A NORTH Vancouver high-tech company will officially
open Saturday a new $7 million plant and office complex on
Brooksbank Avenue that could create extensive economic

spin-offs for the entire North 5

The move consolidates an
eight-year presence in North Van-

“couver of Devron-Hercules, a

company employing aver 200 peo-
ple locally and specializing in the
design and manufacture of control
systems for paper machines.

The companys is) currently the
world’s leading supplier af what
are known in the pulp and paper

NORTH Vancouver engineering
physicist Putrick Bruskiewich
.. high tech to the North Shore.

industry as cross-machine control
systems.

“The systems control the cross
directional variation of weight,
moisture and finished texture of
the paper sheet as it’s being pro-
duced,’’ said Alan Swain,
Devron-Hercules’ vice-president of
cotporate affairs. “We provide the
actuators that control these fuc-
tors.””

Devron-Hercules exports to 33
countries worldwide for an ap-
proximate annual sales volume of
$30 million. Roughly 10 per cens
of the company’s sales come from
supplying Canadian mills with the
technology.

The new 95,900 square-foot fa-
cility contains 40,000 square fees

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hore.

By MICHAEL BECKER

News Reporter

of office space and oa 55,000
square-foot plant.

Company research, product
development, design and produc-
tion engineering, finanes, ad-
ministration, marketing and other
support services are all done local-
ly.

Said North Vancouver engineer
ing physicist Patnek Bruskiewivh,
who is currently heiping coordinate
a North Shore Economic
Development Advisory Committee
survey of North Shore high-tech
companies, “it of course means
more high-tech, value-added
employment on the North Shore —
the very ching we need to diversify
the local tax base,""

It has been estimated that for
every person directly employed in
the high-tech field, two to 24% ad-
ditional jobs are preduced.

Devron-Hercules was founded in
Cranbrook in 1972. In 1979, the
young company employed four
people and operated from Van-
couver as Devron Engineering.

The company moved to North
Vancouver in 1980 and eventually
spread to eight different locations
scattered throughout the
municipality.

Said Swain, ‘This is a con-
solidation. We thought North
Vancouver to be an ideal location
for a high-technology facility."

Devron-Hercules is majority
owned by Hercules Ine., a supplier
of speciality chemicals to the pulp
and paper industry and other in-
dustries,

Since its acquisition of interest
in Devran- Hercules, Hercules las
been actively promoting Desron-
Hercules’ expansion in the fleid of
paper machine cuntral,

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’ ‘ : NEWS photo Terry Peters

exhibit

d ELEANOR BEST, an instructor at Capilano College, stands in front. of a display in-
a-stalled by the retail merchandising department at Capilano College. The display is to
4 promote an upcoming lecture series and excursion to Seattle’s Son of Heaven exhibit.
1 Best was born in China and contributed most of the articles for the display case. For

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