The TieDown Company has been an established company in the United States since 1938. It manufactures specialty fastening materials used by trucking, storage, and construction firms. It is increasingly facing competition from companies that have manufacturing facilities around the world. Many of those companies have lower production costs, allowing them to undercut TieDown's prices to customers. Several of TieDown's U.S. competitors have moved manufacturing facilities to other countries where wage rates are lower, whereas others have faced bankruptcy and have either been bought out by foreign firms or have gone out of business.
1. What is your opinion of TieDown's plans for the change to the new production equipment and jobs?
2. What would you recommend that the company do, if anything, for the machine operators who are not hired for the computer positions and choose not to accept the pay reduction?
3. As the production manager for TieDown, outline the procedure you would follow to implement the changes described so that most employees will support them.