A BUSINESS ISSUE
Because of the possible
impact of Year 2000 on the
Heineken business a global
Year 2000 project team was
formed with Peter Wever as
project manager.
The Heineken Year 2000
project involves operating
companies of Heineken
world wide.
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Although often presumed, the Year
2000 does not only involve
Information Technology systems or
software. The Year 2000 is a real busi
ness issue! It can have a serious
impact on the Heineken business if
not dealt with properly. Year 2000
involves the whole supply chain of
an organisation. For example, if an
operating company itself is already
Year 2000 compliant, there still
might be problems because its sup
pliers of electricity and raw materials
are not. Or, on the other side of the
supply chain, the sale of our prod
ucts may be affected as our own
distributors and other customers
may not have solved their Year 2000
problem.
Another important aspect of Year
2000 is the legal side of the story.
Disruption of the business as a result
of non Year 2000 compliance of a
trading partner can result in legal
claims between organisations.
Heineken is very well aware of pro
blems Year 2000 might cause and is
delivering tremendous effort to
eliminate possible consequences of
Year 2000.
COMPLIANT
Since the start of the Year 2000 pro
ject, Heineken has addressed the
internal as well as the external envi
ronment. The internal systems and
software are scheduled to be com
pliant by the end of the first quarter
of 1999. Up to now, the progress of
Heineken's global Year 2000 project
is right on schedule.
Heineken has also recognised the
importance of its external environ
ment such as suppliers of raw mate
rials, customers and service providers.
Operating companies and Corporate
maintain intensive contacts with
their trading partners in order to
exchange information about their
Year 2000 projects and identify possi
ble shared Year 2000 issues. Doing
this makes it possible to co-operate
with trading partners in order to
solve these shared issues.
Also important to mention is that
the operating companies are work
ing together with Heineken's central
purchasing department, Corporate
Purchasing. Whereas Corporate
Purchasing deals with Heineken's
strategic suppliers of raw materials
and packaging materials, the opera-
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