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BUSINESS AND TRAINING
Springboard for growth
By
Rory Macnamara
Plumbing Africa spoke with Gareth Rohland of Comap Southern Africa about the name change to Standard Hidraulica ( STH ) Southern Africa , and how it will impact on the market . The Comap Group and STH are both business members of Aalberts Industries NV .
Why the name change ? Up until now , even with our market growth , Comap SAF was limited as to which additional product solutions we could introduce for our southern Africa requirements . These core Comap Europe product solutions did not necessarily fit with our local conditions and customer requirements .
While Comap has an excellent range and is a strong brand , changes within the local market indicated the need for us to broaden our range and offerings , including how we position ourselves for the future as a strategic supply partner . Up until recently we had restricted ourselves to mainly the professional merchant sector and that itself is seen to be changing . We will continue to work to develop this market from a value-add offering , of course , but beyond that it creates the opportunity to expand our product and service availability to a wider group of stockists and potential Customers .
This will include on-site support , correct product selection to suit the application . So , we grow the brand loyalty beyond just product and product support to include the whole package as mentioned above as well as certification , guarantees and stockholding .
As an example , Henco and Broen are businesses within the Aalberts Group and are well-known premium specialist brands in this country . Whereas before I had limited flexibility to co-operate with them in SA , with STH we will be able to work together to offer the broader package without taking anything away from each Company . We will continue to retain the core Comap product solutions that have been successful in our local markets .
So , the benefits are great where we move beyond commodity trading and into a solutions-driven business .
Tell us about your expanded offering . Critically the first part of this is to add technical expertise in the line of specifications and technical engineering design .
A further complementary development will be the expanding our core product ranges to service our customers are looking for a ‘ one-stop-shop ,’ and with STH , this enables us to source from a wider number of companies in the group .
© Plumbing Africa | Rory Macnamara
Gareth Rohland of Comap Southern Africa .
Our current facilities will be upgraded to include a new training centre where our customers ( and installer customers ) will be able to experience the experience the product solution offering through see , feel , touch , and have expertise and training available to respond to their needs . In the past we have had limited interaction with installers , specifiers , and engineers . This upgrade will create an environment for us to meaningfully engage with them at planning stages rather than only reactively as we did in the past . We are also excited to be relaunching our premium Francis Pegler range of taps & mixers that was available in SA some years ago .
While plumbing products are fundamental and essential , within the expanded range we will add some ‘ fun and interesting ’ lifestyle products that will benefit both ourselves as well as our customers for add-on or up-selling to their customers in the water quality space .
www . plumbingafrica . co . za @ plumbingonline @ plumbingonline @ PlumbingAfricaOnline March 2021 Volume 27 I Number 1