TECHNOLOGY ALREADY AT WORK IN HOMES, BUSINESSES

Computerized electronic equipment starts perking coffee before you wake up, cooks the oatmeal in a minute and a half, senses when the clothes are dry and turns down the heat while you are away at work.

At work, the same types of technology answer the telephone, monitor inventory and operate huge machines on multi-million dollar manufacturing lines.

The technology of tomorrow is in place at home and work today.

Advances over the past couple decades may be just a taste of what's to come.

Mary Brewer, team lead at Target Store in Cape Girardeau, predicts that advances in home electronics will continue at breath-taking speed.

Televisions, for example, come with on-screen programming and stereo sound. Sound systems include multi-CD players and sound quality that is crystal clear.

Just a few years ago, telephones came equipped with rotary dials and little more.

Today's telephones have multi-memory dialing, speed dialing and built-in, tapeless, digital answering machines.

Harley Clark, owner of Clark Appliance Center in Cape Girardeau, said the same advances can be seen in the appliances he sells and services.

"They keep getting more sophisticated all the time," Clark said.

Dryers, for example, have electronic sensors that feel the moisture content of clothes. When clothes are dry, the machine shuts itself off.

Washing machines adjust the water temperature to prevent wrinkles. Dishwashers know when to dispense the soap and refrigerators crush ice and dispense it through the door, and microwaves come pre-programmed to cook favorite foods.

"If you want to cook a potato, you just hit the potato pad and then the number of potatoes you want to cook," Clark said. "Microwaves have automatic defrost. You tell it what you want to defrost and how many pounds and it defrosts by itself."

Clark predicts that time-saving, easy operating features will continue into the next century.

Brewer agrees. "Just what I've seen in the last five or six years, I think changes are going to continue. There's no telling what we might see," she said.

High-tech adaptations make life easer, Brewer said, but not necessarily better. "Sometimes it's a little confusing."

To straighten out some of that confusion, knowledge of the technology will be essential for jobs of the future.

Jobs just won't be the same.

Randy Shaw, assistant provost at Southeast Missouri State University, doubts that factories can ever be operated by a single worker poised to push the start button. But the employees who man the workplaces of the 21st century will need a host of new skills.

"Manufacturing operations can't do it with raw manpower," Shaw said. "We can't compete with countries with a workforce that will work for $1 an hour or $1 a day."

Instead, U.S. companies must optimize the skills of workers. "We need highly-skilled not just to develop new technology but also to install, maintain, operate and repair that technology," Shaw said. "The new high-paying jobs are in technical fields."

The university, along with the public schools, community colleges and the state education department recognize the need for additional skilled workers. They are working together to develop training programs at the high school and post-secondary levels.

Schools are working to make changes in how they prepare students. The industrial technology program at Southeast, for example, had just three computers in 1988. Today, the program has over 100 computers or computer-related machines.

Technology is likely to continue advancing at a tremendous pace well into the next century, Shaw said. In response, the need for technically-trained workers is also growing.