There was unreliability with the two refurbished units but also the relationship between the clients and the UPS supplier had become very difficult and strained. Legal proceedings were being discussed by both sides. Data Facilities were asked to intervene on two aspects. This was to ascertain the cause of failures on the machines from an engineering aspect and to mediate and resolve the relationship problems which had been occurring both at an organisational level and at personal levels between the individuals involved.

The initial part was to investigate the unreliability of the affected UPS system and to stabilise the position between the organisations.

The rotary UPS was experiencing catastrophic bearing failure on both machines. Both had been refurbished, which was partly funded by the client to ensure the same level of reliability experienced for the first 11 years. The details of the refurbishment were not carried out by the manufacturer and had been subcontracted out to a non factory approved workshop which was working without toleranced drawings. When toleranced drawings were obtained from the manufacturer and the machine fully examined, the problem was an accumulation of tolerance issues. After some changes in the management of the supplier, both machines were taken back to the factory and refurbished free of charge, since this time, the reliability has increased dramatically and is still increasing.