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-- a ---- -- 6 - PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, September 1, 1992 EDITORIAL The Port Perry Star 188 MARY STREET - PORT PERRY, ONTARIO - LSL 1B7 PHONE 985-7383 FAX 985-3708 The Port Perry Star is authorized as second class mail by the Post Office Department, Ottawa, for cash payment of postage. Second Class Mail Registration Number 0265 Subscription Rate: 1Year-$32.10 6Months-$18.72 Foreign -$90.95 includes $2.10GST includes $1.22GST includes $5.95GST Publisher - J. Peter Hvidsten News Editor - Scott Anderson Features Editor - Julia Dempsey Sports Co-ordinator - Kelly Lown Reporter/Photographer - Marnie Luke ADVERTISING Advertising Manager - AnnaJackman Advertising Sales - Jackie Metz Production - Pamela Hickey, Barbara Bell BUSINESS OFFICE Office Manager - Gayle Stapley Accounting - Judy Ashby Billing Department - Louise Hope Retail Sales - Kathy Dudley, Marlene Moore, PRODUCTION Annabell Harrison, Trudy Empringham Robert Taylor, Barbara Lachapelle Comment Police Presence The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) is out in full force in Scugog. In response to complaints concerning the traffic on Highway 7A through Port Perry the OPP has stepped up its patrol of the popular stretch of cottage country high- way. Employing a four-man special response unit the po- lice is cracking down on the "noisy and speeding trucks" which barrel through the town at break-neck speeds. But it is not just the trucks which the OPP are out to get, it is all the offenders. The police will be checking for seat belts and conducting safety checks on the vehicles as well. It appears the program has already made its mark. On August 25, the first day of the program, a total of 10 Editorial | tickets and 23 warnings were issued. Many more tickets and warnings have been issued since that date. Piper My *CNA a Member of the RIBBON AWARD Ontario Community Newspaper Association Published every Tuesday by the Port Perry Star Co. Ltd. Port Perry, Ontario * GST included In price Canadian Community Newspaper Association If there is ever a need for this type of program it is here and now. Over the years there has been too many accidents on this stretch of highway. Although there has been only one death over the past year, it is one death too many. How many more accidents and deaths must occur before something is done? Although this-patrol is needed, it is only a short-term solution. We all know too well that once the OPP's pro- gram is over and the radar guns have been put away, the drivers will once again resume their old habits. For many years the Township of Scugog Council has been lobbying Queen's Park. Letters to the premiers and meetings with MPPs and transportation ministers have tailed to solve the traffic woes. But it's about time we all rethink the traffic situation on Highway 7A through Port Perry. We can all do some- thing from observing the speed: limit and other traffic signs to voicing our concerns to the various levels of govern- ments. There is a need for something to be done before it's Reading Into It Imagine for a moment picking up a copy of the Port Perry Star and not being able to decipher what is on the page. You look at the page and all that appears is a jum- ble ot shapes and numbers, but you can't understand what they are saying. Or imagine picking up a menu or receiving a letter and not being able to read it. Reading could mean the dif- ference between life and death when handling prescrip- tion drugs. Although most of us have been blessed with the oroper education and training to learn to read, there are still many Canadians who are illiterate. According to a 1988 study conducted by Woods Gordon for the Canadi- an Business Task Force on Literacy, functional literacy was costing Canada more than $4 billion a year in reduced productivity and lower efficiency. Canada Post has chosen September as the month to conduct a multi-media campaign on literacy. The corpora- tion has made available a number of motivational and edu- cational videos focusing on literacy in the workplace, fund- raising for literacy groups and skills upgrading in the workplace. Reading opens up not only the mind to creative think- ing, but provides many more windows of opportunity, that would not otherwise be open to an illiterate person. As we can see illiteracy costs all of us in both time and money. Let us all do what ever we can to help somebody less fortunate than us enjoy the pleasures of reading. It's never too late to learn. TOUR OF GENERAL MOTORS Any preconceptions | had of autoworkers toiling in dimly lit sweat shops were alleviated instantly last Thursday afternoon as I was tak- en on a tour of car assembly plants one and two at General Motors in Oshawa. From the moment our tour cart pulled into the stamping plant, until we stood watching sparkling Luminas and Buicks rolling off the end of the line, | was amazed at how clean and bright the entire plant was. Although living in close proximity to GM for most of my life, the huge automaker had remained much of a mystery to me. Aside from stories and descriptions from friends and acquaintances who work at GM, media reports and the occasional footage of film on the tv news, | knew little of what goes on inside this huge complex. When I arrived at corporate headquarters at noon my host and good friend Stew Low, who is manager of external relations, led me to an impressive cafeteria where we had a light lunch before heading out for a tour of car plants one and two. After a short drive to the assembly plants Stew and | were joined by our tour guide Tom Hurlbert (whose official title is communica- tions co-ordinator car assembly plants), and we headed off into the plant in a four-scater com- muting vehicle. First stop was the stamping plant. It's here that the outer skins for Luminas and Regals are pressed out of sheet metal. There were nine huge press lines in operation stamping out door panels, hoods, fenders etc. Most amazing in the stamping plant was the AGVs (auto guided vehicles). These vehi- cles glide around the floor of the plant deliver: ing the proper metal blanks to the proper pre- sses on command. There is no driver, no one to load or unload the machines. The entire pro- cess from the time the metal blanks arrive by truck until they are placed on the feeding bed of the huge stamping presses is accomplished through computer programming. a After leaving the stamping plant, we wound our way up and down the bright, wide aisles of the assembly plants. The co-ordination, timing and precision in the plant is unbelievable. As every new car begins along the line, the proper options are waiting at each point at the precisely correct time. From windshields to tires, dashboards to seats, each car is assembled according to order. It's hard to imagine how every part arrives at the right assembly spot at the instant it is need- ed to be positioned on the automobile. More than 8,000 men and women work in this assembly plant but my conception of laborers, dirty and sweating from intense heat and unable to hear due to loud noise in the plant, was completely unfounded. Compared to many factories, the assembly plant at General Motors is paradise. And while I can understand some of the jobs may be very repetitive and boring, the plant itself is bright, clean and clear with noise levels very tolerable. In fact during our entire tour we never had to shout to be heard over the noise. While robotics have taken over some of the assembly procedure, in the Lumina and Buick plants about 50 per cent of the assembly is still done manually. The truck plant has a higher percentage of robotics, but in total the three plants produce 3,000 vehicles every week. Aside from the robotics, computerization, and massive size of the machinery, one can't help but be impressed by the enormous size of the buildings, which I am told covers more than 650 acres under roof. General Motors recently announced that both Lumina and Buick lines will continue to be produced in Oshawa at least until the end of 1995. That's real good news for the more than 17,000 people employed at GM and for many thousands more who work in feeder plants and supply GM automotive parts. My thanks to Stew and Tom for an interest- ing and educational tour of the plant. After liv- ing for 25 years in the shadow of GM, my curi- osity has been finally been satisfied. ---- er' - ~ IE ag Nt -- Ty -- ot ia PT LIA EH np ARE A BA CRB ---- SS oe TE Bone pl som,