Rental people and equipment dealers often say that most equipment available on the market is comparable in performance but what separates one brand from another is the service provided. One can say the same about rental companies: most can provide decent equipment, but it's the quality of service and support that differentiates in the marketplace.

It was this commitment to support that motivated Peter Bigwood, CEO of Atlas Copco Construction Tools, and his staff to set up a regional service center in Round Rock (near Austin), Texas, complementing the already-established service and training center the company is operating in Cleveland. Although Bigwood believes ACCT's hydraulic breakers, hammers, handheld breakers and other tools are in fact the industry's finest and that quality already sets its products apart, he contends a manufacturer's ability to back up its products with service is critical to success in a current marketplace with more than 70 international brands of hydraulic breakers.

“You can have the best products in the world, which I believe we do, but if you don't have the application knowledge, the technical knowledge and the service knowledge to back it up, people aren't going to take a second look at you,” Bigwood says. “Service centers make us a much more valuable partner to rental companies, dealers and end users because we can do so much more for them.”

The Texas service facility opened last November and has 8,000 square feet of enclosed shop space, a 10-ton crane, and the ability to do any kind of repair of hydraulic breakers and hammers, silent demolition tools and handheld breakers. Not only can the staff of three technicians, one parts specialist, and a service administrator do any kind of repair up to completely refurbishing a product, but it has a fully outfitted service truck it can dispatch to dealerships, rental companies and jobsites.

The service center's customers include rental companies, dealers of competitive brands who can't find quality service, and end users. The Texas location is particularly beneficial in attracting end-user customers since a high percentage of the rock quarries in the United States are located in the state.

The ability of the service center staff to service competitive brands is a key ingredient to its success. In fact, repair of competitive units comprises 90 percent of the service center's workload.

The service center also serves as a warehouse to ensure fast local deliveries of parts, accessories and breakers. Its staff helps customers with the installation of hydraulic breaker attachments on to machines. It also serves as a sales center with a sales representative selling ACCT equipment, parts and accessories.

Not only has the West Springfield, Mass.-based division of the Swedish manufacturer opened a new service center, the company has also let loose a torrent of new product introductions this year. Its new generation of SB hydraulic breaker attachments includes the 183-pound SB 100 and the 275-pound SB 15 for use on smaller carriers in the 2,425- to 9,900-pound weight class. The PB 530 Penta series hydraulic breaker is designed for use with skid-steer loaders, backhoes and mini-excavators in the 9- to 15-metric ton class. The MB 700 hydraulic breaker attachment weighs 1,650 pounds and is designed for light demolition work, foundation removal, secondary rock breaking and trenching.

The HB 2500 hydraulic breaker weighs 5,512 pounds and is designed for demolition, tunneling, trenching, foundation work, rock mining and secondary breaking. The CC 1700 hydraulic demolition attachment provides 220 tons of cutting force at the jaw tip. The DP 2800 hydraulic demolition pulverizer attachment provides 99 tons of crushing force at the jaw tip. And ACCT recently introduced a new series of hydraulic power packs and handheld tools.