The
first
deal
-
Act
2

Carlo took the next plane and set off for Hungary. The first Zippsafe system was to be built in Miskolc, an industrial town dominated by communism. They had ten days. It turned out to be ten long days.

Through contacts from David's family, the two were able to get started in an old hall with even older machinery. The 75-year-old owner of this hall had kindly asked some friends to support them in their project. The first morning at 7 am they were ready to start. Carlo and David, full of optimism , were directly surprised and found a group of "older gentlemen" who greeted them with a bottle of Palinka. This was going to be fun.

Not to be discouraged, the men started their work. It took a day or two and they were shocked to discover that they would never finish. Too much work lay ahead of them and their expectations of the finished product were way too high. At the same time postponing the promised delivery date was not an option. So there was no other option than working day and night. Maybe two to three hours of sleep was on schedule. Due to lack of alternatives, they shared a bed and thus did not leave each other's side even during these hours.

In between, they milled, turned, welded, drilled, and much more. The lack of sleep made things difficult for them. It went so far that Carlo almost collapsed and David practically had to pick him up from the floor. On another day, a near-accident occurred. Carlo was standing right in front of the turntable and can consider himself lucky that he wasn't seriously injured. What happened? The clamping device, a massive metal part that rotated extremely fast, spiked about 15 meters through the hall. Due to the high rotation speed, a power arose that one can hardly imagine.

Barely escaping an accident, the group of men continued to work and actually managed to get the electronics working two to three days before the deadline. Tested and proven to be good, they now only had to connect the individual parts and bring everything together. Too bad that after welding, nothing worked anymore. What should they do now? The cause was quickly found. The welding must have caused a short circuit in the electronics. All the work of the last few days was for nothing and Carlo and David knew no way to fix the product.

Carlo felt compelled to call the customer and ask how bad it would be to deliver the system without LED lights. The idea was not well received and the customer insisted on the initial agreement. This called for another night shift. Did they manage to deliver a functioning system in the remaining time? Wait for the third and final act of "The First Deal".