A Letter from the Vice President

TO: Polishing & Buffing Executives

FROM THE DESK OF: Bob VanSice, Vice President, GPB Distributing

The following information is being provided because we at GPB Distributing,
care greatly about the overall success and financial health of those in the
polishing and buffing industry. I apologize in advance for the length of this note;
however, I feel strongly that it is very important that you read it from start to finish.

   The spray gun and spare parts industry has changed during the last several years. In most cases, it’s good for industries and companies to go through change; they need to strategically grow and advance so that they can meet the marketplace’s demands and the shifts in buying behaviors. Unfortunately, however, the spray gun industry is changing in ways that are jeopardizing the short- and long-term financial health and production stability of manufacturers like you.

   In the course of the last few years, we have received calls from concerned GPB Distributing customers regarding their Widoberg™ Spray Guns. At first, we thought the issues, which concerned the spare parts used in the guns, affected just a handful of customers. However, we quickly realized the issues were, unfortunately, more widespread. Our customers’ biggest issues have been:

• Out-of-tolerance critical components
• Non-conforming seals that did not function properly
• Inferior aluminum gun cylinders
• Improperly machined surfaces

   To ensure we understood exactly what the problems were, we asked several customers to let us test their spray guns. Being the exclusive Widoberg spray gun and spare parts U.S. distributor, we knew it should not have been a long process to figure out what was occurring and why.

To our surprise, we found out that the issue wasn’t with our spare parts; it was with spare parts these customers purchased from other vendors. From there, we did a comparison test. We used the other brand’s spare parts and then tested the guns using the authentic spare parts exclusively designed for Widoberg spray guns (which we provide). We tested the parts using a specific process and analysis to quickly and accuracy diagnose the problem areas. The post-test results said it all.

   The other vendor’s spare parts had caused the spray gun performance issues our customers were experiencing. This isn’t an uncommon issue; it is like anything else: if you don’t use properly engineered components in critical areas of the product, you risk poor performance and durability results. This leads to a variety of other, bigger headaches. In this case, the following was occurring:

• Significant production downtime
• Increased operating costs due to more frequent re-builds
• Increased energy usage due to inefficiencies created by non-conforming parts

All in all, our customers realized they were spending more money to resolve the issues than the savings they expected by purchasing the second-rate parts. In addition they also had to deal with other crippling production problems as a result. We have successfully equipped many with authentic Widoberg spare parts and they are confidently up and running.

In some cases, we also found customers were using what we like to call “imposter” spray guns. These imposter guns were highly inefficient and caused other serious production issues. When we walked these manufacturers through the GPB Distributing Comparison Program and applied our 30+ years of spray gun experience, our customers could clearly see why Widoberg products and GPB Distributing are the real industry leaders. The false claims the other vendors were making about their imposter products resulted only in unattainable expectations and problem after problem.

If you are dealing with the same sort of issues, I want you to know that GPB Distributing is here to help you. Please contact us directly at 1.800.417.1440. Be sure to also ask about our GPB Distributing Comparison Program and Gun Rebuild Services.