A computer for the dye house: a first in Canada
![An employee sits at his workstation in a computer control room](https://www.communitystories.ca/v2/textile-age-d-or-industrie-histoires_stories-golden-age/wp-content/uploads/sites/100/2020/08/Ordinateur_0560_001-2.jpg)
Credit: Cowansville Historical Society
In 1969, Bruck Mills is the first textile mill in Canada to use a fully automated, computer-controlled dye house. This computer system occupies the space of a conference room. This transformation requires three years of preliminary research and a major investment as well as employee training. In the short term, these innovations have a negative impact on the company’s profits. Bruck is betting that the technology will give it a competitive advantage because, at the turn of the 1970s, the Canadian textile industry is facing increasing competition from Asian countries.