Foreword: Stress in the Workplace
With all of the downsizing taking place over the last several years, stress in
the workplace is an ever-present threat to employees in any company. At D. W.
Electrochemicals Ltd., we recognized this in 1988. This is why we decided, at
that time, to organize any of our company publications (which now includes the
web-site you are reading) to make them understandable by the average reader.
This is reflected, as an example, in our original Material Safety Data Sheets
(MSDS's) which are repetitive in that subjects such as "First Aid"
can be found immediately.
As of June, 2015, our new Safety Data Sheets are structured according to
GHS standards. While the new format is at first unfamiliar, it also places
an emphasis on finding the type of information you need quickly.
We believe that the same should be applicable to our web-site. So, rather than attempting to dazzle the viewer with all the tricks-of-the-trade, we have (and are) attempting to make this an easy site to use.
Too often, when I try to get information from the web-site of a company, it has taken me far too much time paging through endless files. This is also a problem that plagues internet users. It is a problem that, at times, is difficult to solve, even by using the search-engine provided. It can take far too long to find a specific product and/or distributor . This sometimes extends to trying to find an e-mail address!
Some of our customers are with companies have had to downsize. As a result, these people have had to deal with this situation. We realize that some people are being asked to do the same jobs that were formerly handled by several people. With downsizing, too many well trained staff are no longer available. The result is even more stress!
If there is anything we, as a company, can do, within reason, to assist our prospective or existing customers, please call, fax, or send us an e-mail!
Wm M D Wright, CEO
D. W. Electrochemicals Ltd.
CREDIT CARDS
We do not accept credit cards in payment for any order. In our experience, we could not insure that when other currencies are converted into Canadian funds, this would be consistently trouble-free. There have often been discrepancies caused by the double exchange involved. The result is that the customer's credit card was billed a different amount than what we had quoted. The rectification of this incurred other costs as well as problems for our accounting staff.
New Orders
Unless a company is well known in the field, we reserve the right to request that a "Credit Application Form" be submitted to us, and receive approval, before we ship. On all orders from outside North America, this is a mandatory requirement that has set by our board.
Thereafter, we reserve the right to ask that payment be made in advance. This may be accomplished, either a Letter of Credit Guaranteed by a Canadian Bank, or by a bank transfer. In either case it should be payable in United States Dollars.
Please note that any price we quote does not include duty - bank transfer charges - letter of credit fees or charges - or any charge levied by any bank or any other institution. When we quote a price in US Dollars, it is the amount we expect to receive less any discount that we offer (and quote) for prompt payment. It is the responsibility of the customer to make sure that their accounting office or officers are aware of this policy.
When customers pay us, and we find that any such institution has charged us any fee, we reserve the right to bill the customer for the fee plus $50 US for handling.
Several times payments have been delayed because essential documents were removed by the customers receiving staff. Please advise your staff that if we supply SDS's (or any other documents such as Certificates of Compliance or Certificates of Shelf Life, with the shipping documents, it was because some companies require them in order to to be able to process any payment to us!
Our ISO 9001 quality assurance software will print-out any needed forms that our customers request, including any printed Safety Data Sheets, Certificates of Compliance, Certificates of Shelf Life, NAFTA certificates and Commercial Invoices.
Where customs clearance is required, we cannot ship "Customs Prepaid". In a similar manner, insurance will be charged to the customer's account. Where arrangements can be made well in advance, we may be able to offer assistance in the method of shipment.
Re: Customs charges in some countries:
We have noticed that there undue delays when some customers insist
on using their own customs broker. We have sometimes been forced to wait for up to
four months to finally receive payment. Where we find that occurs on a constant basis,
we reserve the right to have Brokers for Federal Express (or some other customs broker
that is acceptable to us) clear our shipments.
Harmonized Control Number for customs - 8541.50.00.80
Transshipping:
Some potential customers wish to purchase Stabilant materials directly and transship it to another country. As Stabilants are classified as 'strategic' materials, we require these customers to complete an Export Certification which lists the Country of Destination. Where transshipping is involved, it creates a problem for us!
In these cases, we suggest to the potential customer, that they have it shipped to a bonded warehouse where it can remain 'in bond' until it is exported to the Country of Destination. This way, only the rate of duty for the Country of Destination will be levied by customs in that country.
This avoids the double payment of duties first, in the importing country and second, in the destination country. By shipping 'in bond', applicable duties are only paid at the destination country's rate.
However, this does not absolve either our customer or, in sequence, their customer from certifying that the shipment is NOT in contravention of any strategic material ban. It is our responsibility as the manufacturer, where we might reasonably believe that there may be a conflict, to obtain, in advance, notarized copies of these documents prior to our shipping any such order.
At least twice a month, we receive requests for the purchase of Stabilant materials from companies who wish to bypass our distributors. We have always reserved the right to pass this type of customer on to a distributor of our choice. Many of them have undergone their own acceptance testing before they carried Stabilants. In this respect, by asking us to ship directly (usually but not always, at a discounted price) they are attempting to usurp the distributors' work and investment.
Packaging
Heavy Metals:
D.W. Electrochemicals Ltd. has a policy of not allowing any intentional addition of any heavy metals, such as lead, cadmium, mercury, or hexavalent chromium, or their compounds, to be used in inks or in the labels on our packaging and requires the total concentration of these materials, if present, to be so at a level of less than 100 parts per million and we so certify.
Ozone Depleting Chemicals
Because of our corporate opposition to the use of ODC's either in the manufacture of, or as an inclusion in any of our products, D.W. Electrochemicals Ltd. has consistently refused to provide any of our products in aerosol-spray packaging and/or to supply any of our materials diluted with any Class 1 ODC, and we so certify.
PCB's
We certify that any material used in our packaging has been subjected to tests capable of detecting PCB's to a level of less than 2 parts per million and no PCB's have been found.
RoHS Legislation
Article 4(1) - pertaining to Heavy Metals other prohibited components: D.W. Electrochemicals Ltd. has a policy of not allowing any addition of any heavy metals, such as lead, cadmium, mercury, or hexavalent chromium, or their compounds, to be used in the Stabilants and requires the total concentration of these materials, if present, to be so at a level of less than 100 parts per million and we so certify.
Re: Packaging: New standards are in place in an attempt to reduce the amount of plastics, tape and/or adhesives used and to ensure that our packaging may be reused or recycled. If any distributor of any of our products is out of compliance with any regulatory law or ordnance, we would request that we be notified, in writing. As they are under the jurisdiction of their local authorities, we cannot be held responsible. Notwithstanding this disclaimer, we will attempt to have any situation such as this, rectified, but any customer must appreciate that we do not have the legal resources to enforce compliance with any law or ordinance outside of Canada or the United States.
Global Warming
D. W. Electrochemicals Ltd. has consistently supported policies designed to save all types of energy. This has ranged from refusing to allow any of its many products to be sold in spray cans, (as even HCFC's cause ozone depletion), no matter what the propellant being proposed. By selling our products in recyclable polyethylene bottles/caps, as well as using bio-degradable cardboard tubes with non-toxic inks, and minimizing the Mylar™ labels, while complying with all regulations involving warning symbols, we have striven to produce products that are not only safe and efficient to use, but represent long-term values.
We have, as a result, been issued "Standard Stores or Part Numbers" by many companies we supply. They recognize that the use of Stabilants saves them money, not only in servicing, but in the increase in their product's reliability. We are, as a result, finding that there are a steadily increasing number of manufacturers who, after subjecting our products to field-trials that sometimes have been extended for six years, have developed the assurance to specify Stabilants be used in the manufacture of their own products!
Energy efficiency means much more than saving money. It also requires that we make every effort to insure that our customers have the knowledge to apply our products in such a way as to make a given amount of Stabilant be most cost-effective. Several times our technical staff have found ways of reducing the number of connectors in a system, in some cases even advising clients that they can, by re-arranging boards or modules, eliminate connectors altogether!
Product Returns
D. W. Electrochemicals Ltd. has always encouraged a field trial of any of their products before any large purchase is made. Our staff is always available to advise the prospective customer on any problems they may encounter in the use of any of our materials. As we state on all our technical and application notes, it is the customer's responsibility to test the product first. Our technical staff is available for consultation.
As we maintain strict quality assurance procedures, any bottle of any product that is opened either for customs inspection or by the customer, has to be teated as contaminated. This has to apply to goods retured for any reason whatsoever. For these reasons, we have to scrap any returned goods.
We frequently offer a reduction in price when Stabilants are purched in large quantities, because we have less paper-work. (this also applies to the cost of sending out samples). We pass part of these savings on to the customer.
We think that anyone will find these policies reasonable.
Nevertheless we occasionally recieve a call from a customer who has not read any of the pertinent Technical or Application Notes. We find that almost all of these calls result from the mis-application of our materials. The most common of these are "flooding" or "hosing on" Stabilants in the theory that "if a little works, much more should work better!"
All this accomplishes (besides increasing our sales and our having to take the time to advise customers to use less), is to make the whole contact area "greasy" and accumulate more dust.
For over eleven years, we have supplied well over twenty thousand customers, operating in many diverse fields, with our products. In consequence of this, our technical staff has an immense amount of experience in dealing with connector and/or contact problems.
For these reasons, if any potential or existing customer cannot find a solution on our web-site, please contact us!
Note: You can use your web browser's 'find' function to find any word
or phrase of interest
- please use this first!