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Case Analysis : Edcomb Metals

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How profitable a company is depends in a great way in how productive its workers are. In most situations when workers get the work done fast without sacrificing quality the labor cost tends to be low which results in a higher profit margin. Based on this many companies have found ways to measure performance in order to ensure that productivity never falls below the desired level. In order to measure performance companies keep logs in which the work done is reflected in a clear and precise way. Case Study Summary Edcomb Metals is a company that serves as a middleman between metal manufacturers and buyers (Pfeifer, 1985). They modify the metals based on the shape required by the customer before delivering (Pfeifer, 1985). The company currently has 21 service centers across 37 states. Steel bars, sheets, and rods are among several of the products they distribute (Pfeifer, 1985). During the 1983 drivers meeting at the Troy plant located in Virginia, a driver named Frank Spencer complained that he was working faster than others and instead of getting paid more for such good performance he was getting paid less (Pfeifer, 1985). The Troy plant was the most modern processing facility that Edcomb Metals had and was the one in charge of distributing to most of the state of Virginia (Pfeifer, 1985). Drivers at the Troy plant work 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, and get paid $9.5 an hour. The company paid each overtime hour of work at 50% more than the regular wage (Pfeifer, 1985). Under

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