Hello Engineers,

Please i need a very good explanation to the answers to the question.

Below is the question;

Your company has for sometime supplied prefabricated wall sections which you designed to construction companies.suddenly, one day a new idea occurs to you about how these might be fabricated more cheaply using composites of recycled waste materials.

Pilot runs for the new fabrication technique are very successful,so it is decided to entirely switch over to the new technique on all future production runs for the prefabricated sections but there are managerial debates about how or even whether to inform the customers about the fabrication changes.

The supply contracts were written with specifications and functional terms so that load bearing capacities and longevity,etc of the wall sections were specified,but no specific materials or fabrication techniques were identified in the contracts.thus it would be possible to make the changeover without any violation of the ongoing contracts with the customers.

On the other hand, since there is significant cost savings in the new fabrication method............Does your company have an ethical obligation to inform the customers of this, and perhaps even to renegotiate supply at reduced cost,so that the customers also share in benefits of the new technique? more specifically,do you have any special duty as a professional engineer and designer of the new technique to be an advocate in your company for the position that customers should be fully informed of the new technique and the associated cost savings?

Regards

......................waiting for answer..................