Whitewater West Case Study

Case Hand-In: WhiteWater West Industries

Submitted by: Ben Goodman

Student Number: 0306298

Submitted to: Prof. Tannys Laughren

November 14th, 2013

Executive Summary

In August 1995, President Geoffrey Chutter of Richmond, British Columbia based WhiteWater West Industries Ltd., a water slide designing, manufacturing and installation company, decided that the company’s fiberglass manufacturing facility in Kelowna, BC needed to be relocated. The main reasoning for the move being that WhiteWater Specialties Ltd., the sector firm running the facility, were at capacity for manufacturing due to the size of their current plant. Mr. Chutter, along with the internal help of Specialties General Manager Mr. Winford, began plans for relocation as well as assessing the estimate for the generic cost of moving, along with the individual investments tied to each option they had. Mr. Chutter concluded his research to find that there were three options.

One alternative was to move the entire firm to an unfurnished facility in Abbotsford, BC, a city jut 65 km East of the company’s export shipping point Vancouver, BC. The option provided huge savings on shipping; a very important prospect as almost all of Specialties’ customers are international. Another option was to relocate to another plant in Kelowna, in a former alcohol distillery for sale 25 km from their current facility. The final and most logical option was to find new property in Kelowna and build a completely new facility custom-made to the company’s specific manufacturing needs. When considering the future goals of the company, it is clear that any option would increase the quantity of product that they can generate, but building a new facility could benefit the company’s functionality as well.

With an extreme majority of employees reluctant to move anywhere else and total relocation costs of at least over $5 Million, a tough decision is pressed upon Mr. Chutter. WhiteWater’s...