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Year 2000 Readiness Disclosure
1. Background and Introduction
Fry Technology is the world leader
in the development, manufacturing and sales of solder materials
used in the electronic and automotive industries. We are fully
committed to ensuring a reliable and continuous supply of these
materials to our customers through the coming century. Fry Technology
began preparing for the Year 2000 in 1997. This work is fully
supported by our parent company, Cookson Group PLC, and is being
monitored worldwide by our audit firm, KPMG.
2. Fry Technology's Year 2000
Definition
Fry Technology defines the expressions
"Year 2000 Compliance" or "Millennium Compliance" as having the
meaning as set out in the following definition produced by the
British Standards Institution, which sets out the requirements
that must be satisfied in equipment and products that use dates
and times.
- Year 2000 conformity shall mean
that neither performance nor functionality is affected by dates
prior to, during and after the year 2000.
- No value for current date will
cause any interruption in operation (i.e. roll-over between
all significant time demarcations - days, months, years, centuries
- will be performed correctly.)
- Date based functionality must
behave consistently for dates prior to, during and after year
2000. (In particular, no equipment or product shall use date
values for special meanings, e.g. "99" to signify "no end value"
or "end of life," or "00" to mean "not applicable" or "Beginning
of file").
- In all interfaces and data storage,
the century in any date must be specified either explicitly
(e.g. by using four digits or by including a century indicator)
or by unambiguous algorithms or interfacing rules (e.g. two
digit years with a value greater than 50 imply 19xx, whilst
those with a value equal to or less than 50 imply 20xx).
- Year 2000 must be recognized as
a leap year.
3. Fry Technology' Year 2000 Policy
Fry Technology's Year 2000 Policy
is to ensure that all business processes under our control are
Year 2000 Compliant and will continue to function properly (according
to our definition, above) beyond December 31, 1999. This includes
IT business application systems, operating systems, hardware,
networks, telecommunications equipment, facilities, manufacturing
equipment, products and suppliers. As of March 31, 1999, we completed
our millennium compliance program. We believe to the best of our
knowledge that all our systems and equipment will function properly
after December 31, 1999, and that we will be able to continue
to supply our customers. However, we cannot make an unqualified
warranty or indemnification that there will be no interruption
in our service. Many factors beyond our control (such as, but
not limited to failure by our vendors, local utility companies,
banks, transportation providers, state and local government agencies)
could interfere with our ability to supply our customers.
4. Status reporting
Fry Technology has a Year 2000 Steering
Committee which meets on a frequent basis with the project team
to discuss the status of our project in the U.S. In addition,
Fry Technology locations are responsible for providing a monthly
status report in a specified format which covers all areas listed
in our Year 2000 Policy to the Division Coordinator, who then
provides same to Cookson Electronics. Cookson Electronics internal
audit is responsible for providing quarterly updates to the Cookson
PLC Board on member companies' Year 2000 efforts.
5. Budget and Resource Commitment
Fry Technology has taken necessary
steps to insure that the Year 2000 compliance effort is fully
funded and supported. As we draw closer to the Millennium, additional
resources will be drawn into the effort as needed to insure full
compliance.
6. Systems Assessment & Planning
6.1 Business Applications Systems
-- Fry Technology elected to take this opportunity to replace
our current software with new ERP software from J. D. Edwards.
The J. D. Edwards software is certified Year 2000 compliant by
the ITAA*. This software was implemented on April 5, 1999.
6.2 Operating System Software
-- Fry Technology's main operating system is OS/400, which is
Year 2000 compliant.
6.3 Hardware -- Fry Technology
runs its applications software on a new IBM AS/400 Model 30S,
which is Year 2000 Compliant.
6.4 Networks and Communications
-- Fry Technology's PC Networks run on Windows NT, which is Year
2000 compliant. All of our WAN equipment has been inventoried,
assessed and updated to compliance. Fry Technology's primary e-mail
system is Lotus Notes version 4.5, which is Year 2000 compliant.
6.5 Personal Computers --
Fry Technology uses primarily Dell PC's for both desktop and laptop
computing. We began participation in a leasing program with Dell
in 1997, and most PC's have been put in place as part of this
program. Older PC's acquired prior to this program have been assessed
for compliance and impact, and where applicable, are being replaced.
*Information Technology Association
of America
7. Facilities Assessment & Planning
7.1 Facilities -- Fry Technology
has contacted all facilities related suppliers (Electric, Gas,
Water, Waste, Security, etc.) to gain assurances of Year 2000
compliance. We have not encountered any material issues with these
suppliers.
7.2 Manufacturing Equipment
-- All manufacturing equipment has been inventoried and labeled.
Suppliers have been contacted for certification of compliance.
We are currently in a follow-up program with non-responding suppliers.
8. Supplier Readiness
Fry Technology has been actively
involved with our suppliers in Year 2000 awareness program since
June of 1998. We have surveyed our suppliers and evaluated responses.
Contingency plans, in the form of alternate suppliers, have been
developed for vendors who cannot adequately document their Year
2000 readiness.
9. Contacts
Overall Y2000 Issues and IT Related
Issues:
William A. Ickes
Director of Finance/Group Controller
(814) 946-1611, Ext. 3821
E-mail: bickes@frytechnology.cookson.com
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