Thursday, February 2nd, Miss Quigg’s Power Technology class of 12 students went to the Harley Davidson plant in York, PA and Case New Holland to explore different manufacturing and design processes involved in the mechanics field as well as to learn about careers in the power technology field.
At the Harley Davidson plant, they learned some very interesting information about the procedures used when building a motorcycle. Before going on the tour, they watched a short video about the history of Harley Davidson, a business which started with four small business owners in a garage. The general tour took a total of around 45 minutes and it went through construction, cosmetics, and testing of every bike. The guide explained that every bike being manufactured had already been purchased, so they were essentially all custom made to order. The plant used robotic carts that carried the frames to
different stations as different parts were added. A complete bike can be assembled in approximately 2 hours which means that the entire process is extremely efficient. As class member Addison Horning recalls, “One thing that stuck out to me was the time that was put into every motorcycle painting it. They will spend around 12 hours just painting.” As the guide explained, this time commitment shows how concerned they are with the detail that goes into some of the best motorcycles in the world. At the final station, a technician roll tested each bike to make sure it worked properly. After the tour, the class enjoyed trying out some of the different bikes in the display area to see which ones they may purchase in the future.
After lunch, the class began their tour of Case New Holland. They started out in looking at basic machines that started Case New Holland and then proceeded into the plant where a tour guide showed them the processes involved with manufacturing and assembling a round bailer. Some of the students noticed that prices for the machinery were posted on the machines and indicated that some of the equipment was worth over $100,000. Senior Andre Hoover recalls the purpose of this strategy explaining “when business invests in capital, this investment improves employee morale because they know that the company wouldn’t put that kind of money into a plant they planned to shut down.” The plant used a lot of state-of-the-art technology including automatic welding machines to reduce the chance of human error and improve consistency.
In the engineering department, the students got a chance to try on special 3D glasses to view 3D images of combines. Using these images, the operator was able to move the group through different parts of the machine so they could get a very precise view of how all the components fit together. They were also able to use the model to run aerodynamics software and test out the effectiveness of the designed cooling system. Ultimately this technology allows the company to design equipment and work out a lot of kinks without having to build several prototypes. “Tractors are sophisticated,” explained Adrian Horning after seeing all the work that went into their design. Miss Quigg added, “I don’t think a lot of people truly realize all the work that goes into making farm machinery anymore. Farmers expect a lot out of their equipment today.” According to their engineering department, Case New Holland combines are much more complex machines than cars.
Overall, the trip opened up the students’ eyes to career opportunities in mechanics. As tour guide George explained, “Ag is very diverse. [Mechanics skills and engineering principles] can be applied to many fields.”