If "embedded chips" give you a cold sweat, you're not alone. Many of the date-dependent computer chips at work within most machinery and equipment are not Year/2000 compliant. The chips won't comprehend the calendar rollover from 1999 to 2000. As a result, machines that rely on these chips may fail in celebration of the Year/2000. That's cause for concern to many - even those who are well along in their efforts to address the Year/2000 problem.
There is no quick fix for the embedded chip problem, but this article offers a glimmer of hope. You can minimize the impact of the problem by applying simple "Yankee wisdom" from a group of engineers who work up in the north woods of Maine.
Any person or organization with an inkling of the Year/2000 problem - including even the strongest line manager - is probably already weak in the knees with worry about the potential failure of mission-critical process control equipment. Everything from microwave ovens to microwave satellite links might fail at midnight less than two years from now. The problem is indeed serious, but my friends in Maine have eased my anxiety greatly.
I was among a group of Year/2000 analysts selected last fall to visit a printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturer in Maine. (Silicon technology in the north woods? Amazing, but true!) One benefit of our four-hour tour was discovering it would not be a monumental job to find and fix all our company's mission-critical embedded chip problems. The engineers we met gave us a six-step questionnaire for identifying equipment at risk. I was initially skeptical about the formula and how well it works, but the engineers convinced me by answering my many questions.
More incredible to me than the array of components on each card is the idea that someone programmed them for intelligent work. One chip regulates the fuel flow to a carburetor based on input from another chip. It gets a signal from a joystick on the dashboard of a specially equipped vehicle designed for those who cannot drive traditional cars. Another chip controls a vehicle's braking mechanism based on joystick input. Yet another chip counts the hours that accumulate on the dual-microprocessor control system at the heart of the operation.
My software programming experience makes me leery of the microprocessors and hour-counting chips. "How will they handle the Year/2000?" I wonder. My engineer friends offered the following checklist.
1. Does it operate with electricity? If no, the device is low risk. If yes, look further. Examples of low-risk items: tables, chairs, wind-up clocks, etc.
2. Does it have a battery or power supply? If no, it's low risk. If yes, look further. Some low-risk devices: lamps, hair dryers, electric pencil sharpeners, analog clocks, etc.
3. Does it have a display? If no, it's low risk. If yes, look further. Low-risk devices: paper shredders, power supplies, refrigerators, older microwaves, etc.
4. Does it have a microprocessor? If no, it's low risk. If yes, look further. Low-risk devices: television sets, stereo equipment, computer monitors, etc.
5. Does it have a calendar? If no, it's low risk. If yes, look further. Low-risk devices: microwave ovens, coffeepots, printers, most copier machines, etc.
6. Does the device use the calendar to schedule events? If no, it's low risk. Examples: digital clocks or calendars that don't schedule anything, cameras, watches, etc. These are low risk because operation of the device is not dependent upon an accurate calendar. The device doesn't care what date is shown; it simply shows a date. Examples of high-risk devices: phone systems, fax machines, irrigation systems, energy management systems that control lights, heat, etc., based on time and date.
The person with either the most operating knowledge or technical knowledge of the machine can best answer this question. If no one knows, someone should contact the manufacturer, distributor, or service facility to find out. By answering question six first, you can cut a lot of time off of your embedded chip search.
If you're not sure whether a piece of equipment uses a calendar to schedule events, you can still use the checklist to focus your investigation. The next, obvious question is "Is it capable of displaying the date?" While not sufficient for a conclusion, this is a helpful question to explore. If the date can't be displayed, it can't be changed. If it can't be changed, it can't be set. If it can't be set, it can't hamper the operation of the equipment.
Consider a microwave oven with its perpetually blinking clock. You can set the clock and calendar as soon as you power up the machine. Unplugging it causes the clock to "forget" everything. When you plug it back in again, the clock reverts to blinking, but the machine is still functional. It simply means you don't know what time or day it is until you reset the clock and calendar.
Even if your VCR won't let you set the date or program an event past midnight, December 31, 1999, you can always set the calendar back to some other year and run it that way. The household VCR is truly a low-risk device. If, on the other hand, the VCR is attached to your corporate security system and must reflect an accurate date and time at all times, you'll probably want to evaluate it quickly and replace it, if necessary.
Some equipment will only display the date and time when connected to an external diagnostic tool. You must know whether that's the case with the machine you're inspecting before you draw conclusions about the potential embedded chip problem.
If the device operates according to a programmed schedule of events, the microprocessor will poll the clock for date and time, and will use the data to trigger the events it controls. Such events might be setting an alarm system, turning on a sprinkler, initiating an end-of-month sequence, or initiating a launch sequence.
In cases where real-time clocks, e-proms, microprocessors and onboard power supplies appear on your PCBs, you must include the device on your "to be evaluated" inventory. These constitute the central focus of your embedded chip problem. Most everything else that fails the question six test will not be an issue. However, only those who know your business well can make that determination.
The engineers we met are understandably proud of the devices they've created - products that satisfy their customers. They've designed an onboard computer with a fully redundant "brain" that gets input from a joystick, blow-tube, or other similar device. If any portion of the operating side of the "brain" fails, the other side (backup system) takes over and follows the instructions that were being passed by the joystick or other input device. This shift in brain function occurs within milliseconds after the system detects a failure. The system then alerts the driver to the failure. He is supposed to park and call for assistance.
What would happen if, in the middle of an instruction from the joystick to apply the brakes and turn right, a failure in the microprocessor rendered the vehicle uncontrollable, even for a perceivable second? Obviously, that would be unacceptable. It just wouldn't make for good customer relations.
In the same way, the engineers feel that no customer-conscious manufacturer would program a device, even an elevator, to simply shut down when its maintenance cycle has elapsed. It is much more likely that the device will go on working, but that a signal will be given to the operator indicating that the maintenance deadline has passed. (A light on the dashboard is an example of this.)
It is important to note, however, that typically most machines track and calculate maintenance cycles by hours - not days, weeks, or months.
A heavy equipment manufacturer (written warranties aside) is not as concerned about five years passing by as it is with how much use the item has seen in five years. For this reason, most heavy machinery includes an hour meter. If a manufacturer were to digitize that meter and embed it on a chip, the chip could poll any clock source to obtain elapsed hours, but not actual date and time. In such a case, there might even be a battery-operated power supply providing constant energy to the counter. Looking at the PCB, you would probably see an onboard power supply, so you'd want to investigate further to discover whether the meter was collecting hours as opposed to date.
Whatever the method of metering the maintenance and usage cycles, most manufacturers would not willingly upset their customers by programming the device to stop functioning once a given cycle elapsed. You don't bring a farm tractor to a halt in the middle of a field in October because it needs a 10,000-hour check up. Again, that does not build good customer relations.
The checklist presented here merely gives the uninitiated a starting point for investigating embedded chip problems. It should dispel the myth that everything with a power cord or a battery is a failure waiting to happen. Yes, some of these items can and will fail. Yes, there could be business disruptions as a result. But, please, don't worry that your microwave ovens are going to bring the company to a halt if they stop working.
Use the checklist wisely. Don't become complacent about the problem. You still have to investigate your equipment, especially process control equipment and machinery that is clearly date dependent for its operation. But, hopefully, by using the checklist, you can concentrate your efforts on the areas that truly need attention and avoid needless hours testing equipment that won't hurt you even if it does fail.
With the year 2000 closing in rapidly, we must exercise due diligence to avoid any activity that does not move us closer to our preparation goals. Evaluating equipment that cannot have a date-related problem is one of those activities. By using the above checklist, we can quickly eliminate many items from our "to do" lists that we otherwise may have wasted time addressing.