Happy New Year

While the New Year is just around the corner, business definitely does not come to a halt and as many prepare for year end inventories and year end reconciliations, I wanted to take this opportunity to say HAPPY NEW YEAR and all the BEST OF 2010.

Happy Holidays

Well today is the last day of work before the holidays. Many thanks to all our clients worldwide for their continued support and patronage.

The year brought us to many places including France, Belgium, Estonia and Russia and we look forward to meeting our growing dealer network in 2010.

We will commence with regular business hours January 4, 2010.

Joyeux Noël, Feliz Navidad, Iloinen joulu, С Рождеством Христовым, Fröhliches Weihnachten and best in the New Year.

Interlock Symposium Fan Page

Check out the fancy new custom URL of facebook.com/InterlockSymposium. That's what we get for meeting the 25 fan minimum requirement.

Happy Holidays

It is December 21, the shortest day of the year, on this side of the equator. Wake up in the dark and return home in the dark. At times one may feel like a mole rather than a human being, but all is not lost as the sunlight will only increase going forward.

There still is a few more days till Christmas, and as I have noticed the Christmas DUI roadside patrols are well under way. Take care this holiday season and do not become a statistic.

But for further information regarding BAC / BrAC check out this link: http://www.coloradodot.info/news/news-releases/the-ultimate-holiday-party-favor-a-sober-ride-home-2

Happy Holidays

Chris

Support the Cause

It’s your time to support Tim!

Prostate Cancer Canada has provided ACS with T-shirts, ties, and scarves for sale. These will be available for sale at 60 International. Everyone at ACS and GIS is encouraged to show your support by purchasing an item now, or purchasing raffle tickets when they become available next week.

If you buy a T-shirt – be sure to wear it to the party on December 23, 2009.

Prices:
Movember T-shirt - $20
Neck tie- $50 (very nice)
Scarves - $50 (even nicer).

For more information, visit www.prostatecancer.ca or www.movember.com

Now stop reading and come upstairs. Your support is sincerely appreciated!

Happy Hanukkah

Well today is the official start of Hanukkah, and the beginning of the frenetic frenzy to complete holiday shopping for the office. So off I go to a variety of stores in search of those last minute items to satisfy the needs of our global family. Got to think of things such a portability, perishability, if that's such a word and ship ability.

It will be a cold one tonight in Southern Ontario so bundle up, light some candles and enjoy the darkness of a winters night. The day light will soon be back in the coming weeks.

17 Days till Christmas, 3 More Days till Hanukkah

Well it has been a few days since I've had the opporunity to sit down and jot some words. The Holidays seem to absorb so much time and then poof its over and its back to work as usual. But.. I was given a project today to recap all the trade show and conferences that I had attended over the course of 2009. The tally came to 10, better than I thought, it seemed that I was always on the road but in retrospect I've had far busier years.


So this brings me to my next point, business travel and the holidays. I thought I'd offer some tips for some great stores in far off places for those who are still traveling and need to complete their holiday lists; these stores are large and have everything you could imagine.


France:

• Le Bon Marche (my favourite) http://www.lebonmarche.com/


• Printemps http://www.printemps.com/


• Galeries Lafayette http://www.galerieslafayette.com/
  

Spain:

• El Corte Ingles http://www.elcorteingles.es/

Netherlands:

• De Bijenkorf http://www.debijenkorf.nl/


• HEMA

Russia, Estonia and Norway:

• Stockmann http://www.stockmann.com/

Sweden:

• Ahlens


• Nordiska Kompaniet http://www.nk.se/

Australia:

• Myer http://www.myer.com.au/

Germany:

• Peek and Cloppenburg http://www.peek-cloppenburg.com/

Have fun and Happy Holiday


Chris

23 Days And Counting

Well, the USA long weekend is over and we are all settling into the rythym and hum of the holiday season. The consumer feeding frenzy has hence forth begun and with it the tradition of the Holiday Social, Christmas Lunch and / or the Festive Party.

Without surprise this is a busy time of year for Law Enforcement agencies and the products produced within our industry assist in their efforts whether they are testing individuals for probable cause, verification testing individuals for evidential purposes, or supporting criminal sanctions and remedial measures as a result of a DUI/DWI conviction.

So for this Holiday season take care.

Black Friday

It is noticeably quiet in the office today, I presume the lead in to the Holiday season culminating with the shopping frenzy happening today just south of the border. I always find it fascinating that Thanksgiving in the USA is a crazy retail kick off to the holidays.

Anyway I should digress on this point, as admittedly I wish I had taken some time to travel south and partake, but instead I am at work diligently looking to update the Blog and hope that someone at some point will jot a note or comment.

As the year wraps up and the trade show booths are being examined, reconditioned and readied for 2010; where will be be and what sights will we see in the coming months. The largest travel delegation will be to Amsterdam in March.

We will be exhibiting at the 2010 Intertraffic Exhibition, so I am sure I will have some interesting articles to discuss ramping up for that.

Anyway enough of this any unrelated stories from Thanksgiving would be interesting.

Have a good weekend and if you are from the United States, Happy Thanksgiving.

Chris

FACEBOOK Fan Page is up and running

I need to thank our wonderful marketing team for getting us up and running once again. The fan site address is new, but you can easily 'click' on the upper right hand side of the page to rejoin the fan site.

I apologise to our friends in Australia, Japan and the USA who were inadvertently removed but we hoped to see you back again.

Further information will be posted in the coming weeks as we count down 11 months till Montebello.

Facebook is Down

For all 12 active participants of the www.interlocksymposium.com FACEBOOK fan page, please note... it was inadvertently deleted, the administrator was removed, and we are unable to find it.....

Please find our new fan page under interlocksymposium.

Back in Canada

Well.. back home safe and sound and looking to wrap up the Traffic Safety Forum in Moscow. All and all a very good trip; it was very good to see and touch base with our Russian client base and have the opportunity to see some of the local sites as well. The journey was quite long and the paper work at time confusing but well worth the adventure.


If you ever are in the neighbourhood of Moscow, check out the Hotel Ast Hof, www.asthof.ru/en/. The rooms are basic and comfortable, the bathroom is exceptionally clean and breakfast is included, all for around 100.00 Euros a night.


And finally, for those requiring a quick nights stay in Frankfurt check out the NH Frankfurt Airport Hotel, http://www.nh-hotels.com/. Verrry nice room, great bathroom, free shuttle to and from the airport and breakfast included, all for around 95.00 Euros a night.

See great bathroom.....




Regards,

Chris

Exhibition Photos

Exhibition photos as previously discussed. Tomorrow is the last day of the exhibition. We were closed today for 4 hours to await the arrival of some dignitaries, unfortunately they cancelled at hour 3.75, but the vendors got to know each other a little better, no specatators were allowed to attend.

Moscow - Road Traffic Safety

I can't believe that I have not updated the Blog in nearly a week and so much has transpired since then; we received our passports from the Consulate, a fellow business manager is down with a virus and needed to cancel and I made it to Munich /Moscow in one piece. Very simple and no hassles, surprisingly customs and baggage claim were the fastest I have experienced at any airport globally; kudos to Domodedovo for getting me from the plane to the curb in 15 minutes, try to beat that Lester P.

The exhibition officially opened yesterday, but I only found a WiFi signal today and I forgot my camera to download photos from the event. So hopefully later today I will have some photos to post. Big questions conference pictures, Moscow pictures or a combination of both?

It's snowing in Moscow and about 1C, winter has come early even for this Canadian.

Chris

An interesting article came across my desk today, relevant to what I do; the November 11, 2009 edition of the The Globe and Mail had a brief article entitled 'Pilot Charged for Failing Alcohol Test'.

The pilot in question was arrested after "officers were called to the flight, which was already full of passengers and due to leave London's Heathrow Airport." The officers were responding to a report filed by another member of the airlines staff.

The pilot was charged under British law, which pilots are "fobidden from having any more than 20 micrograms of alcohol for each 100 millilitres of blood in their system [.02%]"

Similar legislation exists in the United States, DOT and FAA guidelines, where a misuse of alcohol is considered:

• Reporting for or remaining on duty with an alcohol concentration of 0.04 or greater
• Using alcohol while performing safety-sensitive function
• Using alcohol within 8 hours following an accident, unless a post-accident test was administered or the employer determined the employee's performance could not have caused the accident
• Flight Crewmembers and Flight Attendants using alcohol within 8 hours of performing functions. Any other covered employee using alcohol within 4 hours of performing functions.

So it has been another interesting day in breath alcohol testing.

Russia will have to wait until tomorrow... we get to pick up our passports in the morning.

Passports Submitted

Unfortunatley I have nothing to update with the exception that our passports were accepted and relinquished to the Consulate of the Russian Federation today. All goes well, Visa's will be in place and ready to pick up Friday. So while we work on last minute items for the show in Moscow, I think I'll surf over to our coporate Facebook page(s) and update those. It is never too soon to prepare for the Alcohol Interlock Symposium in 2010.

As a bit of a plug, please check out http://www.interlocksymposium.com/ on Facebook, become a Fan. Next year the conference will be held in Montebello, QC at the Fairmont Charteau Montebello http://www.fairmont.com/. Mark your calendars for October 16 -20, 2010.

Chris Wilson

6 Days and Counting

Well.. it's Sunday night and dutifully preparing for the week ahead. The trip to Moscow starts in 6 days and as of Friday, still no travel Visa invitations. Booth has been purchased, translators hired, equipment ordered, brochures translated, airline tickets purchased, and hotel accommodations booked. What an amazing feat considering we are presenting at another conference in Paris during the same time; http://ns60294.ovh.net/Paris2009/welcome.php?page=home&divers. And if there are any Paris travel and / or conference questions please do not hesitate to ask.

Tomorrow will be spent contacting the Toronto consulate with hopes that the letters have been transmitted and potentially spending some time in a line awaiting my turn. Worse come to worse, Ottawa may be the only alternative to an expedient Visa.

Wish me luck!

Chris Wilson

Travel, travel, travel

My marketing team has been relentless in trying to get me to Blog; and admittedly my writing skills or lack there of, have been my hindrance but here I am attempting to Blog.

Invariably I always ask "What should I write about" and inevitably I get an answer that leaves me far more perplexed than when I initially asked the question; How much business do I speak about? How personal do I get? So I decided to start with something I am familiar with - travel, in particular Business Travel.

In 12 days I will be traveling to Moscow to attend an exhibition. ACS will be presenting our product at the 2009 Traffic Safety Forum. And as the coordinators have stated "TRAFFIC SAFETY FORUM -International specialized exhibition of road control and safety, is a special trade fair that presents innovative products and services and is ideal place for manufacturers, traders and service providers." Business matters covered, check.

In the meantime, I am working through the myriad of paperwork required to obtain a travel Visa, which as always will arrive just in time. Listening to Russian language CD's to brush up on the basics such as hello, good bye and thank you. And attempting a Blog to document the trip.

So it is my hopes, that as this venture progresses; pictures, comments and recommendations will materialize and that it is first and foremost, interesting and informative.

Chris Wilson
Business Unit Manager

Why we do what we do.

Many days go by and I wonder if I'm making a difference in the world helping to stop drunk driving.

We often get too involved in selling to fleets of buses and truck many miles away and it just seems like business.

However, a local client who had recently installed an Alcolock in his employee's car sent me an email that explains what we are doing and how we help. It read “ We're very pleased that we did it. I guess the unit gives the driver trouble sometimes,but he'll have to suffer as the ramifications of his actions. everybody is safer as a result. thanks!”

It makes the day seem worthwhile when you get an email like this and I look forward to reading more "good news" stories from customers.

John Colton

Business Unit Manager-Commercial Interlocks

The Dreaded Customer Satisfaction Survey

I was sitting at my desk this afternoon trying to prepare some shipping documents for a 2pm deadline. At 1:55pm, the phone rang. It was the manufacturer of our photocopier conducting a survey to ensure the recent service and cleaning they performed last week met our expectations. My first instinct was to say "Call me later" or "If there was a problem, you would have heard from me already". Even though it felt like three minutes of my life I'll never get back, I answered her questions candidly and thoroughly. Why? Because I know what it's like trying to ensure customer's expectations are met.

ACS is currently undergoing a similar excercise. Every year, we ask 20 questions about why our customers buy from us, what they want to see in the future and what, if anything, can we improve upon. I sincerely understand completing these surveys is less than exhilarating. Some people may even believe the answers are not read, go into a black hole and no actions or changes take place as a result of everyone's efforts. Not true!

Every year, the data is collected, summarized and presented to the entire management team. Although the data is tallied, raw data such as comments (both good and bad) are unaltered for all to see. Tranparency is important to the management team so that we truly understand the mindset of the customer. After all, we're in business because of our customers, not the other way around.

So if you received a customer satisfaction survey from ACS by email, take a moment to fill it out. Your feedback will be reviewed and any questions or concerns will certainly be addressed in a timely manner.

Shawn Fitzpatrick

Marketing Manager