Made in Canada Science Education Products.
Indigo Instruments has been 100% Canadian owned since 1980. We have one of the oldest websites in the world (Oct. 1994) & possibly the first for science education products.
Our Canadian content includes both intellectual property as well as materials sourced in Canada. These vary by product type which we outline below.
All products made outside Canada, except for test strips, come into Canada directly. There is no US transit or US distributor for the others. All Indigo Instruments profits are taxed in Canada.
Molecular Models
All the Orbit kits (Cochranes of Oxford) are minimum 51% Canadian. We buy the atoms in the UK but the kits are all designed in Waterloo & come with clear vinyl bonds made in Ontario.All of the Orbit sets except for the 68845NV use the clear vinyl bonds. They also come with illustrated instructions we wrote, are printed in Waterloo & are minimum 51% Canadian. The Basic & Advanced VSEPR Theory Sets were designed by us & use the Ontario Made clear bonds & are minimum 51% Canadian.
DNA models such as the 12 base pair version uses clear or phosphorescent bonds made in Ontario with assembly instructions written by us. Their stands & support material as well as those used in the 17 & 36 base pair (Big Bang Theory DNA Model) are made in Ontario. Both were designed by a professor (now retired) from the University of Toronto.
The bonds used in all the Unit (Large) Classroom Models sets & kits are made in Ontario, designed by us & have >51% Canadian content.
The Indigo® 3D Molecular Model Builder is a collaboration. It uses the American designed JMol computer program which maps our UK made model parts in the various student organic chemistry sets to the ~100 million organic compounds in the NIH database. This Canadian implementation is unique as a teaching tool & has been configured to allow free access to molecule images for whatever use you might have for them.
Branding
(Glassware, Magnifiers, Prisms)All the custom printing or decal logos are done in Waterloo or London. The glassware is made in India, the magnifiers and prisms are made in China.
Magnets
Our neodymium rare earth magnets are made in China in a Canadian owned factory. Full documentation guaranteeing uniform performance & size tolerances of grade 42 are provided by the manufacturer. Further, this supplier owns many high end machine shops that incorporate magnets in novel designs. Magnets are the basis of a manufacturing ecosystem.
The ferrite bar magnets are made in China with a certificate of analysis indicating safe levels of metals in the paint.
The FieldView™ magnetic field viewer is 100% Product of Canada.
Lab Supplies
Insect Pins are from the Czech Republic & corks stoppers are from Portugal. The dipslides are US made & the PhotoCDs are originally from the UK.Tools
All Indigo tools are made in Pakistan with medical grade steel which are guaranteed not to rust and are comparably priced with our competitors chrome plated Chinese made tools.
Test Strips
These are our only American made products. Their support is exemplary as we are the only (that we know of) distributor of any brand that has all the technical support documentation as well as a minimum 3 year shelf life.
The latter is particularly important to the many provincial local health units which rely on our chlorine, quat & peroxide test strips. Educational & agricultural related materials include taste testing, pH, nitrate, sulphite, potato glucose & more.