WILLIAMS MACHINE TOOL COMPANY For 85 years, the Williams Machine Tool Company had provided high-quality products to its clients, becoming the third largest U.S.-based machine tool company by 1990. The...




WILLIAMS MACHINE TOOL COMPANY


For 85 years, the Williams Machine Tool Company had provided high-quality products to its


clients, becoming the third largest U.S.-based machine tool company by 1990. The company


was highly profitable and had an extremely low employee turnover rate. Pay and benefits were


excellent.


Between 1980 and 1990, the company's profits soared to record levels. The company's success


was due to one product line of standard manufacturing machine tools. Williams spent most


of its time and effort looking for ways to improve its bread-and-butter product line rather than


to develop new products. The product line was so successful that companies were willing to


modify their production lines around these machine tools rather than asking Williams for major


modifications to the machine tools.


By 1990, Williams Company was extremely complacent, expecting this phenomenal success


with one product line to continue for 20 to 25 more years. The recession of the early 1990s


forced management to realign their thinking. Cutbacks in production had decreased the demand


for the standard machine tools. More and more customers were asking for either major modifications


to the standard machine tools or a completely new product design.


The marketplace was changing and senior management recognized that a new strategic


focus was necessary. However, lower-level management and the work force, especially engineering,


were strongly resisting a change. The employees, many of them with over 20 years of


employment at Williams Company, refused to recognize the need for this change in the belief


that the glory days of yore would return at the end of the recession.


By 1995, the recession had been over for at least two years yet Williams Company had no


new product lines. Revenue was down, sales for the standard product (with and without modifications)


were decreasing, and the employees were still resisting change. Layoffs were imminent.


In 1996, the company was sold to Crock Engineering. Crock had an experienced machine


tool division of its own and understood the machine tool business. Williams Company


was allowed to operate as a separate entity from 1995 to 1996. By 1996, red ink had appeared


on the Williams Company balance sheet. Crock replaced all of the Williams senior


managers with its own personnel. Crock then announced to all employees that Williams


would become a specialty machine tool manufacturer and that the "good old days" would


never return. Customer demand for specialty products had increased threefold in just the last


twelve months alone. Crock made it clear that employees who would not support this new


direction would be replaced.


The new senior management at Williams Company recognized that 85 years of traditional


management had come to an end for a company now committed to specialty products. The company


culture was about to change, spearheaded by project management, concurrent engineering,


and total quality management.


Senior management's commitment to product management was apparent by the time and


money spent in educating the employees. Unfortunately, the seasoned 20-year-plus veterans


still would not support the new culture. Recognizing the problems, management provided


continuous and visible support for project management in addition to hiring a project management


consultant to work with the people. The consultant worked with Williams from 1996


to 2001.


From 1996 to 2001, the Williams Division of Crock Engineering experienced losses in 24


consecutive quarters. The quarter ending March 31, 2002, was the first profitable quarter in over


six years. Much of the credit was given to the performance and maturity of the project management


system. In May 2002, the Williams Division was sold. More than 80% of the employees


lost their jobs when the company was relocated over 1,500 miles away.


Questions


1. Why was it so difficult to change the culture of the company?


2. What could have been done differently to accelerate the change?


Dec 09, 2021
SOLUTION.PDF

Get Answer To This Question

Related Questions & Answers

More Questions »

Submit New Assignment

Copy and Paste Your Assignment Here