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economist sun the tribune fourth section 29422006402100 wednesday august 15 1984 modern electronics facility ford opens plant in milliken by paula crowell staff reporter a new car controls system that will make climbing be hind the wheel like taking a seat in cockpit is being de signed tested and built in milliken but motorists shouldnt hold their breath waiting for their new toys the system isnt due to be available in production cars until the early 1990s its in the experimental stage at the ford electro nics manufacturing cor poration which recently opened on birchmount ave ford has designed a pod attached to the steering col umn behind the steering wheel which allows the driver to operate 10- common functions from turning on headlights and windshield wipers to ad justing radio volume with out taking his hands from the wheel the instrument panel pro vides the driver with in formation about the state of the car while in motion it can reveal how much gas is in the tank and gas mileage it allows the driver to ad just inside temperature by touching a screen with the words warmer cooler vent mix hi lo and auto the screen also displays date and time as well as pre sent car temperature the system also includes an am fm stereo with auto matic dolby noise reduction and graphic equalizer and liquid crystal display lcd of the radio frequency number lcd displays of speed and mileage and servicing alerts are other features at a press conference last week the company former ly philcoford of canada debuted the new system in the continental mark vii comtech comtech stands for the computer technology advances which distinguish the car from others in its class don petersen president of ford ford has produced a few thousand comtech cars which they will test in the plant and on the road when asked if the driver could run into problems re lying on the computer tech nology in the car ford president don petersen said well have to be care ful to design it fail safe if componentry fails the re maining part of the auto must be safe its up to us to see that failure is in a safe mode he added the milliken plant was built to replace the com panys former headquar ters in don mills justin oliver plant manager said the company needed a lot more room i was looking for real estate that had room to ex pand he said we had two small buildings down there it was more expensive to connect the buildings than to build a new one markham has the prop er tax base and the proper attitude toward industry he continued it also had the proper site sur rounded by high technology industries mr oliver also took into consideration the 1200 em ployees who would have to relocate theres lots of property around the airport but to minimize discomfort to em ployees we chose markham even though its more expen sive we wanted to be on ttc routes which an airport location wouldnt provide he explained mr oliver said all the em ployees moved with the company the 10mile move was completed for opening ceremonies tuesday july 31 a feature of the new plant is a training centre for administrative and plant workers the company is looking toward future growth mr petersen said no other area of our business is changing as fast as electro nics he noted that the value of electronic equipment in cars increased 10 times from 1970 to 1980 and by 1984 the average car contains 600 us worth of electro nics mr petersen expects this amount to increase to 1500 us in the next 10 years the plant is being equip ped with electronic eyes to better detect flaws in com ponents computer- controlled chip mounting equipment which does in one second what human hands do in five seconds it will also use smartcart robots for materials hand ling and an automatic cli matecontrol system for a better working environ ment mr petersen added the plant is designed to in tegrate future auto im provement systems these innovations are estimated at 12 million ford plans to invest 53 mil lion more by 1986 you have as modern a plant as exists in the world today said mr petersen it represents a significant step toward the factory of the future cleopatra eliakis foreground and eva tzoidis check car radios for sound quality at the ford motor companys electronics plant that recently opened on birchmount rd in milliken the facility employees 1200 people clara strongoli left a group leader helps sandra man finish off the wiring on a component the plant is not yet complete as 53 million of high tech equipment is still to be added home of the week country estate located north of stouffville this 2600sq ft home is located just north of stouffville on an attractive lot that eventually will have two lakes visable from the backyard the home is selling for 155800 a country estate development on the southwest corner of bloomington road and 9th line just north of stouffville is the setting for our home of the week its a fourbedroom brick sidesplit on a landscaped lot with the back of the home overlooking another future estate develop ment with two lakes a central ceramic tile hallway leads to a sitting room and an adjoining dining room behind it is the kitchen which has a dining area and a sizeable workspace with plenty of cupboard space a short stairway leads to a very large family room with a fireplace and a walkout to a poolsize backyard with a covered patio there is a laundry room and a sewing room on this level also the main floor also has a twopiece bathroom the upstairs master bedroom has a four- piece en suite and a walkin closet three other bedrooms and another fourpiece bathroom complete the upstairs other features in the home include a forcedair gas furnace ceramic tile in the kitchen plush broadloom plaster walls and ceilings and aluminum soffit and fascia the house also has a twocar garage this 2600squarefoot home is for sale for 155800 the agent is lee weldon of gerry meharg ltd realtor and can be reached by calling 6403131 or 6402770 the kitchen is large and functional with a dining area and plenty of cupboard space it features ceramic tile the large family room has many features including a double door that leads to a spacious backyard also prominent is a fire place and more than adequate shelf space the master bedroom has a fourpiece ensuile and walkin closet it is large and attractive there are three more bedrooms up stairs