<We are now 35 days into 1999, where are the massive problems? Our groceries are moving out of the warehouses into the stores with no problems.>
<Again, can you tell us who is having the "massive" problems now? We are a large grocery chain (along with general merchandise) and we have not seen any problems yet.>
Jeff,
You're right. You wouldn't be having, or seeing problems with delivery right now. And, I don't anticipate that you'll run into problems until later this year. I have no idea when. I haven't kept up with this.
He was referring to "massive problems" internally. Remember, where I mentioned that certain raw materials (not many back then) ... had to be tracked manually?
What might be a good idea for your company is to send some people to some of these Y2K Conferences. Right now most of the conferences have to do with contingency planning, risk assessment and litigation.
The conference brochures list speakers. If there's a speaker from the food industry, it would probably be a good idea to attend. You learn a lot there, not only from actual presentation ... but thru one-on-one conversations. The media is generally not invited to these presentations, so you rarely hear about some things.
At some of the conferences there will be impromptu meetings afterwards, either in the bar or a smaller meeting room, with people from separate industries discussing shared problems.
Kraft is way ahead of the game because they started so early. I did not want to imply in any way, shape or form that Kraft is going to fail as a company. My post was made last spring ('98). I'm sure they've accomplished much since then. But they still anticipate problems. That's why, they and any other prudent company, are working on contingency plans.
I believe there are hearings going on in D.C. about food distribution chain. You, or someone in your company, should check this out too.
Good luck,
Cheryl |
