At least we now know who will get the blame. And they gave the world the Y2k "feel-good" anthem!

Those naughty Thai

BANGKOK, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Most small and medium sized Thai manufacturing firms are poorly prepared for the millennium bug, a survey by a government-sponsored Y2K watchdog showed.

Only one of 100 factories recently inspected at 10 Thai industrial estates were Y2K compliant, said Noppadon Moolsin, director of the Centre for Accelerating Y2K Solutions for the Thai Private Sector. The estates were mainly in eastern provinces.

Most large Thai factories, especially those with foreign partners, were well prepared for the bug, he said.

``The Y2K readiness of most Thai factories remains poor...The survey was made on a random basis but it reflects the overall picture of preparedness of the Thai industrial sector,'' he told Reuters.

The survey, conducted between December 7 and 13, was part of a Thai industry ministry scheme to ensure that the manufacturing sector can enter the new millennium smoothly.

Noppadon said 70 percent of firms had made some progress on solving Y2K problems but their readiness was below international standards.

He said 19 percent had made progress towards meeting some international standards but their contingency plans were not involved in any Y2K-related issues.

The remaining 10 percent were not even aware of Y2K.

``Generally speaking, the key factor is unawareness,'' he said.

SUSPECT FACTORIES TO BE CLOSELY WATCHED

Noppadon said his centre would watch closely operations of suspect factories from December 27 to January 4.

The plants are involved in the production of chemicals, fertilisers, insecticides, polymers, paints, pharmaceuticals and soaps, and also include oil-related industries.

Noppadon said he would submit the findings to the state-run Industrial Works Department to decide what measures should be taken to cope with factories with a high risk to Y2K problems.

He said any poorly-prepared factory, particular in the petrochemical industry, might face legal action from the authorities or be ordered to close temporarily on December 31 and January 1 to avoid any danger to life and property.

Noppadon said his centre had planned to inspect 200 sites at 24 industrial estates and 100 other sites nationwide. There are about 10 to 20 factories at each industrial estate.

But it had had to cancel a planned final inspection between December 21 and 23 due to budget restrictions.

Thailand has about 130,000 factories of which 2,000 have computer-related systems.

The millennium or Y2K bug can strike computers with some older software programs which shorten dates to just two digits.

At New Year's the programs might interpret the year 2000 as 1900 and could produce incorrect data or even crash.

LACK OF FUNDS

Noppadon said most small and medium-sized Thai factories were still suffering from a liquidity crunch, resulting from the recent economic crisis, which made it difficult for them to finance Y2K preparations.

``The most important obstacle is lack of sources of funds to solve the Y2K problems. As far as I know, one factory has closed their operations, which is the best way to avoid any glitches,'' he said.

``Some factories are afraid that they will be deceived by some computer and software vendors due to lack of mediators to settle prices for new software systems,'' he said.

Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited

-- Steve (hartsman@ticon.net), December 16, 1999