One of my company's main clients deals with a furniture manufacturer that has extremely low quality, production, and management standards. Add that to the fact that their engineering department is a bunch of friggin morons who have the worst ideas in history for modular furniture construction. As a result, there are constant problems with their product. This stuff is actually what I hate the most about my job. Even if the stars align and I've got a properly planned job, if I were to have competent cw's, if I were to have prepared clients, I would still have to work with this garbage.
At the best of times, the panels are a major pain in the ass to install. They have an idiotic connection system that will not work if anything is more than 1/16th of an inch out of alignment. You need exactly 1/8" between panels, all the way from the top to the bottom, anything more, anything less and it's at best extremely difficult or at worst literally impossible to connect the panels together. This is bad enough on it's own, but their multiple production deficiencies make this a fiasco on literally every project.
Keeping with their 1.000 batting percentage, this one has problems as well. But this time around, there's an extra twist. The panels are extra tall, and they are bowing inwards at the center. This makes it literally impossible to maintain the 1/8" separation that is required. We try multiple methods, but even with panels tight together at the top and bottom (which on it's own makes them virtually impossible to connect), there is still too much separation in the middle, the combined problem of too tight at the top and bottom along with too much separation in the middle makes it a literally impossible situation.
I call a lunch break while I try to wrap my head around this dilemma. As I'm writing my email to my MiM, my client, a very nice guy with whom I am able to have very frank conversations, asks me how's it going. I don't hold back, I let him know that we are fubar'd. That every panel we have tried to work on has this defect and I don't know any way that it can be corrected or worked around. I show him what I'm talking about and it's such an obvious problem that it can clearly be seen. He tells me he's going to call the sales rep to discuss the matter.
Okay, so I did make a mistake here. Company protocol, which I am very familiar with considering that literally every project and virtually every job has a problem, states that I need to contact my office when a problem arises; I am not supposed to bring the problem to the attention of the client. Then it's up to the office to make the decision to get the client involved, or if they are going to try to come up with a "solution". (The "solution" typically being - deal with it, figure something out to make it work, don't tell the client). So I made this mistake, at the peak of my frustration my friend asked an innocent question and I defied rules and actually told the truth.
Well it so happens that this client is sick of this bullshit with this manufacturer. He recently tried to dump them in favour of someone more competent, but his higher ups rejected his request. So he has no choice but to buy from them, but he's not going to put up with defective product and half-assed band aid "solutions" to make it work. If there's a problem, he wants that product replaced with properly manufactured product. Considering that this was around $5000 worth of panels, that was a hefty demand.
Do you blame the engineering department that came up with this ridiculous connection method, that didn't put it through a proper scrutiny test to determine the feasibility of their idiotic design, that in spite of constant and perpetual difficulities does not do a thing to come up with a better product. Nope not them. Do you blame your production department that comes nowhere near meeting engineering's loftly requirements, that constantly and perpetually makes the same errors that make every job even more difficult and in cases like this, impossible. Nope not them. Do you blame your quality control department, that doesn't see these errors, that doesn't see the errors that they are told are constant and perpetual, that is aware of defective product but sends it out anyways. Nope not them. Do you blame a management team that sees all this happening and buries their head in the sand, that just allows this to go on without taking the necessary steps, or apparently, any steps at all to correct these problems. Nope not them.
No no no, this is all my fault. I am well aware of the protocol that I'm supposed to follow and I broke it. Never let the client know how much of a fuck up this manufacturer is, particularly with the client who already knows how much of a fuck up they are. Whatever, be as mad with me as you want. Without me, the jobs don't get done. Want to be so pissed off that you don't work with Mickey Mouse Moving anymore, yeah, good luck finding another company so poorly managed that they are willing to put up with your constant defective product.
At the best of times, the panels are a major pain in the ass to install. They have an idiotic connection system that will not work if anything is more than 1/16th of an inch out of alignment. You need exactly 1/8" between panels, all the way from the top to the bottom, anything more, anything less and it's at best extremely difficult or at worst literally impossible to connect the panels together. This is bad enough on it's own, but their multiple production deficiencies make this a fiasco on literally every project.
Keeping with their 1.000 batting percentage, this one has problems as well. But this time around, there's an extra twist. The panels are extra tall, and they are bowing inwards at the center. This makes it literally impossible to maintain the 1/8" separation that is required. We try multiple methods, but even with panels tight together at the top and bottom (which on it's own makes them virtually impossible to connect), there is still too much separation in the middle, the combined problem of too tight at the top and bottom along with too much separation in the middle makes it a literally impossible situation.
I call a lunch break while I try to wrap my head around this dilemma. As I'm writing my email to my MiM, my client, a very nice guy with whom I am able to have very frank conversations, asks me how's it going. I don't hold back, I let him know that we are fubar'd. That every panel we have tried to work on has this defect and I don't know any way that it can be corrected or worked around. I show him what I'm talking about and it's such an obvious problem that it can clearly be seen. He tells me he's going to call the sales rep to discuss the matter.
Okay, so I did make a mistake here. Company protocol, which I am very familiar with considering that literally every project and virtually every job has a problem, states that I need to contact my office when a problem arises; I am not supposed to bring the problem to the attention of the client. Then it's up to the office to make the decision to get the client involved, or if they are going to try to come up with a "solution". (The "solution" typically being - deal with it, figure something out to make it work, don't tell the client). So I made this mistake, at the peak of my frustration my friend asked an innocent question and I defied rules and actually told the truth.
Well it so happens that this client is sick of this bullshit with this manufacturer. He recently tried to dump them in favour of someone more competent, but his higher ups rejected his request. So he has no choice but to buy from them, but he's not going to put up with defective product and half-assed band aid "solutions" to make it work. If there's a problem, he wants that product replaced with properly manufactured product. Considering that this was around $5000 worth of panels, that was a hefty demand.
Do you blame the engineering department that came up with this ridiculous connection method, that didn't put it through a proper scrutiny test to determine the feasibility of their idiotic design, that in spite of constant and perpetual difficulities does not do a thing to come up with a better product. Nope not them. Do you blame your production department that comes nowhere near meeting engineering's loftly requirements, that constantly and perpetually makes the same errors that make every job even more difficult and in cases like this, impossible. Nope not them. Do you blame your quality control department, that doesn't see these errors, that doesn't see the errors that they are told are constant and perpetual, that is aware of defective product but sends it out anyways. Nope not them. Do you blame a management team that sees all this happening and buries their head in the sand, that just allows this to go on without taking the necessary steps, or apparently, any steps at all to correct these problems. Nope not them.
No no no, this is all my fault. I am well aware of the protocol that I'm supposed to follow and I broke it. Never let the client know how much of a fuck up this manufacturer is, particularly with the client who already knows how much of a fuck up they are. Whatever, be as mad with me as you want. Without me, the jobs don't get done. Want to be so pissed off that you don't work with Mickey Mouse Moving anymore, yeah, good luck finding another company so poorly managed that they are willing to put up with your constant defective product.
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