Heineken Export Group
and the Millennium Bug
Half the world is
under the spell of YK2,
or the Year 2000.
Doom-mongers have
predicted global chaos due
to computers going haywire
or stopping dead in their
tracks, others are a bit more
optimistic. Yet the fact
remains that much still
needs to be done to avert
possible problems on
1-1-2000. The Heineken
Export Group know what
they have to do and
are also working hard
to get it done.
TESTING AS MANY LINKS IN
THE CHAIN AS POSSIBLE
René Geelhuyzen, one of the IT specia
lists in the Heineken Export Group,
hastens to say that risks brought
by the Millennium transition are
mainly a management problem
and not an IT problem, as the prob
lem affects the entire business and
requires a company- wide approach.
For Heineken Export itself the prob
lems are not so big. One year ago,
when its office was relocated from
Amsterdam to the World Trade
Centre at Schiphol Airport, Heineken
Export switched to new computer
software which is already Year
2000-compliant. "We made some
modifications to that program our
selves and we still have to subject
various software components to
In the days when computers
still had a very limited internal
memory the people who designed
computerprograms to run on
them were very inventive in
finding ways of using that little
bit of available memory space as
economically as possible. They
decided that, to designate the year,
they would use only the final two
numbers. Even when memory
capacity no longer formed a
bottleneck, force of habit meant
that the two-digit year code was
maintained. Now that the year
2000 is rapidly drawing nearer,
the full implications of that
decision are becoming all too clear.
Equipment and machines, for
instance, may suddenly stop
operating because the computer
program controlling them thinks
that the machine was last cleaned
99 years ago. The repercussions of
this problem are sometimes only
minor, but sometimes they can also
have a very far-reaching impact.
proper testing. The software in use
by our export offices throughout the
world also needs to be adapted, but
that again is a simple operation."
When Heineken Export talk about
the Millennium problem, therefore,
they are chiefly referring to the
'outside world'. All distributors,
agents, customs clearance offices,
shipping lines, banks, but also
Heineken Nederland as a supplier
and Heineken USA - all of them have
to take their own measures to pre
vent problems from occurring.
"Consultation with distributors, for
instance, is enormously important.
We have sent them letters aimed at
creating awareness about the Millen
nium problem. We want to convey
the message that the testing process
does not stop in their business but
runs through to their customers and
may also affect their suppliers. Our
task goes no further than creating
that awareness. Finding solutions to
the problem is the responsibility of
each individual customer."
A number of distributors are already
actively preparing for the turn of
the century, adds Mr Geelhuyzen.
"I know that Inchcape in the Gulf
are well on schedule and the same
applies to various others, like Mendez
in Puerto Rico."
Nevertheless, Heineken Export is
considering taking temporary meas
ures so that, if unhoped-for problems
do in fact arise after 1 January 2000,
the distributors will be given some
breathing space to solve the problem.
