Understanding the Treadway Case

There are a multitude of factors causing the problems at the Treadway Tire Company. The key issues in the Treadway Tire Company case study include; skyrocketing raw material cost, line foreman turnover, and low morale issues. These issues combined were affecting the overall cost of operations and reducing productivity. Ashley Wall was hired as the Director of Human Resources for the Treadway Lima Tire Plant. It was her intent to analyze the issues and develop a plan of action to correct the problems, while at the same time, keeping the overall cost down. Ashley believed she could cut cost by improving productivity, reducing turnover, and improving morale issues.

The Lima Plant underwent an expansion and mondernization effort which enabled the plant to increase capacity and utilize new manufacturing technology. With the additional volume, Lima shifted to continuous operations. The plant operated 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Most employees worked a 12 hour shift. This shift was able to reduce headcount, and brought a significant cost savings for the company (Skinner, 2008). The problem with this type of intense work schedule is that many of the employees felt over worked. Some employees would call in sick or show up late for work, leaving the responsibility for the line foreman to have to search for a substitute worker (Skinner, 2008).

There are many factors that could be impacting the key issues. The line foreman are pulled in different directions. According to plant manager Bellingham, “Meeting performance goals is the most important duty of the line foreman.” (Skinner, 2008). This expectation creates a lot of pressure for the line foreman. The foreman’s responsibilities include dealing with any technical issues that may stop production, staffing the production team, maintaining strict health and safety standards, and managing the union and administrative procedures (Skinner, 2008). There was a lot of pressure put on the line...