Monumental work cockups
Discussion
Tango13 said:
hora said:
Ex-Ruperts and/or serving officers with no grasp of cost and loss?
Quite the opposite!We do a bit of defence work, mostly small batches of older optical stuff.
We'll get a drawing with some obscure plating requirement involving a witches brew of highly toxic and unstable chemicals, usually there are about three companies left in the UK brave or stupid enough to touch whatever the obscure process is.
As the process is so rare the customer will get hit with a £2-300 minimum charge to plate half a dozen parts.
We can make the same part from a bit of 316 stainless that won't corrode saving a small fortune BUT it would cost tens of thousands of pounds to test and re-certify the part in stainless to ensure there wouldn't be any contamination or other issues with the older parts it would be fitted to.
You may consider a car you ordered in 2010 car to be old, but the chances are that a piece of military stuff that was procured in 2010 hasn't seen operational service yet. Billions are wasted ensuring the price paid is fully justified.
pingu393 said:
I agree. To be fair, most military equipment - even the "new" stuff is ancient in terms of what is available today.
You may consider a car you ordered in 2010 car to be old, but the chances are that a piece of military stuff that was procured in 2010 hasn't seen operational service yet. Billions are wasted ensuring the price paid is fully justified.
We had one drawing from 1910 or there abouts! You may consider a car you ordered in 2010 car to be old, but the chances are that a piece of military stuff that was procured in 2010 hasn't seen operational service yet. Billions are wasted ensuring the price paid is fully justified.
Tango13 said:
pingu393 said:
I agree. To be fair, most military equipment - even the "new" stuff is ancient in terms of what is available today.
You may consider a car you ordered in 2010 car to be old, but the chances are that a piece of military stuff that was procured in 2010 hasn't seen operational service yet. Billions are wasted ensuring the price paid is fully justified.
We had one drawing from 1910 or there abouts! You may consider a car you ordered in 2010 car to be old, but the chances are that a piece of military stuff that was procured in 2010 hasn't seen operational service yet. Billions are wasted ensuring the price paid is fully justified.
.Just thought of another cock-up...
We were rationalising the stores and had to value every item in storage. The theory was if they reduced the value of the inventory, it would be a saving. I hope you can see what's coming.
The brainiacs in charge decided that getting rid of the expensive stuff that hadn't been demanded for over 10 years should be dumped.
Gearboxes, axles, chassis, weapon sights, anything that was valued at big bucks went to the scrappy and was weighed in by the ton. Mega savings on paper. The value of the inventory was reduced by millions overnight.
Then Tony Bliar decided we needed a holiday in Iraq and the demands started coming in for stuff that hadn't moved since the last Gulf War. Luckily, the scrapman knew this would probably happen and he hadn't melted the stuff, so we bought loads of it back and he probably became a millionaire many times over.
pingu393 said:
We were rationalising the stores and had to value every item in storage. The theory was if they reduced the value of the inventory, it would be a saving.
That's fascinating, in the commercial world there is often a reluctance to mark down overvalued inventory because it recognises a loss. Tango13 said:
hora said:
Ex-Ruperts and/or serving officers with no grasp of cost and loss?
Quite the opposite!We do a bit of defence work, mostly small batches of older optical stuff.
We'll get a drawing with some obscure plating requirement involving a witches brew of highly toxic and unstable chemicals, usually there are about three companies left in the UK brave or stupid enough to touch whatever the obscure process is.
As the process is so rare the customer will get hit with a £2-300 minimum charge to plate half a dozen parts.
We can make the same part from a bit of 316 stainless that won't corrode saving a small fortune BUT it would cost tens of thousands of pounds to test and re-certify the part in stainless to ensure there wouldn't be any contamination or other issues with the older parts it would be fitted to.
Don't even ask me about rush work in the run-up to that little contratemps in the South Atlantic.
ChemicalChaos said:
ZG875, there's a thread about it now in B,P&T. If you do have footage of that I'd be most interested - however, are you sure you're not thinking of a similar one where an SK falls over trying to land on a ship and goes over the side in flames?
Yes I've seen that one but I'm sure I have seen another video where a SK beats its self up on the deck but doesn't fall in the oggin. Might be my mind playing tricks on me or too many wardroom. Beers with 849, 820 et al.It was on an Italian warship at the time I seem to remember.
I an a but used to spend a lot of time with the RN especially the CVS s.
Edited by wildcat45 on Thursday 20th October 08:46
TIGA84 said:
Ho do you "accidentally" knock a 90 odd ton aircraft off its jacks?!!??
a/c had been in for some work completing on the gears, myself and a few others starting on nightshift came in, first job, drop a/c off the jacks. so, one man on each main jack, me on the tail jack /steady, aircraft starts being lowered. As it starts to take its own weight, there was a bit of shuddering from the main gears, instead of the gears compressing smoothly, they were vibrating / jerking as it lowered (scraper rings had been changed). The tail of the plane got a bit of a wag on, and the tail jack / steady jumped from its location point, wedged to the a/c skin. the steady was locked, under weight and I couldn't get it to move down and the guys on the mains were not quick enough to stop lowering. Basically, a sickening pop as the tail steady punched a hole in the skin, pretty much next to the jacking point.Many year ago the test lab I worked for was engaged by the High Court to act as expert witness in a building claim.
The building was a multistorey carpark in the centre of an East Sussex town.
Problem was that the floors were not lining up with the on/off ramps of the external structure. and the contractors had made good with extra concrete so everything lined up but the more floors they added, the gaps reappeared. Something was moving/settling.
County architect was suing the contractors who were suing the concrete company.
Job 1, was it moving? We set up scaffolding frames at each level with dial guages every metre and lorry loads of concrete cubes were delivered to each floor to simulate the normal working load. First dial guage I went to read was rotating at several RPM! It wasnt the only one as the next thing I heard was the Boss shouting "Everyone get the f
k out, NOW! Which we duly did and adjourned to the adjacent caf for coffee. Fortunately it was still standing in the afternoon after they got all the trucks of concrete off.
We proposed to the Architect to drill core samples through the pre-cast flooring slabs where they met the external stucture. Back the next day with all the drilling kit and few hours later we layed out the sample on the site office desk. Middle of the sample was a distinct white line and everyone asking WTF is that?
Sample back to lab for pyrolysis analysis then back to site to see Architect.
"Its polystyrene" Architect shouts something about 'incompetent aholes' and runs out the door.
Transpired that each pre-cast floor slab was delivered on a protective tray of expanded polystyrene and they had left this in place when they fitted each floor slab and its was being compressed as they built each next floor on top.
Architect made them demolish the whole carpark and start again, settled out of court, so we weren't told the final figure but well into 7 figures I'm sure.
The building was a multistorey carpark in the centre of an East Sussex town.
Problem was that the floors were not lining up with the on/off ramps of the external structure. and the contractors had made good with extra concrete so everything lined up but the more floors they added, the gaps reappeared. Something was moving/settling.
County architect was suing the contractors who were suing the concrete company.
Job 1, was it moving? We set up scaffolding frames at each level with dial guages every metre and lorry loads of concrete cubes were delivered to each floor to simulate the normal working load. First dial guage I went to read was rotating at several RPM! It wasnt the only one as the next thing I heard was the Boss shouting "Everyone get the f
k out, NOW! Which we duly did and adjourned to the adjacent caf for coffee. Fortunately it was still standing in the afternoon after they got all the trucks of concrete off.We proposed to the Architect to drill core samples through the pre-cast flooring slabs where they met the external stucture. Back the next day with all the drilling kit and few hours later we layed out the sample on the site office desk. Middle of the sample was a distinct white line and everyone asking WTF is that?
Sample back to lab for pyrolysis analysis then back to site to see Architect.
"Its polystyrene" Architect shouts something about 'incompetent a
holes' and runs out the door.Transpired that each pre-cast floor slab was delivered on a protective tray of expanded polystyrene and they had left this in place when they fitted each floor slab and its was being compressed as they built each next floor on top.
Architect made them demolish the whole carpark and start again, settled out of court, so we weren't told the final figure but well into 7 figures I'm sure.
Edited by Le TVR on Thursday 20th October 10:11
Dr Jekyll said:
pingu393 said:
We were rationalising the stores and had to value every item in storage. The theory was if they reduced the value of the inventory, it would be a saving.
That's fascinating, in the commercial world there is often a reluctance to mark down overvalued inventory because it recognises a loss. By reducing the value of the inventory I meant by disposing of high value stock, not by keeping the stock and reducing the price of each line item.
amancalledrob said:
FiF said:
Don't even ask me about rush work in the run-up to that little contratemps in the South Atlantic.
Hey, you remember that little contratemps in the South Atlantic? Anything go wrong there?
?. But that wasn't a cock-up, it was creative accounting. It's not just politicians who take advantage of the misery of others 
.To be fair, from what my Dad told me, I think CORPORATE was the way to do it. Just throw money and resources at it.
GRANBY was at the beginning of my MoD days and the place was a shambles, but it worked because money was thrown at the problem. It leads to massive spikes in spending, but is probably cheaper over the long term. It's the old cash-flow v. cost debate.
I was involved in TELIC and HERRICK and they tried to do it with a padlock on the wallet - and I believe men died because we weren't agile in procurement.
Nimby said:
This is urban myth and totally not possible in the real world. He could not have accidentally ordered cash instead of futures because futures are standadised products which are margined and have cash settle. Cash products are highly specialised and encompass things such as delivery date, type of vessel and delivery location. You couldn't accidentally order 28,000 tonnes of coal to downtown wherever it was no more than you could do to Canary Wharf. Nice story but not even remotely plausible.
I sent a squad of fencers to fence off a strip of land on a new development site prior to us landscaping the site. I didn't think I needed to tell them why they were fencing off the strip, they had drawings and exact measurements.
The st hit the fan about 2 hours after they started, they'd moved the location of the fence about 5 metres to one side as the ground was much softer and easier to fence there.... possibly because it had recently been dug up to lay an enormous bundle of fibre optic cables which their fence was supposed to protect.
They'd managed to put around 20 of the 30 posts directly through a cable and knocked out around 50000 telephones around central Scotland.
The s
t hit the fan about 2 hours after they started, they'd moved the location of the fence about 5 metres to one side as the ground was much softer and easier to fence there.... possibly because it had recently been dug up to lay an enormous bundle of fibre optic cables which their fence was supposed to protect.They'd managed to put around 20 of the 30 posts directly through a cable and knocked out around 50000 telephones around central Scotland.
R11ysf said:
Nimby said:
This is urban myth and totally not possible in the real world. He could not have accidentally ordered cash instead of futures because futures are standadised products which are margined and have cash settle. Cash products are highly specialised and encompass things such as delivery date, type of vessel and delivery location. You couldn't accidentally order 28,000 tonnes of coal to downtown wherever it was no more than you could do to Canary Wharf. Nice story but not even remotely plausible.
brrapp said:
I sent a squad of fencers to fence off a strip of land on a new development site prior to us landscaping the site. I didn't think I needed to tell them why they were fencing off the strip, they had drawings and exact measurements.
The st hit the fan about 2 hours after they started, they'd moved the location of the fence about 5 metres to one side as the ground was much softer and easier to fence there.... possibly because it had recently been dug up to lay an enormous bundle of fibre optic cables which their fence was supposed to protect.
They'd managed to put around 20 of the 30 posts directly through a cable and knocked out around 50000 telephones around central Scotland.
Oof! How much did that cost you?The s
t hit the fan about 2 hours after they started, they'd moved the location of the fence about 5 metres to one side as the ground was much softer and easier to fence there.... possibly because it had recently been dug up to lay an enormous bundle of fibre optic cables which their fence was supposed to protect.They'd managed to put around 20 of the 30 posts directly through a cable and knocked out around 50000 telephones around central Scotland.
pingu393 said:
amancalledrob said:
FiF said:
Don't even ask me about rush work in the run-up to that little contratemps in the South Atlantic.
Hey, you remember that little contratemps in the South Atlantic? Anything go wrong there? ?. But that wasn't a cock-up, it was creative accounting. It's not just politicians who take advantage of the misery of others .To be fair, from what my Dad told me, I think CORPORATE was the way to do it. Just throw money and resources at it.
GRANBY was at the beginning of my MoD days and the place was a shambles, but it worked because money was thrown at the problem. It leads to massive spikes in spending, but is probably cheaper over the long term. It's the old cash-flow v. cost debate.
I was involved in TELIC and HERRICK and they tried to do it with a padlock on the wallet - and I believe men died because we weren't agile in procurement.
eltax91 said:
brrapp said:
I sent a squad of fencers to fence off a strip of land on a new development site prior to us landscaping the site. I didn't think I needed to tell them why they were fencing off the strip, they had drawings and exact measurements.
The st hit the fan about 2 hours after they started, they'd moved the location of the fence about 5 metres to one side as the ground was much softer and easier to fence there.... possibly because it had recently been dug up to lay an enormous bundle of fibre optic cables which their fence was supposed to protect.
They'd managed to put around 20 of the 30 posts directly through a cable and knocked out around 50000 telephones around central Scotland.
Oof! How much did that cost you?The s
t hit the fan about 2 hours after they started, they'd moved the location of the fence about 5 metres to one side as the ground was much softer and easier to fence there.... possibly because it had recently been dug up to lay an enormous bundle of fibre optic cables which their fence was supposed to protect.They'd managed to put around 20 of the 30 posts directly through a cable and knocked out around 50000 telephones around central Scotland.
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