Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava proclaims that Harley-Davidson would see similar results, like those of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) if they were to relocate the Pennsylvania manufacturing plant to upstate New York.
Scozzafava wrote a letter to Matt Levatich, H-D president and COO, citing all the strengths including skilled workforce, college network, low-cost power and economic incentives as reason to give the area consideration. She cited AMD as the poster-child of “success.” The NY Public Authorities Control Board offered up incentives to the tune of $1.2B with a combination of tax breaks and a $650M grant to entice AMD to commit to a $4.6B ‘chip fab’ in Malta/Saratoga Springs that is expected to come on line in 2012 and employ ~1500 people.
Well, Ms Scozzafava if you’d done “The Google” you would have noticed that AMD has consistently lost money, for so long in fact that AMD spinners now report “profitability” as losing less than the year before! Pink slips have become more common than “Good Morning” emails! They are burning cash and bleeding personnel. So much so that it lead AMD to hold a smaller than expected stake in the NY fab and the creation of a joint venture with Advanced Technology Investment, the government of Abu Dhabi which is capitalized by crude oil.
Cheerleading by the hometown assemblywoman isn’t too surprising, but does she really think H-D wants to co-locate and model success after AMD results? They have had numerous product introduction slips, 11 straight unprofitable quarters, deep employee cuts for so-called “profitability”, off-shored manufacturing to Dresden, Singapore and Malaysia and now have the Arab government as investment partner. About the only thing AMD seems to win in is legal litigation.
I noticed that Ms Scozzafava didn’t suggest for H-D to co-locate and take a page from IBM – who took taxpayer assistance ($140M), cut employees and moved jobs overseas. Experience should teach us about the danger of a bureaucrats zeal — well-meaning but without understanding.
Photo courtesy of Andy Diggle and DC Comics.
Northwest Harley Blog 