p ssss0sj6k rn markham firm has customs customers kevin yarde correspondent for most people travelling overseas or across the boarder to the us customs is one term they shudder at now imagine that you are an importer or ex porter of a product for many companies the daily weekly or monthly routine of filling out all the paperwork for customs can be a nightmare one markham firm crossings inc has recognized the need for reorganizing the customs process crossings is part of a group of specialists which have helped pioneer the development of the electronic data interchange system or edi as bruce tuck president of crossings states there is a real need for this system we have some 30 to 40 cana dian companies on our system for importingand exporting for in stance everything that comes in to eatons of canada motorola black and decker emerson electric and others is cleared through our system all of these companies use pur software to help them process the importing of goods more effectively than they have done in the past simplifying a complex procedure increasingly companies are beginning to think in terms of in ternational objectives with free trade already a reality the firm expects many more import ex port companies will acquire the edi system as tuck mentions we are looking to move our soft ware into the united states an exporter from the united states can send all the documents up to an importer in canada elec tronically at the same time an exporter from canada can now send the information elec tronically down to a us broker and have the broker clear the goods before the trucks get out of theyard norm sartor supervisor traf fic and customs motorola canada ltd communications division commented on how edi has helped his company we can transmit an edifax message which prepares us for the future approximately 90 per cent of our motorola im portexport business is cleared through this system the edi system may appear complex for many individuals who are not familiar with comr puters however as tuck asserts the trade documentation system is fairly simple to unders tand we have three modules which are part of our trade documentation system the modules which are integrated in clude an import manager export manager and a drawback manager an import manager he con tinues operates when you import goods the module does all the calculations and fills out the pro per documents the export manager deals with the canadian exporter who wishes to send the data electronically down to the us importer or broker drawback is a little more com plex presently when you import goods into canada you are allow ed to get your duty back under the free trade agreement after four years this will not be possi ble so everyone who is importing now should be looking at what money they can get back from the goods they are exporting all three of these modules are part of one of the veryfirst ser vice boroughs in canada at the same time crossings inc is directly linked to canada customs office automation at its best crossings inc is the very first nonbroker in canada to achieve these standards in many in stances it is the customs brokers or actual importers who handle the paperwork crossings helps the importer and in some cases the customs broker do the job markham hydro electric commission 1990 rate schedule markham hydro electric commission has announced an average 44 rate increase for 1990 that will take effect january 1st ontario hydro has increased the wholesale cost of power to markham hydro by 603 but careful i budgeting and effective financial controls have permitted the commission to absorb a portion of the overall increase bill burnett chairman of markham hydro electric commission is particularly pleased in view of their large capital program to have kept the retail rate well below the cost of power increase for the eighth consecutive year mr burnett also emphasized that this increase is one of the lowest in creases being passed on to consumers by a municipal utility in ontario as was done in previous years any consumption used prior to january 1 1990 will be prorated using the 1989 rate schedule if you have any questions regarding the hew rates listed below please contact our consumer service department at 4773810 ext 233 or 229 bimonthly rate schedule residential first 500 kwh balance minimum bill monthly rate schedule general service demand charges 050 kw next 4950 kw balance minimum bill under 50 kw minimum bill over 50 kw based on the highest billing demand in previous eleven months energy charges first 250 kwh next 12250 kwh next 1729900 kwh balance water heater rental 40 gallon 60 gallon 946 per kwh 570 per kwh 590 no charge 440 per kw of demand 1057 590 60 per kw of demand 946 per kwh 621 per kwh 445 per kwh 268 per kwh 300 per month plus energy charges 375 per month plus energy charges i town of markham hydro electric commission 8100 warden avenue po box 4100 markham ontario l3r 8h7 4773810 mayor tony roman commissioner alma walker commissioner bill burnett chairman fred white commissioner frank maguire vicechairman more effectively and at a lower cost as klaus nau jok vice- president of crossings states the savings for a company are tremendous when you can turn around and save a company 150000 in a year by reducing the use of an outside agent that is substantial the savings can be reinvested into their operations to cut down on the hiring of addi- tional staff since with the use of a com puter having the information in the process a company can do their own work without adding additional staff or taking on addi tional hardware and as a result they can basically eliminate hav ing any outside requirements john stevenson manager of corporate customs at emerson electric canada ltd discussed how the edi system has been valuable when we finish im plementing our program the cost savings will be around 300000 to 400000 range for emerson this has been the main implemen tation factor the other aspect is that with edi it allows us to gain control of our own customs ratings therefore edi is basically you sending your own information from one computer to another and having that person use the data without having to rekey it as sartor concurs currently what we motorola are doing is manually keying in the informa tion once we have fully hooked up with the edi system we are looking to no keying of data all we will have to do is enter the in formation on the invoice into the system world influence crossings is also in the trade documentation field klaus nau- jok is also the chairperson of the technical committee at the united nations level which is setting up standards for what is called the edifax standard as naujok states edifax standard stands for electronic data inter change this covers standards in commerce and transport edifax is the one standard that is going to be used around the world for all companies tolpass informa tion back and forth and we are setting those standards right here in markham edifax has such a worldwide see page 49 greens new years bash featuring the shakers all inclusive 3 course dinner party favours champagne at midnight and all you can etc dancing to good old rock roll til 200 am dinner starts at 700 pm until 1000 pm courtesy van on request for stouffville residents only per person must be 19 years of age or older 6407211 220 main st e stouffville onlyatmarkville store and it ends cole when the year 8m oav ends so dont 0ox get left behind nii r in- italian lacquer dining set reg 1659o 45 round plus 114 extension lac quer table with 4 laquer chairs available in black white almond oakdiningset reg 14950 39 round with 18 butterfly leaf oak table with 4 solid oak chairs walnut only up selected items markv1lle shopping centre hwy 7 mccowan t j5jimskjn54sfm- fax 4zfc792fl- m