Harley-Davidson Inc. (Milwaukee), has problems of the kind that every manufacturer would love to have. As sales of its motorcycles continue to rise, the company faces constant manufacturing challenges in keeping up with the demand.
The transmission gear bore grinding and measuring area is a case in point. When Harley-Davidson launched a flexible, cellular manufacturing system in the early 1990s, the company initially configured this department into two cells -- each including a CNC cylindrical grinder, an automatic gaging system and a robot. But as demand increased, "it was approaching the point when the daily volumes would be greater than what we could produce in 24 hours," notes John Johnson, Harley-Davidson manufacturing engineer.