Sidhwani to lead Chicago Pneumatic sales effort

Kishore Sidhwani has been appointed vice president of Chicago Pneumatic Construction Equipment. He is currently general manager of Atlas Copco's Construction & Mining Technique Customer Centre in India and will start his new job on 1 February, located in Nacka, near Stockholm, Sweden.

Mr Sidhwani, who has held sales and marketing positions since 1974, will be responsible for building a dedicated sales organisation for Chicago Pneumatic.

"The positioning of the brand in different markets and the creation of effective sales channels are the main challenges for the next months", said Mr Sidhwani. "Sales will be distributor driven. We will streamline all internal and dealer processes to be able to support customers in the best possible way."

Mr Sidhwani's appointment is part of a focus by Atlas Copco to make Chicago Pneumatic a global brand for construction equipment sold under a separate network from Atlas Copco.

Although best known in North America for its power tools, the Chicago Pneumatic range now encompasses compressors, generators, light compaction and concreting equipment as well as light demolition tools. This product range includes rebranded Atlas Copco models, such as Dynapac compaction and concreting tools.

Atlas Copco recently announced that the Irmair-branded compressors - previously produced by Atlas Copco's Irmer + Elze subsidiary - will now be sold in Europe under the Chicago Pneumatic brand.

Chicago Pneumatic will launch its fuller range of equipment at the Bauma exhibition in April.