Cadet Manufacturing Case Study

Overview

When a company mishandles something as sensitive as a product recall, the damage to its reputation can threaten the organization's existence. Cadet Manufacturing, a maker of electric heaters, is a case in point. It was sued by the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) for allegedly failing to live up to the terms of a product recall.

Execution

Dan served on the team that helped Cadet's new management focus on solutions rather than on their mounting problems. Dan and the team developed the necessary infrastructure to handle a flood of incoming calls from consumers, worked to repair relationships with the CPSC, media trained executives to present a positive and confident image and communicated with workers to ensure they would be the first to know of the company's challenges.

Results

As a result of the effort, Cadet successfully reached a new agreement with the CPSC to recall 1.9 million electric heaters while maintaining relationships with suppliers and consumers.