**TAVA MENTIONED**Yellow Gets Y2K 'Green' Light from General Motors
11:25am EDT 11-Aug-98 Corporate Release (Politsch, Kent E. 913-696-6125) YELL
Yellow Gets Y2K 'Green' Light from General Motors
OVERLAND PARK, Kan., Aug. 11 -- Yellow Corporation (Nasdaq: YELL) is among
the best prepared service organizations when it comes to complying with Year
2000 computer readiness, according to an independent audit conducted by General
Motors Corporation.
Through its technology consultant, TAVA Technologies, Inc., headquartered
in Englewood, Colo., GM has been conducting audits of systems and procedures
at hundreds of its estimated 70,000 suppliers. Yellow Freight System, the
largest subsidiary of Yellow Corporation, and a principal transportation
services supplier to GM, was among the companies recently assessed by TAVA.
The purpose of the technology audit, according to TAVA representatives
assigned to Yellow, was to determine if Yellow represents a high risk, medium
risk or low risk when it comes to providing GM uninterrupted service after
Jan. 1, 2000. That is when computers are likely to fail if date processing
program logic has not been corrected.
While consequences resulting from the lack of Year 2000 readiness are
being publicly debated, large corporations with deeply layered business
relationships are surveying their vulnerabilities. GM needs reliable
transportation services to keep its supply chain moving smoothly.
TAVA reported to GM that Yellow Freight System, because of its parent
company's preparations for Year 2000, is a low risk partner to the automaker,
and gave the carrier one of its first "green" overall determinations. TAVA is
using the colors of a traffic light to indicate high, medium and low risk.
Yellow began the planning phase of its Year 2000 project in 1995, and in
1996 the corporation organized a team of computer technology experts to remedy
its mainframe and client/server applications with an estimated budget of
$17 million. The team has grown to approximately 100 technicians, programmers
and managers who have been engaged in reprogramming and/or replacing computer
systems and date-sensitive equipment that might be affected by the so-called
"Y2K bug."
"Yellow Freight has actively participated in local Y2K seminars and
training sessions with other businesses to expand their knowledge base and
awareness of Y2K issues," said authors of the TAVA report to GM.
"Standard IS Disaster Recovery plans are in place. Extensive testing has
been performed on critical systems to determine the behavior on date
rollover," the report stated.
"We share GM's level of interest in Year 2000 readiness," said A. Maurice
Myers, chairman, president and CEO of Yellow Corporation. "We have an
obligation to our customers to let them know we are prepared. And we have an
obligation to our shareholders, employees and customers to learn from our
vendors and suppliers whether they are prepared, too," Myers said.
Yellow Corporation is a holding company with operating subsidiaries
specializing in national, regional and international transportation services.
Headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas, Yellow employs approximately
29,000 people.
SOURCE Yellow Corporation
-0- 08/11/98
/CONTACT: Kent Politsch, Manager - Corporate Communications of Yellow
Corporation, 913-696-6125, or kent.politsch@yellowcorp.com/
/Web site: yellowcorp.com |
