I can't address the immediate issue, but I can give some advice for the future (while putting myself out of work). I've worked on 2 long-term contracts fixing, then preventing exactly this problem: The dude with the passwords/tech knowledge goes AWOL. It makes me a lot of money, but it shouldn't ever be necessary.
The key is documentation. The owner/management should have a 'black binder' enabling him or any person with similar general skills to come in and do the job without many problems. The binder should be developed, and then checked to make sure it is accurate. I subdivide my documentation into several parts, allowing the owner/manager to excerpt/print the relevant parts and loan them to the relevant employee without releasing all the information. The Table of Contents might start to look something like this:
1) Master passwords/Warranty info (all passwords, all warranty info, Haas key codes, all serial numbers, all license codes, etc.). This portion should usually be kept in a safe, and backed up in a safe deposit box. It should be password protected if on a computer.
2) CAD/CAM: Basic settings, default tolerances...Export format details for the picky machines, etc.
3) Machines: From the basics (where's the kill switch) to the complex (baud rates for serial ports). Explicate the critical stuff: how to load a program, how to reset it after a spindle overheat alarm, etc. Refer to the Haas/Okuma/Deckel/etc. manual pages.
And importantly: How to reset the machine to defaults, then how to change the default settings to yours. This alone is probably most critical: It allows anyone with decent knowledge to get a machine running again, and allows a dropped-in replacement/loaner to get configured quickly.
4) Inventory/finances: Quickbooks, etc. Procedures for certs.
5) More stuff as needed.
This documentation does nothing to address key skill dependencies (when only one person has the skill to do something very complex), but this helps in a lot of cases.
It is a pain to do, and not cheap to have someone do it (either internally or externally), but the guy I'm currently working for was shut down for 3 days in September (before I started), for want of a password, and there have been a long list of preventable issues that have come up since then. His lost revenue has been more expensive than the cost of documentation, by far.
I'm not criticizing your business practices, and I'm sorry I don't know Haas machining well enough to figure out what is preventing the TM from accepting a program, so don't take this post personally. This seemed like a good time to share my experience with everyone. Backups. Documentation. Cheapest insurance out there.
