Tuesday 24 March 2020

#DavisControls - #COVID19 - Essential Service Provider

#DavisControls - #COVID19 - Essential Service Provider

We are fully operational and as of right now have no plans to limit our internal business activities.

We have made the operational changes below to adapt to these new environmental conditions:

- Our Technical Support Sales reps are now working remotely with open communication with other Davis Controls team members and are completely functional as if they were in the building
- Order Processing is fully operational
- Warehousing and shipping are fully operational

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread worldwide and across Canada, the health & safety of our colleagues, our customers, our suppliers and our community is our highest priority and we are doing everything we can to assess and mitigate risks.

We continue to follow the guidance provided by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO), as well as local governments and health authorities. As we continue to monitor the situation daily, we have implemented best practices, including travel and visitor restrictions, work from home policies where possible, social distancing and following proper hygiene procedures.

Now more than ever, we recognize the importance of continuing to provide:

Expert application advice and information to our customers

Extensive technical backup

State of the art products.....while setting and reviewing objectives that will contribute to the success of our customers and our suppliers.

To this end, we are working closely with our suppliers to identify any potential disruptions in our supply chain so that we can jointly take appropriate action to minimize supply interruptions. We are adapting our operations to meet the challenges of the current situation to ensure that we continue to meet your needs and maintain supply of our products and services.

We are here to help and support you and everyone here at Davis Controls is working hard to continue to provide uninterrupted service while taking every precaution to mitigate the spread of the new Coronavirus.

Regards,
Davis Controls Ltd.

Thursday 19 March 2020

DAVIS CONTROLS LTD. - COVID-19



As the COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) pandemic continues to spread worldwide and across Canada, the health and safety of our colleagues, our customers, our suppliers and our community is our highest priority and we are doing everything we can to assess and mitigate risks.

We continue to follow the guidance provided by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO), as well as local governments and health authorities.  As we continue to monitor the situation daily, we have implemented best practices, including travel and visitor restrictions, work from home policies where possible, social distancing and following proper hygiene procedures.

Now more than ever, we recognize the importance of continuing to provide:
     Expert application advice and information to our customers
     Extensive technical backup
     State of the art products
….. while setting and reviewing objectives that will contribute to the success of our customers and our suppliers.

To this end, we are working closely with our suppliers to identify any potential disruptions in our supply chain so that we can jointly take appropriate action to minimize supply interruptions.  We are adapting our operations to meet the challenges of the current situation to ensure that we continue to meet your needs and maintain supply of our products and services.
We are here to help and support you and everyone here at Davis Controls is working hard to continue to provide uninterrupted service while taking every precaution to mitigate the spread of the new Coronavirus.


Neil Montgomery
President & CEO
Davis Controls Ltd


Friday 27 September 2019

The End of an Era - William Leo Montgomery April 18, 1925 - Sept. 20, 2019

The End of an Era

On Friday morning, Sept. 20, 2019, we said Good-Bye to William Leo Montgomery



Born in Winnipeg on April 18, 1925, WLM joined the Canadian Navy when he was still a teenager.  He served on the corvette HMCS Nanaimo escorting convoys across the North Atlantic during WWII.  



He believed passionately in country and cause and agreed completely with the words from a familiar Remembrance Day poem that;
It is the VETERAN, not the preacher, who has given us freedom of religion.
It is the VETERAN, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press.
It is the VETERAN, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the VETERAN, not the lawyer, who has given us the right to a fair trial.
It is the VETERAN, not the politician, who has given us the right to vote.
When the war ended, Bill enrolled at the University of Manitoba and graduated as an Electrical Engineer.

His first job out of school was with Amalgamated Electric, where he specialized in the application of ASCO transfer switches, which he bought from Davis Controls Ltd. in Toronto.  It wasn’t too long before Ces Davis recognized the potential of this young P.Eng. in Winnipeg and in 1956, Mr. Davis offered Bill a job and moved the Montgomery family from Winnipeg to Etobicoke.

For 35 years, Davis Controls was his home away from home.  Davis Controls provided the ways and means for Bill to raise his family, and he was conscious of that each and every day he went to work.  He approached his work with the same dedication and passion that he brought to everything he did.  He never lost his enthusiasm for work, but when he retired, he was as committed to enjoying his retirement years as he was to enjoying his 35 years at Davis.  Bill had a reputation for being ethical and honest and uncompromisingly fair.  He loved to travel, but even more than that, he loved to come home.  Home was the centre of his universe, because home was where Joan was.

I had the pleasure of working with him for 13 of those years and I am grateful that he enjoyed almost 30 healthy post-Davis years at home with his wife Joan.

Thursday 13 December 2018

85 Years and Counting!

As 2018 draws to an end, so does our 85th year in business.

What began in Nov. 1933 as an individual entrepreneur providing boiler and refrigeration controls and service from the seat of his bike in downtown Toronto, has evolved into one of the leading, independent, national, value added Distributors of Industrial Automation controls and Process Instrumentation in Canada, providing
- Expert application advice and information to our customers
- Extensive service and technical support
- State-of-the-art products in all areas of the control and instrumentation business

Like most years, 2018 has once again proven to be productive and rewarding and we look forward to seeing what 2019 has in store.

All of us here at Davis Controls hope that you have a safe and joyful Christmas surrounded by family and friends, and we wish you all the best for the New Year!
 

Tuesday 12 June 2018

Winds Of Change



Winds of Change


I recently returned from a supplier sales meeting at the Hotel W in Barcelona, Spain, which I attended with a few of my colleagues.  From there I went on to meetings in Switzerland and Germany with another key supplier.
At both meetings, I was reminded of the tremendous opportunities and resources that we have to solve industrial application problems with the excellent product lines that we represent and I was especially impressed by the passion, professionalism and product knowledge of the people representing those products.  Good products and good people are an unbeatable combination.  The recurring one-word message at both meetings was ‘Passion’, and the importance of this one essential attribute was reinforced by every contact I made during my meetings.
I find my periodic visits to progressive and innovative supplier facilities and industry association meetings to be energising and inspirational, mainly because of the people I meet.  I get to see how others are organized to succeed and to draw some comparisons to how we are managing similar challenges.  I usually come away with good ideas for things that we might do to improve.  One constant that never changes is the team building challenge of finding and keeping good people.
Unleashing and amplifying human creativity, passion and resourcefulness must be one of our primary corporate obsessions.  If we are to grow, we must win more than we lose.  To do this, we must be defined by our commitment to a set of ideas, resources and strategies that have the power to reshape our sense of what’s possible; and we must reinforce the notion that work is personal, values rule and nobody wins unless everybody wins; Supplier / Davis / Customer and Employee. 

Everyone on our staff has an important job to do, and it is essential that every one of us is held accountable and that we have no weak links.  With this in mind, we held internal meetings recently to highlight our intention and determination to develop and/or upgrade our ability to provide application services whenever we see an opportunity to improve.  We have ambitious goals and in order to realize these objectives, we must depend on enthusiastic, experienced and inspired team players.
 

As a footnote, we had a very serious windstorm in our neighbourhood on May 04, 2018 that took down one of the 30 foot tall Blue Spruce trees in our backyard.  The tree came out, roots and all as if it were a twig and left a 5’ hole in the ground.


I planted this tree and the one beside it in 2003 to commemorate our 2nd generation management team of Paul Grenfell and Bill Montgomery and at the time, I fully expected these trees to stand for 100 years.  After all, they were in an ideal location with lots of room to grow.
Before the storm, the trees appeared to be strong and stable and I was proud of them.  They made a good impression and by all indications, were making a useful contribution to our outward appearance.  When the sun was shining and the winds were calm, there was no indication of a weak and shallow foundation.  Now that I know differently, it’s time to plant a new tree with the hope and expectation that it will take root, blossom and grow.

But I digress.  Change is in the wind on several fronts.  During the last three months, we have systematically intensified our efforts to increase the level of support we provide Customers and Partners by expanding and strengthening our field sales coverage across the country.  Our new team members bring new energy and enthusiasm along with years of industry and application experience, and their addition to an already strong nucleus of seasoned professionals is producing   impressive results.  We are still eight months away from our fiscal year-end but so far, all indications are that Davis Controls Ltd. is on track to have our best year ever.

Thursday 31 May 2018

#DavisControls would like to thank everyone who came out to visit us at the DEX 2018 and CPECN 2018 trade shows


#DavisControls would like to thank everyone who came out to visit us at:


DEX Design Engineering EXPO Moncton
MAY 29, 2018


and


Nova Scotia Process & Automation Show
MAY 30, 2018


Come out and see us at our next show:
FABTECH Canada
Toronto Congress Centre (South Building)
650 Dixon Road
Etobicoke, ON, M9W1J1
Tel: 416 245-5000
JUNE 12-14, 2018

Monday 14 May 2018

#DavisControls would like to thank everyone who came out to visit the Davis Controls booth - CPECN Southern Ontario - May 10, 2018 - Ian Hegi from Davis Controls and Stephen Kalau from ABB pictured.
Our next show will be the DEX Design Engineering EXPO Moncton on May 29, 2018 - for more info go to: https://www.dexexpo.com/attend/