Conference kaosws::canada

869.0. "Kanata plant expanding" by TROOA::DCHENG () Sun Nov 06 1994 23:32

There was an article on last Thursday's Toronto Star. It 
says that our plant in Kanata is so good that the corporate 
closed a plant in Mexico and moved the work there. Hey, 
NAFTA doesn't necessary mean jobs moving south all the time. 
Also, we can proudly tell our customers that we are not 
shrinking but expanding.


Digital Canada to double exports

Digital Equipment of Canada Ltd. expects to more than double 
exports from its Ottawa-area computer plant next year to $2 
billion, the company says.

That's because the plant will produce almost all of 
Digital's next generation of Alpha business computer systems 
and step up production of its personal computers, said Jim 
Milton, manager of systems business. 

The Alpha products, to be formally unveiled today, can 
handle 1 billion instructions per second and start at 
$25,000, Milton said.

About 80 per cent of Alpha products will be made at the 
Kanata, Ont, plant and shipped everywhere in the world 
except Europe, which will have a smaller plant of its own, 
he said.

The Ontario plant also makes every Digital personal computer 
sold in North America.

Digital recently closed a plant in Mexico and moved the work 
to Kanata because of the quality of the work force here, 
company officals said.

"Digital is commited to Canada," Milton said, adding the 
company is going to aggressively market the "made-in-Canada" 
theme.

When Canadians shop for a home computer they should know 
that if they buy a Digital computer it was made here, not 
south of the border or overseas, Milton said.

Today, the Kanata plant is producing 2,000 PCs a day and 
that will almost double to 3,500 by Christmas, said David 
Booth, Digitals software products marketing manager.

And that means jobs for Canadians - about 300 in the pass 
three months, he said

And that's substantial considering the U.S. parent is in the 
midst of global restructuring and job slashing. 

    This was *very good* press on DEC.  So good, it even made the wall
    outside my cubicle!  I thought two other things when I first read this:
    
    - I didn't think KAO could squeeze more out of it production-wise
    - Damn good to see Digital PC's being made in Canada getting some press
    
    Bravo folks!
    
    Doug

    Thats just the begining,wait in a couple of years more juice is to
    come.
    
    
                    mike.