Current state of the Warsaw manufacturing assembly plant (by Barman in Newsweek article)

[E90400K]

I had a 1987 Jeep Wrangle that had the same sliding seat for access to the back seats. That being said, it worked really well.

Yeah, I had a 1995 Wrangler, the seat did move an ample amount to gain access to the rear seat.

 

[Frozen North]

Given they have a former Harley-Davidson guy (CJ Waelti) as their Head of Accessories Product Management, I think something like Katzkin covers and all manner of other premium accessories are good bets.
The Harley community is drowning in accessories.

 

[E90400K]

"End of Summer" seems to be the mantra. So, September 20.

Some talk of welds by both Barman and the writer, that is, get those welds right. Ultrasonic inspections, measurements, etc. This may explain the welds seen on the body-in-white in some of the demos. Probably hand made and not indicative of the final outcome.

And I wonder what that means for production. The cost-effective way is to measure the welding process (once it is tuned) rather than the outcome (of the welded-up body-in-white) via statistical process control. So, it makes sense to do some ultrasonic inspections on the welding process during the tuning phase, but not during production.

The factory does have a large laser coordinate measuring machine to check for body dimension tolerance, but not every chassis can go through the CMM at a high production rate I would think; or, maybe so, I am out-of-date on the latest metrology tech. I see the CMM as a periodic confirmation tool.

Please correct me if I have it wrong.

 

[E90400K]

Given they have a former Harley-Davidson guy (CJ Waelti) as their Head of Accessories Product Management, I think something like Katzkin covers and all manner of other premium accessories are good bets.
The Harley community is drowning in accessories.

Because the bikes suck coming out of the factory... just sayin' 🤣

 

[E90400K]

Harleys are actually well-built machines, just sort of antiquated in lots of ways (but seems to play well with their aging customer base) compared to European and Japanese brands. I'm just biased. 😇

 

[Frozen North]

Harleys are actually well-built machines, just sort of antiquated in lots of ways (but seems to play well with their aging customer base) compared to European and Japanese brands. I'm just biased.

Hopefully the Slate community will be customizing their runabouts out of desire rather than necessity.

 

[E90400K]

Hopefully the Slate community will be customizing their runabouts out of desire rather than necessity.

Kind of a 2-edged sword in my mind. The difference being the Slate is not a premium-priced product that needs further upgrade; it's low-price with planned upgrade on purpose from the content left out. Hopefully the market accepts the Slate paradigm.

 

[Frozen North]

Harleys are actually well-built machines, just sort of antiquated in lots of ways (but seems to play well with their aging customer base) compared to European and Japanese brands. I'm just biased. 😇

Watching a full dress Harley ride an obstacle course up against a GoldWing is eye opening. But for many Harley owners that likely misses the point.
I prefer the Goldwing and bikes like the SV650 etc for the better (IMO) engineering and riding experience. I think Harley's are often just as much or more so about the biking community.

 

[tubes]

And I wonder what that means for production. The cost-effective way is to measure the welding process (once it is tuned) rather than the outcome (of the welded-up body-in-white) via statistical process control. So, it makes sense to do some ultrasonic inspections on the welding process during the tuning phase, but not during production.

The factory does have a large laser coordinate measuring machine to check for body dimension tolerance, but not every chassis can go through the CMM at a high production rate I would think; or, maybe so, I am out-of-date on the latest metrology tech. I see the CMM as a periodic confirmation tool.

Please correct me if I have it wrong.

That's one area in life I never explored or worried about. Their job openings indicate they are looking for help in Metrology.

 

[Frozen North]

Kind of a 2-edged sword in my mind. The difference being the Slate is not a premium-priced product that needs further upgrade; it's low-price with planned upgrade on purpose from the content left out. Hopefully the market accepts the Slate paradigm.

I often commute in an old Yaris I kept around just for the fun of a very light(2300lb curb weight) manual transmission car. There is just something honest and wholesome about a vehicle that is just a vehicle. If I can have fun in a Yaris, I am positive I will enjoy flogging a Slate.
Give me a blank slate and I will add the fun!

 

[Trace26]

It will be interesting how the covers work out in the long run. Traditionally, the upholstery covers are attached to the seat framing with hog rings for long-term durability. The foam upholstery looks like it has a sub-cover on it, which I've not seen on any of the car seats I have repaired, maybe the outer cover and the sub-cover work in tandem to keep the outer cover in place.

I'm just guessing from looking at it,
But it almost appears that maybe the inner cover is attached like traditionally and has a somewhat Velcro like surface. Maybe not quite Velcro but something the otter cover can interface with to keep it from sliding around and wearing the seams.
At least that's what the engineering part of my brain is telling me.

 

[E90400K]

I'm just guessing from looking at it,
But it almost appears that maybe the inner cover is attached like traditionally and has a somewhat Velcro like surface. Maybe not quite Velcro but something the otter cover can interface with to keep it from sliding around and wearing the seams.
At least that's what the engineering part of my brain is telling me.

Yeah, maybe the optional covers do tie to the seat frame; we just don't yet know the details. Lacking hog ring pliers in my tool kit, when I've replaced seat covers (with factory replacements) I just used zip ties. Worked great.