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Rogue Valley firms don't sweat Y2K By David Preszler Most of the Rogue Valley's lumber mills and manufacturing plants will be quiet when the new year arrives, but officials don't expect any Y2K difficulties. "We're not anticipating any problems," says Brian Melchiori, manager of Eastman Kodak's health imaging plant in White City. "We've been ready for Y2K since June. We're not overly concerned." Still, the Kodak plant -- which normally runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week -- will shut down from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. "just in case." Melchiori doesn't plan to be there when the clock strikes midnight, but some of the plant's production workers and information technology experts will be. A portion of the Kodak plant already is offline for some equipment upgrades not related to Y2K. At BOC Edwards' new industrial gases plant in White City, plant manager Bob Phillips and a few others will be on hand to welcome 2000, though Phillips is confident the plant's equipment is compliant. "We will have a shift here for the turnover," he said. "I'll be here with a couple others to make sure everything goes smoothly." The holidays are generally a slow time at Jackson County mills and plants. Many routinely shut down for at least a day in observance of New Year's; some close for the whole week. But there's some break in the routine this year because of concerns about the coming of 2000. The Year 2000, or Y2K, problem is the fear that date-sensitive computers will mistake 2000 for 1900 and shut down or malfunction. Most companies have spent significant amounts of money checking and upgrading computer systems and electronic equipment. Officials say they're confident things will run smoothly and aren't planning to do much out of the ordinary, other than have some computer systems employees come in Saturday to check things out. Boise Cascade, Timber Products, Cascade Wood Products and U.S. Forest Industries will all shut down their mills Friday for the holiday. Cascade Wood and U.S. Forest Industries generally don't run on the weekends and won't start back up until Monday. "We'll just run the normal schedule," says U.S. Forest Industries President Jerry Bramwell. "We've already done our practice drills and that kind of stuff. Everything seems to work OK." Boise Cascade plans to restart its mills Sunday, while Timber Products doesn't expect to hit full speed again until Monday. "We are bringing in skeleton crews at most of our plants (Saturday) to be a testing crew to make sure everything is running," says Timber Products spokesman Roger Rutan. "We're principally in a test mode this weekend." Assuming all goes as planned, Sierra Pine's Medite plant in Medford will operate straight through the weekend. "We're planning on operating," says plant manager Dan Sickler, adding that no issues are expected to arise. Sickler will be at the plant Friday night to check with the company's East Coast mills and watch developments in Europe, both of which will see 2000 well before the West Coast. "If there are any issues, we may shut down for a short period of time through the turning of the clock," Sickler says, noting that if major problems occur the shutdown could last longer. Tyco International's White City plant, formerly Praegitzer Industries, will close Friday afternoon and reopen Sunday. Plant officials say the plant routinely closes for New Year's. They are confident that the computer systems and equipment are compliant; some testing will be done Saturday to prepare for Sunday's reopening. A number of manufacturers -- including Medford Fabrication, SRC Vision, Sabroso, Darex Industrial and Professional Tools Manufacturing (formerly Darex Pro Tools) -- regularly halt production for the week between Christmas and New Year's to give employees a break and do plant maintenance. Some will send computer technicians or limited production staffs in over the weekend to test equipment, while others will wait until Monday. Today's Business Index Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA