PERSONALITY PROFILE
61
sanitaryware. We had copper in those days, but a lot of
the piping was galvanised.
“Also at this time, in 1969 married Barbara, my lifetime
mentor to whom I am still married 51 years later.
That same year I was transferred to Bloemfontein
as departmental manager, which was very much an
agricultural branch with products such as borehole exacts,
Climax windmills, irrigation equipment and so on. A fair
amount of trade was from Lesotho, mainly from foreign
companies and at this time the Orange-Fish rivers tunnel
was being constructed.
In 1974 I was transferred to one of the S and L, H Inceldon
& Co subsidiaries, situated at 56 Durban Street, City and
Suburban in Johannesburg. This branch was bustling with
many major contracts, as at this time the Carlton Centre,
Ponte building and Johannesburg General Hospital were
all being constructed, and we had relationships with the
mines and other industries.
“It was an incredibly busy and uplifting time. In addition
to that, Secunda was being constructed – the magnitude
of these projects for a young lad from Bloemfontein was
staggering. Our Durban Street premises was bursting at
the seams.
“In 1977/78 I was seconded to Kimberley as manager of
the company’s Northern Cape region. There were three
departments – Sand L, Incledon and Baldwin Steel – with
big clients among manganese and asbestos mines and
De Beers the single biggest client. We serviced a big
geographic area from Upington to Vryburg, and Carnavon
to Pofadder. Gary Till was one of my departmental
managers and today runs a successful merchant
business in Durban.”
Life was about to change
“Life was about to change as a new powerhouse arose in
the merchant business – Boumat. They approached me
to run Incledon Bloemfontein, where I also met Bill Lee
who was to have a big influence on my career. Back in
Bloemfontein in 1979, we set about refocusing Incledon
into a typical Boumat operation. However, by 1981 I was
back in Pietermaritzburg/Durban with Seaboard Industrial,
a specialist tile company which had also been acquired
by Boumat.”
Chipps’s interests extended beyond the plumbing sphere
– he had not lost his roots in the farming industry. “I had
a chicken farm as well just opposite Cedera Agricultural
College and travelled to Durban most days. The Boumat
group was growing and in about 1986 I was appointed MD
of Incledon Port Elizabeth, and in 1993 MD of Jack Dobson
– another Boumat company based in Johannesburg. It was
here I met another of the great influences of my career –
Mike Piper, a Boumat regional director.”
The two became something of a tag team, with Chipps
and Piper moving around the country. Finally, in 1999
they jointly left the Boumat group to start their own
business, Independent Plumbing Suppliers (IPS), which
is still a going concern.
He remained an entrepreneur until his first retirement
from the business in 2013, and with nothing to keep him
active, accepted another offer from his long-time friend
October 2019 Volume 25 I Number 8
Barry with grandson and co-owner, Trent Chipps.
and client, Arthur Claasen, to join AJC Plumbing as its buyer.
He describes this company as ‘one of the biggest and most
progressive plumbing companies around’.
“It was a great experience to be on the plumbing side
rather than the merchant side,” he says – but not for
long, as he was thinking of ‘retiring’ again. “But plumbing
was in my veins, and soon thereafter I formed my own
company, Pangolin Plumbing.” This business has grown
steadily, and he was joined by grandson, Trent Chipps, in
early 2019.
“Every day of my career has been an adventure – but the
biggest highlight for me has been the friends I’ve made
with the many suppliers and plumbing clients. What made
this industry different is that suppliers have also been good
friends – and if you don’t have that, your business would
not have longevity. In fact, one of my career highlights was
attending to 1995 Rugby World Cup at Ellis Park, invited
by Cobra (Lexil) and surrounded by all my friends and
suppliers. That was a blast.”
What has also been significant has been the changes in
product, transport and IT – from slide rules to iPhones.”
The pace of change during this time was one of the major
challenges Chipps faced in his career – in a field where
product knowledge was essential and keeping up with
market developments, as an ex-farmer he has had to keep
pace with relentless evolution in technology. “The first
computer that Stewarts & Lloyd had took up a complete
temperature-controlled floor – with the same processing
power as today’s smart phones.
“Another challenge for the younger generation is the entry
of politics into the industry, and an enforced requirement
for empowerment (employment equity and enterprise
development) which was done quite naturally by companies
in the past.”
“It was an
incredibly
busy and
uplifting time.
In addition to
that, Secunda
was being
constructed –
the magnitude
of these
projects for a
young lad from
Bloemfontein
was staggering.
Our Durban
Street premises
was bursting at
the seams.”
He applauds the move to greater regulation of plumbers
by PIRB and IOPSA. “We’ve seen the degeneration of
the plumbing profession in past years as any number of
fly-by-nights have called themselves plumbers, tendering
for complex projects when they have no experience or
qualification. Also, you cannot supply non-SABS products to
the market – it has to be controlled.” PA
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