... is paved with the best intentions.
About 15 years ago, the company I work for designed a system for keeping the various sheets 'ribbons' of paper in a printing press lined up so they were all cut correctly to a reference mark and to each other (it is astonishing how much, and how variably paper can stretch under these conditions). These units, called Print Register Controls, are now well past their 'best before' date and are becoming impossible to maintain as the parts become obsolete.
With this in mind, I was involved in the design of a new replacement system, which was put on trials with one of our oldest customers. The machine operators loved its simplicity and reliability. The production managers were delighted at the reduction in paper wastage. What could possibly go wrong?
Bean counters, is the answer.
At the end of the trail period we offered the unit, at a reduced price as they had been good enough to let us trial it on their most unreliable press (a deliberate choice. If it worked there, it would work anywhere!) Nevertheless the accountants said it was too expensive. In an attempt to cut our losses, and help out the shop-floor people, we then offered the prototype as-is at an even further reduced price. This had now run for two years without a single hiccup. Still the answer was 'No', so with great reluctance we reconnected the old system.
We left the new system physically in place for a while, firstly so as to avoid interfering with their work schedule (it only required swapping over about about a dozen plugs), but also, initially just in case the old system failed to restart after a long downtime.
That was about a month ago.
Last week they started a new print job of a type and complexity that had never been attempted on that press before. The old control system had no hope at all of managing the task, which several of us on separate occasions told them, even though we did at least make a token attempt to jolly it along.
Enter our youngest, keenest engineer, who today also tried and failed to get the old system to work. However, unlike the rest of us, he then reconnected the (still physically present) new system, which immediately locked in almost perfectly.
My guess is the managers there will not realise what has been done for about a week. Our boss is also away till next week, after which I fully expect the excrement to come in contact with the rotating air mover.
I'm happy to say I'll be on holiday myself next week
