Frost, Inc.
Frost. Inc. is a manufacturer of overhead conveyor trolleys, used primarily in the auto industry. With sales of $20 million, Frost is located in Grand Rapids. Michigan. Concerned about depending too heavily on one cyclical industry, Frost's president made several attempts to diversify the business. The attempts to move into manufacturing lawn mower components and material handling systems, such as floor conveyors and hoists, failed. The engineers did not know how to design unfamiliar components, production people did not know how to make them, and sales people did not know how to sell them.
The president diagnosed the problem as inflexibility ("We have single-purpose machines and single-purpose people, including single-purpose managers."). He decided that automating production was the key to flexibility. Twenty-six old-fashioned screw machines on the factory floor were replaced with 11 computer-numerically controlled machines and 18 robots. He decided to build an automated store and retrieval inventory-control system and to completely automate the front office to reduce indirect labor costs. He did not plan to approve additional hires as a result of the automation.
Questions
1. What directional strategy was Frost pursuing?
2. What HR practices should be in place to support this strategy?
3. What types of information should the HR function provide to support the new strategy?