SWOT Analysis for Treadway Tire Company Lima Plant Essay

Words: 1955
Pages: 8

SWOT Analysis for Treadway Tire Company Lima Plant The Treadway Tire Company has almost 9,000 employees in North America. Treadway Tire is one of the major suppliers of tires to the original equipment manufacturers (OEM) and replacement tire markets. The company sells under the brands Treadway Primo, Treadway Performance, and also manufactures private brands. Treadway Tire Company has eight manufacturing plants in North America. The Lima plant in Ohio is one of them and has a serious problem of high turnover (almost 50%) of foremen. This SWOT analysis is mainly focused on the Lima plant in Ohio.

Strengths
Leadership in the industry. Treadway Tire Company is one of the major tire suppliers of the original equipment manufacturer

New manufacturing tire companies are strongly emerging in India and China.
Problems with the union. Unionized labor may cause problems with the company in terms of contracts, salaries, and benefits. A generalized strike may paralyze operations at Treadway plants.
New Regulations. New environmental or government regulations may require new standards in the manufacturing of tires. This can be a factor of increasing costs.

Foremen Foremen employees are experiencing job dissatisfaction at the Treadway Lima plant. This is causing a serious turnover rate of 46% during the year. In other words, 23 out of the 50 foremen left the job during the year and had to be replaced. Exit surveys reveled that foremen had very low morale. They feel left alone and overwhelmed with plenty of responsibilities, but without the necessary training and tools to perform their duties. The lowest areas of dissatisfaction were training and development, working conditions, supervisors, and advancement opportunities. In addition, during a meeting organized by Ms. Wall, the Human Resources Director, the foremen expressed their frustration about their lack of authority and the adversarial relations with the hourly workers. They said that the administration expects them to meet or exceed targets, but they do not receive the support to accomplish these objectives. They have issues with staffing the production, disciplining workers, and union's grievances.