Davis Controls Ltd. - After the War

Continuing with the historical timeline of Davis Controls Ltd., during W.W. II, in addition to the promotion and sale of the industrial lines represented at the time, the company supplemented industrial sales with repair work for the Royal Canadian Air Force.  It was during this period that the company incorporated.  Shortly after the war, Davis opened an office in Montreal and then another in Winnipeg in 1955.

The familiar “Automatic Watchdog” logo, which has been with the company in one way or another since day one, was initially developed in two forms.  Both were graphical representations of a Great Dane, one in the form of the whole dog and the second depicting the head of a Great Dane in a two ringed circle.  The space between the rings of the circle enclosed the words “Automatic Watchdog Controls”.  Mr. Davis recorded at the time that research conducted on successful advertising campaigns of the day revealed that domestic animals were second only to children in public appeal.  Mr. Davis elected to associate the “impressive” stature of the Great Dane with the ‘Automatic Watchdog’ monitoring and control function of the instruments represented by the company.   Over time, the company, our people and our products became synonymous with our role and responsibility as ‘Watchdog’ over the Instrumentation and Control requirements of Canadian industry. The rest, as they say, is history.

Ten years ago, to celebrate seventy years of strong and proud service to our customers from coast to coast, we organized an entire advertising campaign around the mascot in our logo, returning the enduring and ever watchful Great Dane in a form similar to its earliest design.  This powerful symbol of our continuing commitment to:

·         Expert application advice

·         Reliable service and technical support

·         State-of-the-art products

as well as the original ‘Watchdog’ mission of the company, is a constant reminder to our staff of the responsibility being entrusted to us with each and every inquiry.  We take pride in the fact that our customers rely on our application advice and technical recommendations and continue to place their trust in Davis Controls Limited, just like they have been doing for the past eighty years.

The very first product line represented by Davis Automatic Controls was Automatic Switch Company (ASCO).  Since day one, the company has been active in the fields of timing, counting, programmable control; liquid and solid level control; pressure and temperature control; solenoid valves and flow control; motor control and other specialized areas of control and automation.  Among the other very early products distributed by the company were Alco (refrigeration valves), Mercoid (pressure & level switches), Honeywell, Robertshaw and General Controls.

Davis Controls continues to represent a strong and balanced portfolio of world class products that deliver reliable and cost effective solutions to the Process Engineer looking for a level, flow, pressure or analysis solution, as well as to the manager of a factory automation project looking for programmable or discrete control of an automated operation.  Davis Controls offers quality solutions for all sectors of Canadian industry, including water & wastewater treatment, power generation, food and beverage processing as well as to the manufacturing community, including automotive assembly, suppliers of automotive systems, components and modules, packaging machinery, food and beverage equipment and of course, where we first began, boiler controls.

                                                   Davis Controls Building (1948-1952)

      

www.daviscontrols.com