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.

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!

 

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 2^nd 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.

#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

#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/

Davis Controls Ltd. - What’s New In The Neighborhood In 2016?

What’s New In the Neighborhood In 2016 ?


Exactly one year ago today, I posted a blog about the construction of a new engineering office building across the street and I recall wondering then, who our new neighbours might be.  Today, one year later, the construction is complete, the parking lot is paved and lined, trees and shrubs have been planted and the irrigation system has been running non-stop during our recent heat wave….and we are still wondering who our new neighbours will be.  The lights are on, but there is nobody home?
              


One Year Ago

Today

                                                                                                               
                                               Here is a sample of the price of admission:
                                              -  Est. Monthly Rent: $82,368
                                              -  Floor: 7
                                              -  Size 27,648 SF
                                              -  Gross Rent $35.75/SF
                                              -  Base Rent $24.00/SF
                                              -  Additional Rent $11.75/SF
                                              -  Availability Now

Hopefully this new complex has been designed with an upscale cafeteria that will give DCL / Oakville employees one more dining option for lunch.  Not that there is a shortage of dining options already.  In addition to the dozen or so fast food outlets within a 5 minute drive, we already have several dining (fine and otherwise) choices within a 5 minute walk.  The 24 cinema theatre complex just around the corner is surrounded by no less than 12 eateries ranging from elegant to unsophisticated.  

 

In this same complex, they are currently renovating the building that used to house LA Fitness.  This facility will soon become the new home of Dave & Busters. 
Billed as the ONLY place to Eat, Drink, Play & Watch Sports all under one roof, at Dave & Buster's visitors can play hundreds of the hottest new arcade games in the Million Dollar Midway. AND, there will be even more places to eat, from wings to steaks, as well as a premium bar featuring innovative cocktails, an impressive wine selection and more than 20 selections of beer.  Sounds like my kind of place!  You will soon be able to watch your team on one of the massive HDTVs with epic stadium sound that will surround you from every direction in the sports bar.


Our little corner of Winston Churchill Business Park is quickly becoming a major center of Leading edge Technology, Engineered Solutions, Fine Dining, After Hours Clubs and Entertainment.

www.daviscontrols.com

Davis Controls Ltd. - So much to do…so little time.

So much to do…so little time.

Brent O'Connor and Neil Montgomery at Danfoss Drives Conference - March 2016 - New Orleans

For three days, March 13 – 15, 2016, the city of New Orleans played host to ‘The Danfoss Drives Conference’, billed as the world’s largest Drives conference, with more than 50 speakers, 80 breakout sessions and 600 VFD experts in attendance.  One of the main objectives of the conference was to present the ‘New’ Danfoss Drives organization and extended portfolio created through the acquisition of Vacon.  In addition to new product launch announcements, business news and highlights, AC drive application case studies and success stories, discussions about current megatrends and insights into the AC drives future, attendees were encouraged to embrace the Jazz club / gangster / speak-easy look of New Orleans in the 1930’s.  Thankfully there was no prohibition this week and Brent O’Connor and I did our best to blend in.

The event was so successful that Danfoss decided to take the show on the road and from June 8 – 10, 2016, hosted a similar but smaller Canadian forum at the Four Points by Sheraton, Niagara Falls Fallsview in Niagara Falls, Ontario.  Davis Controls took full advantage of this local Canadian conference by sending 15 of our own sales reps, who in turn each invited VFD customers from their respective sales territories.  The event was a huge success and Danfoss plans to continue this initiative with other sales and customer events in the future.

For the Ontario sales reps, the training didn’t end with Danfoss.  On June 21, Naas DeJager from ABB Measurement Products conducted an Actuator & Positioner portfolio overview as well as sales and technical training on the TZIDC / EDP300 products, including Programming & Diagnostics.  Then on the second day, the four Product Managers of the Pressure, Temperature, Analytical, Recording & Control and Flow portfolios presented an overview with highlights of their products, complete with sales success stories and helpful selling tips.


Within the last 30 days, our Business Development Managers have been out to work with our people in Vancouver and Saskatchewan, manning trade shows in Dartmouth NS and making joint calls with our team in Montreal.  On July 12, we are off to Los Alamitos, California to visit our friends at Flowline and learn all about their next generation of products and soon we will be in Winnipeg and then Vancouver again to make more joint calls with our people there.  There is a lot going on right now and while we can’t be everywhere, we are doing our best to be where we are needed when it counts. 




www.daviscontrols.com