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Irish parliament counts cost of €1m printer error
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50563977
An inquiry has begun into how staff at the Irish parliament spent more than €1m (£857,000) on a printer that was too big to fit into the building.
The printer, measuring 2.1m (6ft 8in) high and 1.9m (6ft 2 in) wide, was bought last year at a cost of €808,000.
When officials realised it would not fit, they spent an additional €236,000 tearing down walls and embedding structural steel to house the machine.
The printer was placed in storage at a cost of €2,000 a month during the work.
Irish Govt Blows €1M On Mega-Printer Too Big For Parliament's Doors
Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
Officials failed to ensure there was at least 3.1 metres in height clearance to get the thing in, according to the Irish Times. In reality, there just wasn't enough space. The state-of-the-art printer is described in press reports as being 2.1 metres high and 1.9 metres wide, so either there's confusion over the measurements or you need more than 3 metres to negotiate it in.
By the time the government realized its mistake, it was too late to return the printer as the contract had already been signed. So instead, officials had to "tear down walls and embed structural steel" to fit the contraption, according to RTE on Tuesday.
But that’s not the only havoc the printer has caused. Some employees are refusing to be trained on how to use the machine, sticking a metaphorical middle finger to the government in a bid to negotiate a pay rise for using the new equipment.
What’s more, the IT department is hesitant to grant access to the printer, making it difficult to print documents from official government computers.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Thursday November 28 2019, @05:22AM (15 children)
Wouldn't it have been cheaper to just build a little shed for the printer instead? Or was there some specific reason that required the printer to be in a building for which there was no space for it?
(Score: 4, Interesting) by deimtee on Thursday November 28 2019, @05:55AM (11 children)
It wouldn't be a little shed. They don't give the length or the model number, but a 4-colour Komori would be upwards of 10 to 15 metres long, and would need plenty of space all round.
That's also the reason for:
You need a lot of space above it too. There will be ~1m high walkway along both sides so that printers can reach the top. I am surprised they consider 3m high or wide to be enough space to operate it, (unless that is just the hallway dimensions for getting it to the print room, they're not clear on that)
This isn't a little copier, it would be printing A0 (841 x 1189 mm) at more than 20,000 sheets an hour. Which also means many pallets of paper per day in and out of the little shed.
The whole thing sounds like a PHB got the measurements and never considered that the operators would need to work around and over the machine.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by driverless on Thursday November 28 2019, @06:26AM (8 children)
More like a "WTF are they fitting something that sounds like a full-scale four-colour offset printing press (they never say what it is, but that's what it sounds like) in Leinster House?". Did they think they were buying an office printer/copier? Conversely, were they planning to start a publishing business inside the Irish parliament?
(Score: 3, Informative) by deimtee on Thursday November 28 2019, @08:48AM (7 children)
It doesn't just sound like it, it is a full scale 4-colour offset press. Deimos says below that "A plate-making machine cost over €100,000". You don't need one of those unless it is offset.
To paraphrase the great RAW, the primary purpose of government is to emit ink excretions on pieces of paper.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 3, Funny) by PiMuNu on Thursday November 28 2019, @09:46AM
Frederick William I, king in Brandenburg Prussia, used to call his bureaucrats ink-sh*tters.
That was the country that invented (literally) "red tape".
(Score: 4, Informative) by driverless on Thursday November 28 2019, @11:01AM (3 children)
Wow. Just wow.
Found this link [thejournal.ie] which gives the details, it's a Komori GL-429, 7.3 metres long, 2.68 wide, 2.1 high, with minimum space requirements 12m long, 5.8m wide, and 2.5m high.
Many governments have an official government printing/publishing office, typically located in purpose-built warehouse-scale premises - it's not just a case of housing the press, you also need to feed it and do things with its output - the one here is the width of a city block and a cavernous great structure, with truck access and forklifts to move things around. Trying to stuff all of that into some corner of Leinster House would have been quite a feat.
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Thursday November 28 2019, @07:30PM (1 child)
I think you misread that. The size is the Komori but the space requirement was from the tender specs, not the press. There is no way you could run a press like that with only 40cm of headroom, and that's not enough space around it either.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 2) by driverless on Thursday November 28 2019, @08:11PM
Yeah, it did seem a bit... optimistic, thus the comment that I'd expect to see one in a warehouse-sized space.
The report from the inquiry will make interesting reading :-).
(Score: 3, Interesting) by PartTimeZombie on Friday November 29 2019, @01:54AM
oh.
I have just finished a comment detailing how it couldn't possibly be on of those, because it seemed a bit mad.
Nobody is training to use that either, printing is a skilled trade, not something some office person picks up.
(Score: 3, Informative) by PartTimeZombie on Friday November 29 2019, @02:02AM (1 child)
Yes, it is. I worked for the agents for Komori in my country many years ago, and if the cheapest A2 machine we sold cost $5,000,000 new, without any of the extras they have detailed there.
Also, nobody buys a 4-colour machine, and haven't for more than 25 years. Everyone buys 5-colour machines, due to the speed of modern presses.
At high speeds you get a thing called "set-off" where the ink doesn't dry quickly enough, and winds up on the back of the sheet above, so the 5th unit has a coating in it to aid drying.
Smart people leave printing to people who know how to do printing.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Friday November 29 2019, @12:53PM
>Smart people leave printing to people who know how to do printing.
>Smart people
>Parliament
Your remark was OT
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Friday November 29 2019, @01:52AM (1 child)
I don't think they're talking about the 4 colour Komori you're meaning here, although your point about the space is a good one.
The IT department is not going to be giving people access to an offset press, and training is usually an 8,000 apprenticeship.
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Friday November 29 2019, @03:06AM
Bit more digging, and many places are saying its a rebadged GL29, which is a half sheet (720x540mm) press. Most pictures of that though show five stations, so either they are not counting the UV or the GL429 loses one, which might explain the extra 4 in the model no.
Offset presses have changed a lot in the last decade or two. Competition from digital presses has forced them to be faster, cleaner and easier to use. The last big 10-colour I was watching run monitored every sheet as it went through. So much as a blemish on the paper and that sheet was diverted to the waste stack without slowing the printing at all. A few in series and the machine would stop and call for help. Colour was continuously monitored, the machine compared what was coming out with the PDF and adjusted itself to match. Washup is push a button. Plate change is load them in a holder and push a button. The plates are coded so the machine knows if you put the plates in the wrong station.
You still need to be a trade printer to use one, but IT absolutely needs to be involved in the setup.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Thursday November 28 2019, @06:04AM (2 children)
Ask legislators to table a motion to build a shed [wikipedia.org]? It may never be completed.
(Score: 2) by dry on Friday November 29 2019, @01:12AM (1 child)
The important thing is that it'll keep them busy discussing what colour to paint the shed instead of passing bad laws.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Friday November 29 2019, @12:57PM
From the 'dry humour' dept.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Thursday November 28 2019, @06:05AM (5 children)
Wouldn't it be a better idea to sell it to someone else -- hopefully at not too much of a loss -- and go for something else?
(Score: 4, Touché) by janrinok on Thursday November 28 2019, @06:25AM (4 children)
(Score: 2) by driverless on Thursday November 28 2019, @06:30AM (3 children)
Well the headline alone tells you that:
"Let's see now, how much did this €1M error cost us? Liam, any ideas? Was it €700,000? Siobhan's suggesting €650,000, but I'm sure it was more than that".
(Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Thursday November 28 2019, @07:14PM (2 children)
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 5, Funny) by driverless on Thursday November 28 2019, @08:14PM
True, it never bothered the Grauniad.
Still, it'd be interesting to see what happens with "lp0 on fire" in Leinster House.
(Score: 2) by dry on Friday November 29 2019, @01:18AM
Actually they can't as they're on the Euro. Might have to raise the tax on Apple by 0.01% which will ruin their economy when Apple moves to a lower tax rate nation.
(Score: 2) by deimios on Thursday November 28 2019, @06:36AM (1 child)
So the tender was for: "a four-colour printing press, folding machines, guillotines and the installation and maintenance of same"
And they got:
"The printer cost €808,000. A plate-making machine cost over €100,000 as did a folding machine. In addition, the cost allotted for a guillotine (to cut paper) was €63,000 while a pile turner was to cost €37,000.
The total cost of structural work was €236,000 while storage for the printer in Ballymount cost a total of €12,000, as works were being completed."
Supplied by Komori:
"Following the agreement in May 2018 with Komori, the Houses of the Oireachtas believes that “minor work”, such as the temporary removal of door-frames in Kildare House, would be enough to allow for the printer to be installed."
(Score: 2) by driverless on Thursday November 28 2019, @11:05AM
They could always follow the French model and use it for a slightly different purpose, perhaps on whoever thought this would be a good idea.
I don't mean behead them, just guillotine off sufficient to prevent them from passing on the genes.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 28 2019, @07:11AM (4 children)
You usually hear projects going double or triple over budget.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday November 28 2019, @12:37PM (3 children)
Heck yeah!
I certainly looks like the speck in your neighbor's eye versus the $163 billion over budget, seven years behind schedule [politico.com] $406B development, $1.5T lifetime total [wikipedia.org] F-35 in your eye.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by opinionated_science on Thursday November 28 2019, @03:54PM (1 child)
this is the pervasive message. You, the human, are at the mercy of your government and other aggregations of power.
Government only exists because we pay for it - and they make sure we do.
There are 4 ways to spend money.
1) You spend your money on yourself, and you strive for the best result.
2) You spend your money on someone else, so you are interested in the result, but not necessarily optimal.
3) You can have someone else spend their money on you, in which case you're delighted!
4) You can spend someone elses money on someone else, in which case you don't give a f*ck.
Government == $4.
(Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Thursday November 28 2019, @07:16PM
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 2, Informative) by khallow on Thursday November 28 2019, @07:05PM
It's started to get a tad bit uncomfortable. But I'm sure in 20-30 years they'll replace it with something more awesome in my eye.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 28 2019, @09:09PM (1 child)
Seems like kickbacks scam. I can't imagine why the irish parliament would need such a printer. What are they going to do with it? print money?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 29 2019, @12:40AM
no, they asked for the best printer in the market and they got this... now they will be printing some porn, dick pics (to send to other party guys?! or maybe not!?) and of course, the main use for the printer, print tweets and facebook posts, as computers are complex, it s always better to read it in paper!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 29 2019, @03:40AM (2 children)
1-Govt spent €1m on a printer.
2-Govt didn't check the specs and couldn't get it in the door.
3-Govt spent €2,000 a month rent for it to sit in a warehouse.
4-Govt spent €236,000 to make it fit.
5-Govt employees want a raise because they're going to have to learn how to press the "Print" button.
6-Govt IT employees won't grant Govt employees access to it.
WTF is wrong with Brits?
Can they even wipe their own ass?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 29 2019, @04:04AM
Too busy to negotiate their Brexit.
Meanwhile, the Irish stayed in EU, where €1m is a floating point approximation error.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Booga1 on Friday November 29 2019, @04:29AM
Regarding point number five:
This is not an HP laserjet printer. Take a look at a photo of one of these things(article referenced above): https://img2.thejournal.ie/inline/4906433 [thejournal.ie]
You'll notice this thing is about as close to an office printer as a home sewing machine is to a commercial loom in a textile factory. Running one of these things is something you can make a career out of.
Would you really want to let everyone in the office try to run this thing? I would expect 99% of untrained users would break it, jam it, or otherwise render it unusable until it had a visit from the manufacturer's on-call service techs.