Reprinted from “The Full Picture Magazine 02/05” a Kongsberg publication.

Charlie & Chuck

Goodwill ambassadors for KONGSBERG

Given the size of the planet Earth, it is ideal for an enterprise headquartered in Norway to have local goodwill ambassadors here and there. KONGSBERG has a number of these indispensable helpers, including Charles (also known as Charlie) and
Chuck Richards, who operate in the US states of Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi.

The C. A. Richards company, with father Charles and son Chuck at the helm, has been in business since the early 1970’s. Conveniently located in Texas, the US heartland of offshore and oil-related activities, the company offers its services as ’Manufacturer’s representatives specializing in marine electronics’. Few people know the maritime markets involving “academic, diving, geophysical, government, navigation, oil and gas exploration drilling, and underwater robotics”, better than these guys. As a result, KONGSBERG’S sales office in Houston cooperates closely with the C. A. Richards company on plans, strategies and advances in respect of new customers and markets.

“We started representing some of KONGSBERG’S product portfolio in the early 1980s”, recounts Charlie. However, since 1993 we have been involved in the sales and marketing of all KONGSBERG'S products, a fairly extensive list these days!

“We’ve enjoyed good collaboration with KONGSBERG right from the start. Of course, business really picked up during the boom in the mid-1990s, not least for KONGSBERG. We’ve enjoyed watching the enterprise grow into today's healthy business, featuring a service and support department in New Orleans and sales offices in Houston.”

“KONGSBERG has acknowledged the need for a local face in this geographic area, and we believe we are an important success factor in that context”, Chuck takes over. “Not all enterprises have understood this. When push comes to shove, the maritime world is a small community that calls for a great deal of local knowledge and an understanding of local culture. This is where we can help KONGSBERG. We are small in geography, but large in scope”, he laughs.

Charlie and Chuck underline the need for maintaining an open and honest dialogue with KONGSBERG. Information has to be shared freely, for better or for worse, to achieve good results. Mutual trust is an important factor when several players are working towards a common goal.

“We have monthly sales meetings where we review our status and objectives”. Chuck points out. “All items are put on the table at these meetings, and that is useful.”

“We are proud to be part of KONGSBERG”, comments Charlie. “The company has become a world-class supplier of maritime electronics in all business areas. Of course, that was not always the case”, he says seriously, but with a twinkle in his eye. “Today's enterprise takes customer feed- back very seriously. We agree completely with KONGSBERG that the customer come first. That also means customers can be confident that we will always solve their challenges, and that is reassuring.”

Old memories suddenly start popping up, and the conversation takes off. Memories of mistakes that were made, mainly linguistic and cultural misunderstandings and jokes, in addition to stories of rewarding experiences and contracts won. Given their long experience of collaborating with KONGSBERG, few people have so much knowledge about the parent company as these fellows. You might say that they really have ‘the Full Picture’.
They say they have learned to live with ‘the northern attitude’, as they call it. They are referring to Norwegian style communication and willingness to understand each other. “The only thing we still don't understand is why the entire country of Norway closes down every July. It must be really nice in Norway at that time of the year”, they laugh, referring to Norway’s general factory holiday that more or less brings the entire country to a standstill. However, they are quick to point out that KONGSBERG recognized the need for customer support regardless of the season and have for many years kept their 24 hour service and parts departments open ‘even in July’.”