There are sadly ethical issues all over the place in the engineering field. Usually they are caused by people trying to cut costs without regard to what is the right thing to do. To some people, money is the only thing on their mind. The issue I'm going to talk about in this blog post actually affected me personally. It has to do with types of house wrap that is applied to new houses that are built. Though it may not deal with industrial engineering, it does deal with manufacturing engineering which is closely related to IE.
Before I get into the issue, you readers need a little background. While going to school, I work full time for a siding company that services the F-M area. Our business deals strictly with the residential setting, meaning we put siding on new houses. The reason for siding is to protect a building from mother nature; whether it be rain, hail, snow, sleet, wind, or sun. With anything, there are going to be problems because siding isn't a perfect process and neither is the material used. Water somehow finds a way to penetrate through seams in the siding or through imperfections. To combat this, contractors apply a waterproof plastic/paper material to the outside sheeting of the house, behind the siding. This allows the house to breath and wick away moisture. If any water does find it's way behind the siding, the paper makes sure the water doesn't find its way to the interior of the house.
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Now on to the problem. When we're siding houses, suppliers generally send out two types of paper. One is paper with a sealant coating on the outside, and the other is plastic strands that are woven together. The problem occurs when the woven plastic type is sent out. Any imperfection or damage to the plastic causes the strands to loosen up and become unwoven. When this occurs, water is able to seep into the wood and cause damage. This leads to us having to do many costly repairs on a problem that can be prevented. Many complaints have been filed to the manufacturer to find a solution to this problem. All to no avail. The reason the company gave was that the paper they use is cost efficient for all parties involved, when in actuality it only benefits them. What they don't understand is that it might be cost efficient, but quality suffers greatly. Repair costs rack up and everyone but the manufacturer is stuck paying. Now, in reference to the engineering code of ethics, engineers number one priority is public safety and welfare. The engineers that work for the manufacturer decided to be selfish and cut their own costs and let the public suffer the consequences.
My solution to this is that the manufacturer discontinues this brand of house wrap and continue with only one quality type. Yes, it may be slightly more expensive, but in the long run the benefits of using a higher quality paper will outweigh the difference of cost between the two variations. The general public will be more satisfied with the higher quality.
I found this article very interesting. I personally have no professional experience with construction work. I've helped my dad out with some handy jobs around the house, and helped re-shingle our cabin one summer. I also helped side a house one time. Though I was only there for part of the siding, I can somewhat understand how important certain steps are when siding or shingling a house. There's the overlap, but not too much overlap. There's the whole making sure the rows are straight. There's cutting the ends off of a row, and also making sure that not every row is exactly the same. There's all of this effort, on the workers' end, to make sure the house is well protected.
ReplyDeleteFinding out, that after all the effort, the company making the protective materials underneath the siding aren't doing their job is a bit frustrating. I understand wanting to make a maximum profit, but as providers for a material to protect people's homes, they should take more responsibility. Their product is something that should be quality.
You make a good point about the engineering code of ethics. Our number one priority as engineers is to make sure the public is safe and has good welfare. This company is going against that code of ethics, and in my opinion should be held accountable.
What I appreciate most about this article is that you directly tie the issue to your personal experience. This article is very informative and speaks on an important ethical issue within companies today. In saying that, I agree with your stance on the problem at hand. I also believe that manufacturing companies should take more responsibility when it comes to the products they make and the quality of those products. It is important that complaints are being filed to manufactures; without a sense of awareness, changes cannot occur. This issue boils down to the idea that you don't make a mess and then expect someone else to clean it up; and that is exactly what this company is doing. In any line of business, the concern of the consumer should be valued over the goal to cut costs; especially when those concerns involve an issue of public safety. I can imagine the frustration that occurs after completing a job and then having to make multiple alterations that could have been avoided by using quality products. Because this company refuses to acknowledge this basic concern, they should be held liable for their negligence.
ReplyDeleteInteresting article. Most of the house wrap I have seen is Tyvek (a DuPont product) that seals the house from both moisture and air infiltration. Air exchanges with outside air is necessary for breathability, but some of these new homes are so tight, air (heat) exchangers are necessary to allow proper home breathing. I haven't heard of any two part house wraps that the article lists. Are these house wrap materials up to home building codes? Local, State, and federal building codes should weed out the problems with the defective products.
ReplyDeleteFor someone who has installed a lot of hardwood and laminate flooring, as well as done a lot of automotive painting, after going to all the work of doing a project, it is disheartening to find defective and faulty products in the substrate. If this is a common problem, there will no doubt be a class action lawsuit similar to the one that ColorLok siding had (1980s) or Certainteed shingles had in the mid 90s to mid 00's. If this material is this defective, it shouldn't even be used in home construction. It would be frustrating when the suppliers keep pushing this type of product.
I found this article very interesting because i have worked construction for the past 4 summers and i have came across this problem multiple times. Many homeowners don't exactly know what is really going on the outside of their house and this blog helped clear up an misconceptions on the topic. I can recall a number of times where we had to send back paper that had imperfections because it would not perform how it is supposed to. Even there was a time when we didn't notice the issue until part of it was installed, but if we would have just let it go it could have been a huge problem for the homeowners and we did not want to take responsibility for faulty work. This house wrap that you are discussing needs to be discontinued like you said. With that being said we should have better regulations and inspection companies making sure that these products are up to code when they come of the trailer. Like an issue this could have been avoided if people would have been more careful and someone would have been more truthful in the product they were distributing. I am very glad you brought this issue up because i had to deal with it in the past. I hope this get this issue fixed and help prevent something lie this happening again. But all in all i think this blog post was a very informative and constructive post where both parties can learn and realize what is truly happening.
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