i T neering team. Christie has since retired and John Elder, P.Eng., has become the third partner as Senior Engineer for Marine Systems. EMS-Tech started out in a hole-in-the-wall office in the downtown Maze Mall, and shortly after moved to larger premises on Coleman Street. In recent years, the company moved to a large, modern office complex at 699 Dundas St. West. Even there, the team is considering an expansion to allow better use of what is becoming cramped office space. Total staff is now in excess of 40, fluctuating at times depending on work load, including foreign staff in branches in The Netherlands and North Carolina. The company's existence, world-wide activities and growth were never intended to be a secret; it just seemed to happen that way, Stafford explained as he reviewed the company's highly successful first 14 years. But despite its track record, the company remains almost unknown in Belleville's business community. One of EMS-Tech's most interesting and challenging projects in recent years is a massive animal feed import-export facility at Wilmington, North Carolina. The $11 million (U.S.) two-mil- Peter Sorensen Brian Stafford lion-bushel-storage capacity project is scheduled for completion this spring. An article in a recent edition of The Grain Journal magazine lavishly touts the engineering expertise of the Belleville firm behind this project, typical of the kind of praise the company has been reaping from customers and observers about many projects. i "Transforming engineering into productivity" is the mission of EMS-Tech Inc., with a creative staff capable of all engineering disciplines - structural, mechanical and electrical. In an age when almost all industrial production is run by automated control panels, the electrical engineering staff are particularly busy and vital, said Sorensen. Another major activity is preparation of computer-animated three-dimensional designs which look almost real. These allow company staff and customers to visually walk through potential solutions to difficult problems in stress and size. Stafford added that the Belleville operation is e s s e n t i a l l y John Milligan design and What makes the project so challenging, the partners explained, is the terminal is not just for standard feed grains, but a wide mix of livestock feeds from finely-ground powders to coarse whole-kernel corn. But bulk material handling has always been the specialty of EMS-Tech. They figured it out. They literally invented what they call a "Circ-a-Bin" to handle the various mixtures, the first of its kind in the world. That's not the first time the company's ingenuity came to the fore. They already have patents or patents pending on high-tech loading gates and other equipment. The massive concrete and steel project at Wilmington is typical of the challenges the Belleville firm can and will tackle. "We get new challenges every day," said Sorensen. "We have a lot of fun." Some 18 members of the staff are former Stephens-Adamson employees, making a total of more than 400 man years experience in engineering solutions for bulk handling installations. \0uvc h