' Patrick Meehan, Y2K program manager, DuPont Operations, presented the
large-user perspective. "Let's face it, there's not much upside and a lot of
downside," he offered. He sees that 50% of DuPont's work will be with
process control devices and systems and his current estimate is that, while
100% will be examined, 10-15% will need remediation.
...
Ken Owen, TAVA Technologies, Englewood, Colo., invoked the
conference's only Titanic reference by suggesting that companies have tended
to look only at the tip of the iceberg. "The damage to the systems that help you
count your money are getting a lot of attention, but the 90% underwater-the
controls -is the structure that makes the money, and it's not getting enough
attention."
His company's research concluded that problems will vary. "It will range
from simply having erratic production problems, to having lines that don't run
because the manufacturing systems have stopped, to having serious safety and
quality problems because the manufacturing systems make bad decisions," he
asserted.
Sounding a familiar alarm, he concluded by saying, "Do the math. If you
started January 1, 1998, you spent one month negotiating what you think you
need and you'll need two months to test a pilot program. After that, you'll need
five months to conduct a full inventory and assessment of what you have and
another five months planning the steps to convert what needs to be converted.
Our work so far indicates you'll need ten or more months to remediate, and
then-sorry-time's up."
...
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