I am the Y2k Program Manager at a medium sized manufacturing company. We are currently working on developing a detailed project plan for activities that need to be performed on the century rollover weekend. We currently plan to have most servers and shop floor equipment physically shut down and powered off on 12/31/1999 and through the century rollover. In particular, we are trying to determine what time the servers/equipment need to be powered down by  is it 7pm EST which is midnight Greenwich time? If we experience problems with the electric industry, what time period is most susceptible to problems? Is the power grid all synchronized to Greenwich time (7 pm EST)? Would we see electrical problems progress across the different time zones in the world? Do the localized power plants work mostly off of the local time zone? Any recommendations on how long we should wait after midnight until we start bringing everything back up?

Most of our manufacturing facilities are located in very small towns throughout the U.S. so we are very concerned with possible electrical problems. Since our facilities utilize a lot of power, generators are not cost feasible. This doesnt leave us with a lot of contingency options.

Thanks for your help. This forum continues to be very informative and beneficial.

-- Anonymous, May 24, 1999

Answers

Be safe, shut them down when the last employee goes home for New Year's vacation. Turn 'em back on after the bowl games :)

-- Anonymous, May 24, 1999

The organization that manages the grid in New England announced recently that the industry's greatest concern is load management as large users come back on line on Monday, January 3rd. Sounds like, if you are a relatively large user locally, it might help if you coordinated your efforts with the local utility company, and that they would appreciate hearing from you.

-- Anonymous, May 24, 1999

I am the Y2k Program Manager at a medium sized manufacturing company. We are currently working on developing a detailed project plan for activities that need to be performed on the century rollover weekend.

Glad to hear you're thinking about contingency plans now, and not in September!

We currently plan to have most servers and shop floor equipment physically shut down and powered off on 12/31/1999 and through the century rollover. In particular, we are trying to determine what time the servers/equipment need to be powered down by  is it 7pm EST which is midnight Greenwich time?

There's been some discussion here about GMT (UTC) and what time realm different parts of the North American electric system actually operate in. The bottom line is that I don't think there's a concensus. My $.02, and it's worth exactly what you paid for it, is that if a total shutdown is part of your contingency plan then it would make sense to do so in a controlled manner immediately following the last shift prior to the transition. Will you have people in your production facilities on 12/31 actually making whatever widget it is that your company makes?

My larger concern is that you may actually induce more problems for yourself (and for the electric companies serving the individual facilities)by taking this approach. Certainly, taking down your entire back office operation, and then spinning it back up after the transition, would be a time intensive and potentially risky effort. Better you should invest a few $$ in some extra UPS protection, which have value beyond Y2k - then, if there are in fact problems, you can do a controlled shutdown of your back office systems while on UPS.

My guess is that your production lines are going to be shutdown during this time period, for the most part, anyway. You probably need to analyze the risk / benefits of totally shutting down process control systems on entire lines, and again, how long it takes to crank production back up.

If we experience problems with the electric industry, what time period is most susceptible to problems?

Tough question, and I don't have an answer for this one. Maybe one of our T&D industry regulars can field this one.

Is the power grid all synchronized to Greenwich time (7 pm EST)?

See my previous - there are some threads that you can search for on this forum for that info - try using the search terms "GMT" and "grid synchronization"; let me know if you have a problem locating the threads.

Would we see electrical problems progress across the different time zones in the world?

In my interview with CBN News, I said something to the effect that following (and assessing) Y2k impact through the different time zones is not so much contingency planning as damage control. And I think that the level of impact is going to be different (and manifest differently) in different parts of the world, depending on how technologically advanced individual countries happen to be.

Do the localized power plants work mostly off of the local time zone? Any recommendations on how long we should wait after midnight until we start bringing everything back up?

Hopefully, the rest of my response helped with these two questions, as there is a very dark thunderstorm headed my way and I'm about to power down my computer. ;-) And hopefully, some of our industry contributors can expand / assist as well...

Good luck!

-- Anonymous, May 24, 1999

Joan:

Our SCADA System uses a WWV based clock which receives time in UTC format and then offsets this time by five hours to convert to local time here in Florida. We will have our staff in place prior to 7pm local time on New Years Eve.

Jim

-- Anonymous, May 27, 1999

Seems to me that coordinating mfg. plant activiies with the local power utility will be even more important afterward, in sequencing the restart phase. No shop is an island...

-- Anonymous, June 06, 1999