can work and earn money as they pursue a degree to advance to the next rung of the career ladder. That, he noted, could be seen at HMIN. The workforce came from a manufacturing background and with a little training are able to excel in a complicated assembly facility such as HMIN. With education at the forefront for hundreds of thousands of hard-working Hoosiers and the state’s continued support of manufacturing, Engler felt Indiana would continue to be the leader in the industry.

“We think Indiana is poised to be big leaders in this,” Engler said. “You look at the leadership here and the investment attracting industry to the state, I think Indiana is doing very well. There’s been a laser lite focus on business in this state and the right policies are in place.”

EcO15 refers to Economic Opportunity by 2015, an education, training and economic development initiative.

NAM President John Engler was in Indiana Wednesday and traveled to Greensburg for a tour of the Honda plant there. The Republic newspaper of nearby Columbus was on hand and published a page one piece, “State coped well with downturn.”

The Honda plant is notable because it manufactures the natural gas-powered Civic GX there. In addition, in September Honda announced that the plant would build Honda Civic Sedans for sale in Mexico and export to 22 Latin American and Caribbean nations. In his remarks last evening at the Japan-America Society of Indiana, Engler recalled an earlier visit to the Subaru plant in Lafayette, Ind., which also exports to Latin America.

So there are more examples of U.S. plants, employees and communities that would benefit from enactment of the Colombia and Panama Free Trade Agreements, making their Indiana-manufactured products more competitive abroad.

Interesting, too, that the talk turned so quickly to the need for skilled employees, even during an economic downturn.

Rick Schostek, vice president of Honda Manufacturing of Indiana, said nearly 30,000 applied for about 1,000 openings in 2008, allowing plant managers to carefully select workers.

Plant officials looked for workers with a basic foundation in math and reading and wanted people who could work in a team environment and had good problem-solving skills.

“We can teach our processes here,” Schostek said. “We just need that basic foundation.”

Engler said manufacturers’ success depends primarily on workers’ education.

“And that doesn’t necessarily mean a four-year college degree,” Engler said.

“It can be an associate’s degree or specialized training.”

Engler also suggested that high schools start training students interested in manufacturing so that those who want to go directly to a job after graduation will be better prepared.

From Motorcyle Daily.com:

According to a letter sent to Honda dealers dated January 23, 2009, which you can read below, a Congressional Act passed in response to the sale of unsafe, lead-tainted toys last year, could result in a ban on sale of certain Honda motorcycles and ATVs sized for youngsters after February 10, 2009. The language of the Congressional Act is broad enough to encompass motorcycles containing lead in “substrate material” over 600ppm, which would impact certain motorcycles and ATVs even though paint on those models contains lead within acceptable limits. The affected Honda motorcycles and ATVs are the TRX 90, CRF 50F, CRF 70F and CRF 80F, but the ban would seemingly encompass any motorcycle or ATV “designed or intended primarily for children 12 years of age or younger.” Honda hopes to convince Congress to exempt alloyed parts for small motorcycles and ATVs from the terms of the Congressional Act, but time is running out.

We’ve put the letter in the extended entry below.

As far as reading a book goes…

From Publisher’s Weekly: “The clock is ticking toward February 10—now less than two weeks away—when lead testing becomes required for children’s products under the Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act of 2008. Still no word on an exemption for books.”

(continue reading…)

The Detroit News takes a slight breather today in its coverage of the Detroit auto industry, with a mere score of articles, while expanding its sights overseas:

Michigan needs to act like the Big 3

Daniel Howes: Conventional wisdom holds that Michigan is entering Year Seven of its one-state recession because Detroit’s automakers are tanking — and poised to drive off a cliff.

• UAW to suspend maligned jobs bank
• On Capitol Hill, Big 3 put on hard sell

 Toyota to cut domestic output amid slowing demand

TOKYO — Toyota is starting to feel the pinch of the global slowdown at home. 7:04 am

Honda to cut jobs in Britain, Japan amid global slump

Britain new car sales down 37 percent in November

Some place their hopes in nostalgia.

A ’60s classic back in Motown

Schlitz’s Classic 1960s beer is back on shelves after nearly three decades, prompted by demands from aficionados hankering for the maltier, full-bodied lager.