 It may seem strange but there were no Russian compressors good enough for inflating the off-road car tires in Russia for a long time. We had to pay pretty much money for imported products, or use some cheap, one-time-use fakes, or try using our native low power models to inflate tires of a big diameter. Anyway when Berkut compressors appeared on our market in 2001 everyone was suspicious: relatively low price both attracted and frightened a customer, who thought “what if this is a poor quality stuff again”. But time has shown that except quality production, serious set and fully russified packaging and documents, BERKUT satisfies well the consumer’s needs and is really reliable.
How could a Russian company come to such results? Let us ask Markin Maksim Nikolaevich –TANY Company (BERKUT brand owner) brand manager. How did TANY Company, famous in automobile business as a big supplier of alarm and security systems, suddenly paid attention to such specific product as compressors?
 Yes you are right; in the beginning we offered power window regulators and auto security systems under brand named BERKUT. But now the most important sector for our company is portable high productivity compressors.
It can be easily explained: not dependently on the car’s class, it’s cost and prestige, there are always some similar problems with all vehicles. The newest generation car electronics and the most up-to-date technologies of car construction all become powerless when a tire is accidentally deflated or if there is a tire blowout far away from a car service center. And in jeeper conditions the pressure in the tires should be increased or decreased very often. In this very situations air compressor is just indispensable. In the last situation here the compressor should inflate a huge value of air within a short period of time. Only some foreign manufactures produced such compressors before us. We could offer a lesser price for a comparable quality. I know that many buyers are very interested in where BERKUT is manufactured…
A serious work has been done in our company before beginning the works on a new direction of “tire inflators”. We analyzed the market and the needs of our potential buyers. It was found out that the main criteria of an appropriate tire inflator were as follows: reliable construction, quality production, fast work, precise gauge indicators and low price. Having these basic parameters in our mind we began selecting the manufacturer. European factories would not do because of their high final product cost. We have also received the offers from Russian companies, but the quality of their product was not very stable, which could not satisfy us. That is why our engineers have chosen a serious certified production in Southeast Asia – All Fist Corporation (Taiwan). This company produces their product for such famous brands as VIAIR (USA) and INDIGO (Japan).
Standard quality
“All First” company, on which factories BERKUT compressors are produced, was established in Taiwan in 1979. From the moment of the company’s establishment it specialized on development of mini compressors for different fields, including the compressors for home use, pneumatic tools, sports accessories compressors. As a separate line there were auto accessories (including the compressors for off-road cars and tracks).
In 1995 Dongguan Tahung Co. factory was opened in China, concentrating the production basis of “All First” Corp. Motor production, production of plastic and rubber parts and final compressor assembling is based there. Accessibility of “All First” Corp. developers and manufacturers helps to respond quickly to customer’s requests and wishes worldwide.
All First Company pays a special attention to the quality of the product. In 1998 the company got ISO 9002 (1994) Quality Certificate, and in 2000 – ISO 9001 (2000) and QS9000 (1998) certificates. All the products of the company pass through the double control, thus ensuring the constant high quality level.
 What companies could be your competitors and how do you compete with them?
That’s a good question! But I should give a not very standard answer to it. The car compressors market in Russia is big. Many companies are just being close on the heels of TANY. Also, it is a really hard job to gain our technically educated customer’s confidence. One of the greatest roles in our company is given to professional factors. Our company specialists have created a universal sales strategy, including competent technical consultation and special promotional activities during Moscow and regional shows and exhibitions. One of the most important target audience for our BERKUT are the off-road cars owners, because they, in particular, deal with tire inflating in field conditions more often than other consumers do. We always consider their opinion and make necessary changes in item’s constructions and add more accessories.
It seems that we have reached our goals. The brand BERKUT is well known to many all-wheel drive vehicles owners. There are no quality complaints, taking into account that working parameters were tested successfully many times both during “battle conditions” by jeepers and independent publications testers.
What could you say about lots of “Chinese” analogs, pretending to all-wheel drive cars compressors class?
I would like once again to mention many of our customer’s scrupulousness and good technical knowledge. Our learned consumer would never choose a “mysterious” product in packaging with broken English on it. Moreover all this cheap fakes with their obvious defects have neither Russian Compliance Certificate nor a service warranty. Unlike these kinds of products all BERKUT compressors go through an additional quality control tests. This ensures the high efficiency of our compressors. In this year the warranty period for all compressors models was increased to 3 years. I must tell that there are practically no quality complaints, even on the more “tough” compressors, which are being operated “day and night”, “in snow and in mud”!
 At this moment you only have three compressors in BERKUT product line. Do you have any plans to increase this number?
Our model line really isn’t too big. Yet, we should note that each model already has its very own target audience of the consumers. We have models for lightweight cars having wheels of R14-15 radius, and model for off-road professionals, which can easily inflate R20 wheels. We exerted great efforts to understand the motorists’ needs, understand weak and strong points of the compressor’s construction, eliminate all the problems. In the end of the summer on Moscow International Motor Show 2005 we will demonstrate our customers and visitors our renewed model line of BERKUT compressors. Our company doesn’t stand in one place, and in addition to all we are trying to provide real off-road fans with a full range of quality air accessories. Soon you will be able to buy high-precision hose-built-in gauges, universal coiled long hoses to the compressors.
Sight from the outside
Andrey Illarionov, “Niva-Club Service” business development director.
I have known BERKUT compressors for a long time now, practically from the very day they appeared in the market. Of course, I monitor their life because my business profile makes me know well which auto accessories are good and which are not. To tell you the truth, I can say nothing bad about this “winged friend”. And it helped me often! Either tire inflating or wheel repair - the job is being done easily. Many of my friends use these compressors, some of them by the way bought it after my recommendations. Now I am waiting for BERKUT receiver connection kit to come. I want to install a full pneumatic system into my car, which could have the functions of both – tire inflating and regulation of air locker differentials. Yes, the air-tool can always be necessary on a road!
“4õ4Club” 08 2005 |
