![IEEE SPECTRUM, 2005
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Why Software Fails
Wewaste billions ofdollars each yearon entirely
preventable mistakes
ByRQHRIN CHAR£UE Post.:12S.p20051 3~GMT
Pt.olo:~~
---Market Crash: After tts new
automated suppfy-cha.in
managementsystemfailed
last October, leaving
merchandise stuck In
oompany warehouses, British
food retailer Sainsbury's had
to t'lire 3000 additiol'lal derks
to stock its &hetves.
Haveyouheard the one about thedisappearing
warehouse? One day, it vanished--not from
physicalview,but from thewatchful eyesofa
well-known retailer's automated distribution
system. A softwareg)itch had somehow erased
the warehouse'sexistence, so that goods
destined for thewarehousewere rerouted
elsewhere, while goods at the warehouse
languished. Becausethecompanywasin
financial trouble and hadbeen shuttering other
warehouses to savemoney,theemployees at the]()
'CVCr,because a
different computer system handled the payroll.
When the softwareglitch ftnally came to light,
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