The Goderich Signal-Star, 1986-11-05, Page 1346D)
GSSIWednesday, Nov. 5, 1986
is a bi
f the Cha�;
Tom Powell, Champion's chief engineer, and John Lee (seated) heads
out a new design on a computer terminale
y the time a Champion road
grader gets to the assembly
line at the Maitland Road
manufacturing plant, thousands of
man hours have been expended in
research, testing and developing.
Champions are in use in
countries around the world and chief
engineer, Tom Powell, knows the
product will be subjected to a
myriad of extreme conditions and
�a _ .j
applications. Anti�iuipiY, he has to
ensure that the product will stand
the test, regardless of the conditions.
Having joined the company in
1980, Tom has been involved in all
aspects of the engineering function
from product testing, to research
and development and designing.
Tom head$ up a department of 40
people that includes five professional
engineers, six technologists and
designers, testers and prototype
builders.
For many years, Research and
Development worked out of the
company's Victoria Street building,
but the test facilities have been
relocated to Huckins Street while
'Computer Aided
Design system in use
Champion has taken many
innovative steps to upgrade
technology both in' its
manufacturing and engineering
sectors.
Today, the company's draftsmen
and engineers are using state -of -art,
Computer Aided Design (CAD)
. equipment to ensure that Champions
leaving Goderich set the standard
for the industry.
John Lee, manager of general
engineering, has been responsible
for the implementation of the CAD
system at Champion, a project he's
been involved with off and on for
over four years.
A technologist by profession, John
joined the company in 1972 after
graduating from Algonquin College.
Initially employed as a draftsman,
he moved on to Marketing -technical
services for four years before
rejoining the et'gineering corp in
1982.
While the company has been
monitoring CAD systems for almost
five years, it had to wait until the
product was priced right.
"We started looking at it in 1981
but the systems were large and cost
millions," John explained. "In the
last two years, they've developed
desktop versions and for a good
price."
John was part of a group that
visited computer suppliers in
Chicago in 1982 looking for systems
at a competitive price. It wasn't
until 1984 that powerful
microcomputers and software was
introduced to the market.
"The hardware got cheap and
powerful and so did the software,"
he said. "We can now equip
draftsmen with good equipment for
less than $15,000. The price has come
down substantially since 1982."
It wasn't until August 1985 that
Champion acquired its first CAD
machine, on a trial basis, but the
capabilities were exactly what the
company was looking for. Seven
CAD stations are now in use in the
department and initial fears about
teaching the personnel to use the
equipment were quickly allayed.
"One of our big concerns was how
the people would learn to use the
system," he recalled. "We rotated
people through the machine and they
took to it easily. It takes the
drudgery out of work and we can
Continued on Page 8
Engineering
marfaciaagaasisrarasaniasiamaginvammisismanuasi
art
ion story
oplant.ffice staff are located in the main
g
Over the past decade, the
Champion road grader has
undergone a number of changes,
product improvements and attention
to quality demands from the
marketplace.
And since the company realizes
much of its business from the
government sector through the
tendering process price becomes as
important a factor as quality.' tz�
Reducing costs while improving the
quality product, posed an arduous
challenge for engineering and
manufacturing, a challenge that is
being met with great success.
"The last two or three years we
have been working closely with
manufacturing and purchasing on
reducing product cost. And we have
also had to pay attention to product
development. We were always
superior in performance but had to
reduce costs," Tom explained. "A
lot of our business is through
tenders. If the basic grader is good
Continued on Page 8
Phil Abbott at work at a CAD station