MCD2040- Managing People and Organizations- APD Pty Ltd Case Study Report
Case: APD Pty Ltd
COMPANY HISTORY
APD Pty Ltd manufactured large
... [Show More] sliding doors made of many narrow aluminium panels held together by thick rubber strips, which allowed the door to collapse as it was opened. Some of the doors were as high as eighteen feet and were used in buildings to section off large areas. The company had grown rapidly in its early years due mainly to the expansion of the building program of the firm's major customer which accounted for nearly 90% of APD’s business.
When Oliver James began the business, his was the only firm that manufactured the large sliding doors. Recently, however, several other firms had begun to market similar doors. One firm in particular had been bidding to obtain business from APD’s major customer. Fearing that the competitor might be able to underbid his company, Mr James began urging his assistant, Tony Snider, to increase efficiency and cut production costs.
CONDITIONS BEFORE THE COST REDUCTION PROGRAMS
A family-type atmosphere had existed at APD before the cost reduction programs were instituted. There was little direct supervision of the workers from the front office, and no pressure was put on them to meet production standards. Several of the employees regularly worked overtime without supervision. The foremen and workers often played cards together during lunchtime, and company parties after work were common and popular. Mr. James was generally on friendly terms with all the employees, although he was known to get angry if something displeased him. He also participated freely in the daily operations of the company.
As Mr. James’s assistant, Tony was responsible for seeing to it that the company achieved the goals established by Mr James. Tony was considered hard-working and persuasive by most of the employees and had a reputation of not giving in easily to employees' complaints.
Caleb James, Mr James’s son, had only recently become the production manager of APD.
Tony had been asked to orient Caleb to his new position (see Exhibit 1). He was in his early twenties, married and had a good build. Several of the workers commented that Caleb liked to show off his strength in front of others. He was known to be very meticulous about keeping the shop orderly and neat even to the point of making sure that packing crates were stacked "his way". It was often commented among the other employees how Caleb seemed to be trying to impress his father. Many workers voiced the opinion that the only reason Caleb was production manager was that his father owned the company. They also resented him using company employees and materials to build a swing set for his children and to repair his camper.
Caleb, commenting to Tony one day that the major problem with production was the workers, added that people of such calibre as the APD employees did not understand how important cost reduction was and that they would rather sit around and talk all day than work. Caleb rarely spoke to the workers but left most of the reprimanding and firing up to his assistant, Linda Porter.
APD employed about seventy people to perform the warehousing, assembly, and door-jamb building, as well as the packing and shipping operations done on the doors. Each operation was supervised by a foreman, and crews ranged from three men in warehousing to twenty-five women in the assembly department. The foremen were usually employees with the most seniority and were responsible for quality and on-time production output. Most of the foremen had good relationships with the workers.
The majority of the work done at APD consisted of repetitive assembly tasks requiring very little skill or training. For example, in the pinning department the workers operated a punch press, which made holes in the panels. The job consisted of punching the hole and then inserting a metal pin into it. Workers commented that it was very tiring and boring to stand at the press during the whole shift without frequent breaks.
Wages at APD were considered to be low for the industry. The workers complained about the low pay but said that they tried to compensate by taking frequent breaks, working overtime, and "taking small items home at night". Most of the workers who worked overtime were in the door-jamb department, the operation requiring the most skill. Several of these workers either worked very little or slept during overtime hours they reportedly worked.
The majority of the male employees were in their mid-twenties with about half being unmarried. There was a great turnover among the unmarried male workers. The female employees were either young and single or older married women. The 25 women who worked in production were all in the assembly department under Lizzie Johnson. [Show Less]