Company Announcement - Chicago Pneumatic authorised South African distributor, United Sales & Service, has successfully positioned itself as a turnkey supplier of solely Chicago Pneumatic product solutions to its end-users across the southern African market.

“As a dedicated distributor, we took the strategic decision to concentrate our efforts and focus on growing the CP brand as well as further improve our service levels to customers,” comments USS General Manager, George Wilson. “We ceased supply of alternative brands, without customer impact. The last 18 months have seen us distributing solely CP products, channelling our investment in the respective tool, compressor and construction equipment ranges.” Wilson affirms that the resulting commitment to product and service quality enhances the customer experience which further helps to expand the presence of Chicago Pneumatic in the region and strength investment in the brand image.

The Chicago Pneumatic light tower, portable compressor and generator product ranges have in particular attracted wide acceptance from USS’s customer base. Discussing market potential on the African continent, Wilson starts at home and says that although the South African economy is suffering from political fallout, the market is still a big one. “With the competitive advantages offered by the Chicago Pneumatic product we are able to gain a larger portion of this shrinking pie to maintain this home base in the region.”        

Moving cross-border, Wilson states that Zambia presents a mature and stable market that has until recently constantly attracted major international mining investment. “We enjoy and understand this market very well because of our management’s experience through involvement in this area over the last 20 years. The rapid growth mode currently seen in both the DRC are presenting exciting new opportunities for USS and the company is positioning itself to support the investors in these regions.                                                                                          

Other CP products that have been readily accepted by USS’s customer base are the robust stationary generators, compressors and legendary Chicago Pneumatic hand tools. Commenting on the company’s success, Wilson says it’s not simple but it’s not rocket science either. “Customers want to deal with suppliers they trust, who do what they say they are going to do. First and foremost, the CP product ranges are world class quality, extremely robust, reliable and competitively priced. Secondly, we are geared up to support our customers who often take these products into tough working environments such as mining, forestry and construction where they rely on attentive back up support. This is a critical key in the success of the complete package of understanding and translating the customers’ needs into an effective solution while providing reliable supply and proactive aftersales support.”