Aaahh soooo....

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Y2K - Japanese Firms Fight Y2K With Extra Stockpiles 8-24-99

TOKYO (Reuters) -- Some of Japan's biggest manufacturers said on Monday they are building up extra stockpiles of necessary components in anticipation of problems related to the Y2K millennium bug.

The move, analysts say, may explain recent rises in the nation's machinery orders data, but is unlikely to provide any dramatic boost to economic activity towards the end of the year given that there is only four months to go.

"If the firms are preparing for the Y2K problems by procuring parts in advance, that would have shown in earlier data," said Jun Inoue, an economist at Fuji Research Institute Corp.

"There are only four months left and it is too late to start ordering parts now. So I don't see a huge increase in machinery orders from now on."

Japanese core private-sector machinery orders, excluding orders from utilities and shipbuilders, rose a seasonally adjusted 6.3 percent in June from the previous month.

The government has forecast the data will grow 4.0 percent in the July-September quarter from the previous month, the first growth forecast in six quarters.

Junichi Makino of Daiwa Institute of Research said Japan is still far behind the United States in solving the Y2K problem, adding that machinery orders data may continue to rise towards the end of the year as companies scramble to boost parts stocks.

Electronics giant NEC Corp said it is preparing for the Y2K emergency by procuring additional parts and materials, especially high-value items such as semiconductors.

NEC has ranked each of its factories by how ready they are to cope with the Y2K problem and ordered up to a week's worth of extra components to be ready at the less-prepared factories, an NEC spokesman told Reuters on Monday.

Sony Corp expects to complete steps to make its system Y2K bug-proof by October, and audio equipment maker Aiwa Co Ltd will finalise plans for a stockpile buildup by the end of September.

Toshiba Corp has nearly completed a four-year program against the millennium bug and sees no need for extra parts.

"We have conducted enough preparation so that we don't need to do such things," a Toshiba spokesman said.

Consumer goods makers say they expect consumers to hoard some goods in anticipation of Y2K-related chaos after New Year's Day.

Shiseido Co Ltd, a leading cosmetics maker, said it expects to stock two months worth of materials before the year's end.

"We don't think more than two months worth of stockpile is necessary. If the problem isn't solved by then, people would be too frightened to buy cosmetics," a Shiseido spokesman said.

Asahi Breweries Ltd, Japan's leading beer brewer, said it may store extra materials such as barley.

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), August 25, 1999

Answers

"We don't think more than two months worth of stockpile is necessary. If the problem isn't solved by then, people would be too frightened to buy cosmetics,"

LOL - too true.

-- R (riversoma@aol.com), August 25, 1999.


i'll still be using a little blush hon. a fresh touch up goes a long way in a barter economy.

a freshly painted smack to ya.

-- corrine l (corrine@iwaynet.net), August 25, 1999.


Have you ever watched people panic from a distance? I'm not sure that I ever have, except at a picnic as it starts to rain. Some people rush under the tree or the back porch to avoid the drops while others try to save the food or the grill. Others wait for the downpour to start before getting soaked.

I loved the fatalistic (or was it realistic?) attitude of the cosmetics giant.

Scramble is what most will start to do in the October as the uncertainty rises.

-- nothere nothere (notherethere@hotmail.com), August 25, 1999.


Hey Corrine!

Nice to see you back! (Do you have that "video" I asked you to make...?)

;^)

-- Dennis (djolson@pressenter.com), August 25, 1999.


Andy, I heard somewhere that ah-so is German for I see...since I switched it has made a big difference.

-- KoFE (your@town.USA), August 25, 1999.


Switched - have u had a sex change :) wassup?

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), August 25, 1999.

naka naka omoshiroi desu-ka?

-- zoobie (zoobiezoob@yahoo.com), August 26, 1999.

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