Background: CRC Surface Technologies

Founded in 1954, CRC Surface Technologies is an AS9100 and NADCAP certified, ITAR registered single-source metal finishing service provider for the aerospace, defense, semiconductor/electronics, medical, space and heavy equipment industries. Located in central Phoenix, Arizona our multi-shift 65,000 square foot processing facility services regional and national machine shops including industry leading OEMs such as Boeing, BAE Systems, Bell Helicopter, Bombardier Aerospace, Eaton, General Electric, Honeywell, Hamilton Sundstrand, Goodrich, Northrop Grumman,Parker Aerospace, Rolls Royce, Spirit AeroSystems, Space X, Woodward and many more. In terms of revenue, CRC Surface Technologies is medium-sized manufacturing firm with annual revenue just under $15 million.

Our 65-year-old corporation is the largest special processing facility in Phoenix, Arizona offering over 33 plating and chemical processing services which include Anodize, Cadmium, Chem-Film, Chrome, Copper, Dow 7, Electroless Nickel, Grinding (ID/OD), Nickel, Nital Etch, Non-Destructive Testing, Passivate, Phosphate, Shot Peening, Silver and more. Along with our array of surface treatment capabilities we provide value-added solutions including pick-up and delivery, testing, part identification, silk screening, light assembly and more.

We strive to improve the quality of our services, as well as ensure our continued growth and customer satisfaction. Our AS9100 certification compliments our NADCAP certifications and highlights the company's focus on supporting the stringent requirements of the aerospace, aviation and defense industries. NADCAP's membership consists of "prime contractors" who coordinate with aerospace accredited suppliers to develop industry-wide audit criteria for special processes and products.

Situation: CRC Surface Technologies

Kawhi was a bright individual who was being groomed for the Controller's position in at CRC Surface Technologies. After his first year as Assistant Controller, the officers of the firm were starting to include him in major company functions. For instance, today he was attending the monthly financial statement summary given at a prestigious consulting firm.

During the meeting, Kawhi was intrigued at how all the financial data he had been accumulating was transformed by the consultant into revealing charts and graphs. Kawhi was generally optimistic about the session and the company's future until the consultant started talking about the new manufacturing plant the company was adding to the current location and the costs per unit of the chemically plated products it produced.

At that time, Maya (the President) and Lucia (the Head Chemical Engineer) started talking about waste treatment and disposal problems. Lucia mentioned that the current waste facilities were not adequate to handle the waste products that would be created by the "ultramodern" new plant in a manner that would meet the industry's fairly high standards, although they could still comply with federal standards. Kawhi's boss, Marcus, noted that the estimated cost per unit would be increased if the waste treatment facilities were upgraded according to recent industry standards. While industry standards were presently more stringent than federal regulations, environmentalists were pressuring strongly for improving regulations at the federal level. Maya mentioned that since their closest competitor did not have the waste treatment facilities that already existed at their firm, she was not in favor of any more expenditures in this area. Most managers at this meeting resoundingly agreed with Maya, and the monthly financial statement business meeting continued on to another topic.

Kawhi did not hear a word during the rest of the meeting. He kept wondering how CRC Surface Technologies could possibly have such a casual attitude toward the environment. Yet he did not know if, how, or when he could share his opinion. Soon he started reflecting on whether this was the right firm for him.

Please answer the questions below:

1) What are the relevant facts of the case? ( List 4-5 of the most important facts from the article above)

2) What are the ethical issues for Kawhi and CRC Surface Technologies? (list 3-5 of the ethical issues, from the article above)

3) What are the real-world limitations for Kawhi and CRC Surface Technologies? (list 2-3real-world limitations for Kawhi and 2-3 real-world limitations for CRC Surface Technologies, from the article above)

4) What do you think Kawhi should do? (list 2-3 things Kawhi can do as a next step.)