TIME IS RUNNING OUT: MANUFACTURING & PROCESS CONTROL INDUSTRIES
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The nature of manufacturing systems and configurations today are such that any problems at a lower level can trickle UP into the higher-level systems, i.e., collected or generated bad dates can be stored into databases and files that are later used for subsequent reporting and further calculations.
While many control devices are susceptible to failure because of internal "clock dependent" microprocessors,the greatest problems will eventually be found in:
1) Custom Code
2) Controller Code
3) Interface Code (especially between plant floor devices and controllers)
4) Custom Communications code within the manufacturing systems and the controllers)
5) Higher-Level Manufacturing Systems/Applications Code
TAVA Technologies direct field experience with more than 30 Y2K clients across scores of plants, show that, on average, 25-30% of automation hardware and software is NOT Year 2000 ready.
General Motors chief information officer, Ralph Szygenda, estimated that GM alone has over 250,000 manufacturing devices on the shop floor with potential year 2000 problems.
For a manufacturing firm, company viability is at stake.
Plants WILL have problems. They will range anywhere from aggravating and erratic production problems, to lines that will not run because some critical manufacturing systems have stopped running, to having serious safety and quality problems and long-term disruptions.
The problem events could be many and concurrent, causing breakdown scenarios more like a plague of termites, than a tornado. Like bee stings, one or two don't hurt too bad, but hundreds can kill you.
Along with this, NO ONE will have enough staff or have enough contingency planning to deal with the amount of concurrent failure that is possible if no action is taken, especially when considering the external environment and supply issues.
Should companies recreate the world and start from scratch to identify Y2K problems on the plant floor, or use existing tools which can greatly expedite the process of identifying potential Y2K problems?
Unfortunately, while there are many tools which address the IS problem, there is a dearth of tools for plant floor Y2K assessment. While IS tools can identify and actually change some of the problem areas, that's NOT the case with "embedded systems".
TIME IS RUNNING OUT!
If you would like to see one of the few tools out there for the plant floor and actual examples of the type of data that is found on the proprietary database, check out this link. Easy reading.
Message 3329770
Cheryl
DISCLAIMER: I own a large (for me) position in this stock. I am not encouraging or discouraging individuals to invest in this company. The purpose of this post is educate. I am extremely concerned about the lack of awareness on the Y2K "embedded system" issue, and lack of responsiveness by many manufacturers and those involved with process control. The above link is to show the complexity of the problem, and to further differentiate "embedded systems" from IS (Information Systems) issues. |
