Being Project Manager

When you are in charge of receiving a specialized piece of equipment, doing the site preparation, installation, getting it up and running, and making sure it's doing what it's supposed to do, everything that can go wrong does go wrong! When you've thought through all the necessary precautions and think you've handled them all, you find there's something you missed! When you think that it cannot get any worse, it does! Finally when you think you've worked out all problems, you are proven completely and utterly wrong!!

I'm talking about this new piece of equipment that our research group decided to invest in. Yes it's a great investment specially for my research work. But so far I've been going out of my mind with trying to set it up!

It all started when the dispatch of the equipment was delayed by the manufacturer who's in the UK. Not my fault, but it's pretty annoying when you've got an oblivious agent who has got no idea what's happening, and a 9 hour time difference with the main company!

All the while I was doing the site preparation, like finding a suitable place (negotiating with people who are very possessive of their labs is not too easy either), thinking through the connections, and placing orders for the accessories and fittings, which also gets either delayed or ends up in someone else's mail box!!!(for some obscure reason)! and all the while I'm running around like a headless chicken trying to locate the parcel which had been delivered two days ago!!!

Anyhoo,, at long last the equipment comes in....hooray!! so we gather around and unpack everything, and with a lot of manpower lift up the 70kg unit up onto the trolley/stand that I designed and got custom made for this, only to find that it's sagging under the weight! grrr! I wrote it down in plain English that it needs to withstand at least 80kg!

Then we eagerly rummage through the rest of the package. Lots and lots of accessories, fittings and parts all in a number of boxes......but no instructions manual!!! oh yeah there was one with about 5 pages which said, open the package, locate the pump (as if a 20 kg vacuum pump is easy to miss!!), check whether everything is in order etc etc...........But no instructions as to how to set it up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Unbelievable! They send us a highly specialised piece of equipment which is all disassembled and expect us to try and put everything together!!!???!!@!!

So I write to them and again the 9 hour time difference means I have to wait till the next day for a reply. And the next day I get a reply, with apologies about the shortcomings of the current instructions manual (shortcomings??!!*#&*!) and instructing me as to how some of the pieces fit together...and I said 'some' not all! so again I have to write to them specifically asking them about each and every connection, and I get a reply the next day. And the worst part is we need to set this up really fast, and test if it's working properly before we pay them! and we need to pay them within 30 days! already 2 days down for the missing instructions which wasn't even my fault to begin with!

Ok finally we get all the instructions that we need, and we go about putting it together, only to find that fittings don't fit, joints don't join and their tubes and hoses are not long enough!!!!!!!
Unbelievable!
So I start looking for vacuum hose suppliers, not very many around where I can get a fast delivery, but finally manage to find one and to my relief it's in stock (at least that's what I was told), so should be here in 2 days.
And I get the workshop person to grind, drill and modify the fittings to fit!

Then I find that there's a small issue I overlooked. I was planning to connect the gas tube of the equipment to the gas supply of an existing system, through a simple T connector. I measured the sizes of the tubes and both of them seem to be 6 mm (never rely on a broken vernier calliper!). Later on I realize that the existing system is from the US which means they use the imperial system so that tube is actually 6.35mm or in other words 1/4 inch! Doesn't really fit with the new UK equipment! Gggrrrhhh!!! Why can't the Americans use the metric system like everybody else does?? would make life that much easier for us poor souls!
But luckily the workshop guy managed to fix the problem but not before teasing me around with "oh, you are in big trouble here!".

And of course there were other subtleties that sent me running around looking for solutions, but I'll spare them here.

Ok, so now all the connections are done and everything seem to fit! But I still haven't received the vacuum hose that I ordered. Expecting another 'sent to the wrong person' escapade, I run around to check the mail centre of the university, only to find it never got here.
So I call up the supplier, who answers my question rather sheepishly "ehh...we kind of ran out of it.., so we had to wait for the next delivery" !!!!!??!!!!##$*?&**#&^!!???

Oh god! so now we are nearing the 15th day mark. Hopefully the hose will get delivered tomorrow morning, in which case 'hopefully' I will be able to get the thing up and running (fingers crossed!) but of course I wouldn't be surprised if some issue does turn up! I'm kind of sure that something will turn up......I have a gut feeling.......but of course I'm feeling paranoid!


Wish me luck!