Blue Chip treatment for clients
If your wheels are a little banged up, whether by a fender bender or, just a garage door that jumped out at you, Blue Chip will give her a facelift and make her sparkly new.
It all started in his father’s garage 12 years ago when Ruan Visagie became fascinated by the fact that something that was once old could be given a facelift and showroom-new. His father started a workshop where Visagie would tinker at after school and in his free time, eventually leading him to working there after matriculating.
“It was only me and one worker, who is still with me to this day. Then they became four, and then six until 2015, when I secured a business partner and today we have a full workshop,” said Visagie. Blue Chip, which means the ‘crème de la crème’, is a workshop that specialises in car body repairs including spray painting. Blue Chip recently moved to their new premises in Parson Street, Southern Industria, Windhoek, which has enabled them to put their customers first with top-notch service delivery.
With more than 15 to 20 jobs done in a week on average, Blue Chip prides itself with a strong work ethic and fantastic customer service. Blue Chip renders services for all cars, including imported vehicles, which are usually turned down by other workshops. They are well known for their workmanship, passion for the industry as a whole, and their quality of service. Blue Chip stands out, head above the rest, because of the paint they use - from the colour consistency through to the paint’s durability quality.
Blue Chip’s choice of paint is Glasurit, supplied by Hemco Paints.
Mark Weiss, a technician from Hemco Paints, says that the technology used to mix the Glasurit paint is sophisticated and very precise and thus yields the best and most successful results when a paint job is done on a vehicle. “Every colour today is very specific. When you are mixing colours every little drop counts and makes a difference, and thus it can be very difficult to get the right colours. However, the Glasurit computer software helps us get the precise colour that we can apply on a car’s factory paint’s hue,” said Weiss.
According to Visagie, the Glasurit paint supplied to them by Hemco Paints is very efficient and has improved the roll-out time for their clients. “The paint is a very high-quality product, especially the water-based paint. The colour reference and colour variance is also great.”
Visagie added that getting qualified panel beaters and spray painters would improve the standards of the industry as a whole, urging the National Training Authority to recognise and endorse panel beaters. “I think every panel beater or spray painter would also be proud if they had a document that said they qualified for something. That would empower them to take ownership of their work because they learned ‘formally’ what they have been doing for years in practise,” said Visagie.
The lack of spray painting and panel beating training facilities hampers production speed at any workshop and Blue Chip urges Namibia to invest into such institutions as many people are self-taught and not always up-to-date with the latest techniques. “There are no institutions that qualify panel beaters and I think they are needed to make the industry as whole, competitive,” said Visagie.
The Glasurit paint supplied by Hemco Paints has been used by Blue Chip for the past two years and they say it is very convenient. “You can visit their app, go online and look for colour codes for cars on the app and that is very convenient,” said Visagie.
“If we are unable to help a customer we always try to refer them to someone that can instead of shutting them down. If a client is unsatisfied with our work they know they can come to us in that regard,” said Visagie.
Blue Chip will continue grow and reinvest in the company to be able to offer their clients so much more.
STAFF REPORTER
“It was only me and one worker, who is still with me to this day. Then they became four, and then six until 2015, when I secured a business partner and today we have a full workshop,” said Visagie. Blue Chip, which means the ‘crème de la crème’, is a workshop that specialises in car body repairs including spray painting. Blue Chip recently moved to their new premises in Parson Street, Southern Industria, Windhoek, which has enabled them to put their customers first with top-notch service delivery.
With more than 15 to 20 jobs done in a week on average, Blue Chip prides itself with a strong work ethic and fantastic customer service. Blue Chip renders services for all cars, including imported vehicles, which are usually turned down by other workshops. They are well known for their workmanship, passion for the industry as a whole, and their quality of service. Blue Chip stands out, head above the rest, because of the paint they use - from the colour consistency through to the paint’s durability quality.
Blue Chip’s choice of paint is Glasurit, supplied by Hemco Paints.
Mark Weiss, a technician from Hemco Paints, says that the technology used to mix the Glasurit paint is sophisticated and very precise and thus yields the best and most successful results when a paint job is done on a vehicle. “Every colour today is very specific. When you are mixing colours every little drop counts and makes a difference, and thus it can be very difficult to get the right colours. However, the Glasurit computer software helps us get the precise colour that we can apply on a car’s factory paint’s hue,” said Weiss.
According to Visagie, the Glasurit paint supplied to them by Hemco Paints is very efficient and has improved the roll-out time for their clients. “The paint is a very high-quality product, especially the water-based paint. The colour reference and colour variance is also great.”
Visagie added that getting qualified panel beaters and spray painters would improve the standards of the industry as a whole, urging the National Training Authority to recognise and endorse panel beaters. “I think every panel beater or spray painter would also be proud if they had a document that said they qualified for something. That would empower them to take ownership of their work because they learned ‘formally’ what they have been doing for years in practise,” said Visagie.
The lack of spray painting and panel beating training facilities hampers production speed at any workshop and Blue Chip urges Namibia to invest into such institutions as many people are self-taught and not always up-to-date with the latest techniques. “There are no institutions that qualify panel beaters and I think they are needed to make the industry as whole, competitive,” said Visagie.
The Glasurit paint supplied by Hemco Paints has been used by Blue Chip for the past two years and they say it is very convenient. “You can visit their app, go online and look for colour codes for cars on the app and that is very convenient,” said Visagie.
“If we are unable to help a customer we always try to refer them to someone that can instead of shutting them down. If a client is unsatisfied with our work they know they can come to us in that regard,” said Visagie.
Blue Chip will continue grow and reinvest in the company to be able to offer their clients so much more.
STAFF REPORTER
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