W.C. Wood Company (B‪)‬

The vice-president of manufacturing for W.C. Wood Company (Wood) was pleased with the implementation of the new packaging system for the refrigerators and freezers (known as "clear pack"). Despite some initial start-up issues, problems were resolved and customers had even begun complimenting Wood on the change. Therefore, it came as a surprise when Maytag refused to take delivery of the clear pack product and instead notified Wood of an impending warranty claim under their supply agreement for product damages. Wood had filed all the product testing forms and approvals with Maytag prior to implementing the clear pack product; however, the Maytag distribution warehouse had not been made aware of the proper handling requirements. Additionally, Maytag's largest customer had not been made aware of the handling changes and was similarly unprepared. As a result, damage claims had increased more than 300 per cent and were expected to rise if something was not done quickly.