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Technology Stocks : Discuss Year 2000 Issues -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: John Mansfield who wrote (2055)	6/28/1998 5:12:00 AM
From: John Mansfield	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9818

Federal reference article This is the famous FORTUNE article (link already posted some time ago). It is interesting to see that again and again references are made to this article by leaders in industry and government (just think of the referencing during the CSIS conference). b.t.w. think of the strike going on at GM..., compare this to the problems mentioned below at suppliers... John pathfinder.com _____ Some quotes: 'Unfounded gloom and doom? Not if you listen to Ralph J. Szygenda, chief information officer at General Motors, whose staff is now feverishly correcting what he calls "catastrophic problems" in every GM plant. ....' 'Tava Technologies of Englewood, Colo., has one of the few software tools for automatically finding year 2000 errors in manufacturing's embedded systems. Among other things, Tava's program can read the "ladder logic" directing programmable logic controllers (PLCs). These simple, computerlike devices issue commands to factory equipment in the manner of a drill sergeant. Thousands of PLCs dot factory floors, and all have to be checked' 'So for a long time manufacturing companies snoozed, including GM. When he arrived at the automotive giant a year and a half ago to take over the CIO job, recalls Ralph Szygenda, he was amazed "that most people assumed that the factory floor didn't have year 2000 problems." ' '. Supplemented by squads of GM technicians and programmers, these experts fanned out through GM's 117 facilities in 35 countries. What they found shocked even the factory-wise Szygenda. ' '"At each one of our factories there are catastrophic problems," says the blunt-talking executive. "Amazingly enough, machines on the factory floor are far more sensitive to incorrect dates than we ever anticipated. When we tested robotic devices for transition into the year 2000, for example, they just froze and stopped operating." ' 'Attacking the year 2000 problem has exposed another major area of vulnerability for GM: its 100,000 suppliers worldwide. Will all be compliant? ' 'He sketches the grim possibilities: "Let's say that a key sole-source supplier of brake valves shuts down as a result of a year 2000 problem. As a result, on day two, two plants that produce master brake cylinders and clutch master cylinders have to stop production because they don't have those valves. On day three, as motor vehicle assembly plants begin to run out of parts, production falls to about one-third of usual volume. By day four, all assembly plants shut down. '