Treadway Tire

The problem facing The Treadway Tire Company is high turnover amongst the entry level line foreman position. The employees in this position have become very dissatisfied and, thusly, departed the company at a rate of almost 50% during 2007.

The facts that contributed to the high turnover are as follows:

1) Lack of training for personnel hired for the position of line foreman. They are expected to sink or swim

2) Morale amongst the line foremen is low. They are pulled in many directions throughout the shift and feel isolated from the rest of the management team

3) Line workers lack of respect for the line foremen and they have the union to contend with even when they try to discipline the unionized line workers.

4) Overall spirits of the employees at the plant was low and strained relations between management and the union.

There are multiple problems that plague this plant which will require a multi step implementation in order to decrease the turnover and increase the job satisfaction at the Lima plant. It won’t happen overnight, but with a buy in from the staff and the union it can happen.

The first solution to look at is training. The biggest gap in training is with the line foremen. At best, it is informal. Formal training needs to be instituted. We would need to start with a training department. The best trainers would be line foreman and those that have been promoted from line foreman. There would need to be classroom training and on the job coaching by the General Supervisors. This would require them to attend training sessions as well so they can be better leaders.

The training should consist of classroom, simulation, demonstration and coaching from a mentor once the line foreman is on the floor managing his / her team. The mentor should be a General Supervisor hat has been promoted from the line foreman position. If none are available then an experienced line foreman can step in as well. Once out of training the line...