September 2015 Issue Business View Caribbean

Business View Caribbean - September 2015 35 finishes that it sells to repair shops specializing in ac- cident restoration. McHargh explains: “Our shops sell to the repairers. We have a full line of ‘bases’ that, when combined together in a formulation, will match a particular color that the manufacturer has put on a particular car. Edgechem is the only paint company in the Caribbean region that has spent R & D funds on developing its own automotive products line. Every other paint company that sells automotive in the re- gion either has a parent company in Europe or in the U.S., or imports a product and re-sells it here. So, in terms of the automotive line, we put a lot of investment there and we have distribution of that line through our own shops. We also sell to, say, a large garage, like a Nissan, or a Toyota, or Subaru dealership here in Ja- maica. We will supply our goods to them for them to do the repair job.” According to McHargh, being the sole, local produc- er of proprietary automotive finishes is not the only characteristic that differentiates Edgechem from its competitors. Service to its customers is also a key in- gredient that has driven the company’s success. “We just don’t sell the paints,” she says. “We were the first in Jamaica to introduce what we called ‘automotive clinics.’ We would go into an area where there were a number of garages. We would put up a tent or we would use an existing garage. We would collect all of the ‘spray men,’ which is what we call the repairers in the area, and invite them to come into the clinic. We would spend a half a day with them, training them how to use their equipment efficiently so they would get the best value from the paint; how to improve their work-flow in their various garages; introduce them to the products; and teach them new techniques so that they can cut the costs of the repair job. We introduced