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To: Bill Wexler who wrote (29011)	2/25/1999 7:38:00 PM
From: C.K. Houston	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 31646

<TAVA shill "C.K. Houston" gets a dose of reality...and begins backpedaling furiously....> Message 7654896 =========================================================== <By the way, I would be interested to learn about any valves that must be replaced due to Y2K problems with their controllers. Can you provide any information regarding manufacturer, type of valve or controller, model number, etc?> ALASTAIR, I just ran across the link recapping my May '98 conversation with V.P. of Kraft Foods. Jeffrey Mitchell was also at conference & contributed. This was the conference in NYC where I was on the panel discussing embedded systems. As you might recall from previous post, Don and I discussed the Y2K problem with valves over lunch. Message 4392206 If you still don't believe that there's a problem with valves ... and want verification, why don't you contact Don Butte directly, ex-Kraft V.P (lives outside of Chicago). He has both a computer science AND electrical engineering degree. Had been with Kraft for 30+ years (was with General Foods before Kraft acquisition). Built 9 plants. FOR ANYONE INTERESTED IN PROBLEMS ON FACTORY FLOOR WITH FOOD PROCESSING ... I SUGGEST YOU READ THE LINK POSTED ABOVE. <The valve replacement scenario sure qualifies as rumour from my perspective. I was interested in verification but certainly not to the extent of calling a V.P. of Kraft.> ALASTAIR ========================================================== <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 REDMAN, 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 (Kraft V.P.) 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. ..... I can only tell you what we, as an audience, were told at the actual presentation. I don't understand why you keep on asking me more and more questions. I only reported back what the Kraft VP said, and what was contained in the hand-out (his entire PowerPoint presentation). He had a quite extensive spreadsheet showing how and where problems were occurring. I didn't realize how much that date code was used internally and externally, until then. Jeffrey Mitchell (who I met for the first time, and who was in the audience, and who posts on SI), was also there. He also wrote a write-up on the presentation. Listen, I don't go to these conferences anymore. I've stayed in touch with some of these speakers from various industries. It's primarily thru them that I hear about some of the stuff currently going on. Some companies are far ahead of the game. Others aren't. There's a big worry about supply chain, across the board with all companies. So, from what I hear most of the big companies are doing contingency planning. If you and your boss don't believe what I wrote, that's cool. It's your prerogative. I heard enough over past couple of years that I decided it was best to start doing some personal preparation and take care of my family. I try to encourage others to at least make a minimal effort to do the same. That's why I post here on the "Y2K Impact on Stock Market & Society" thread. But, I'll soon be cutting back on that. I have too many other things to do. Cheryl ======================================================== <It says DATE CODES, do you have any idea what that is?, of course not ... the DATE CODES are expiration dates that the systems check to see if the product has expired or not. It is not just an internal Kraft problem.> JEFF REDMAN Jeff, From the time a raw material is ordered/delivered from an outside supplier ... until finished product is on grocery shelf ... a FUTURE DATE is assigned that travels back & forth and thru 10 different stages and departments - most within the company, but some also with outside suppliers: - Product Safety - Applied Nutrition - Corporate Purchasing - Finance - Quality Assurance - Marketing - Manufacturing - Logistics - Product Management - Product Research - Corporate Microbiology - Transportation/Distribution - Consumer Center Stages & departments taken directly from Kraft hand-out. Message 4392206 ========================================================= The PRODUCT DATE is crucial to the entire chain, from manufacture to warehousing. Since time is already short, Kraft will track the few products with 1.5 year expiration dates by hand. For products with a year expiration date, such as salad dressings, Kraft has calculated it can not "fix" them all, so they will drop 5 or 10 of the 272 varieties. Message 4248437 By JEFFREY MITCHELL (conference attendee) Cheryl