Abstract

In early 1995 the Bar Hill firm of Domino Printing Sciences was hit by a mysterious problem which caused a proportion of their ink jet printers, installed on production lines all over the world, to malfunction at the same time.

Companies whose products stop production lines are not popular with their customers and the problem nearly brought Domino to its knees. The memory lives on in the company to this day.

It turned out – though it took some time to become clear – that the problem lay with a subtle change in the specialised ink used in the printers. But it was not at all easy to find out exactly what the problem was or how to cure it. This talk will follow how the crisis unfolded; how it affected the staff and the company as a whole; and how it was overcome, understood and eventually ended.

The crisis taught the company important lessons not only about technology management but also about problem solving, communication and management style.