Express Exterior Revisited -The Exception of The Rules

 By: Anthony Analetto
Originally Published in AutoLaundry Magazine

Who knew car washing would ever become this exciting? A year has passed since I last wrote about the explosion of completely automated Express Exterior tunnel washes offering free vacuuming. The prospect of washing high volumes of cars with minimal labor expense has continued to attract more investors to car washing. It has spawned three separate Express Exterior franchise chains making it easier for investors to enter the market. At the same time, more manufacturers have entered or reinvested in building conveyorized equipment. The increased number of conveyorized manufacturers has increased competition and raised the bar for equipment to produce clean, dry, shiny, cars with absolutely no prepping or aftercare.  It’s an exciting time for car washing as an industry with increasing opportunities available to Full Serve, Flex Serve, Express Exterior, and Self Serve operators across the country.

Express, Flex, and everything in-between:

One of the most interesting developments of the Express Exterior model is how many of its principles are being incorporated by Full Serve Operators at their existing locations. Although there are hundreds of variations, all of them are increasing profit margins and reducing the cost of labor as a percentage of gross sales. Below are brief descriptions of several major car wash types that are evolving daily.

Flex Serve:

The typical flex serve is the combination of Express Exterior and Full Service offerings on one property. The foundation of this style is an Express Exterior conveyorized tunnel with automated gated entry that requires no manual prepping and produces a clean, shiny, and completely dry car with no labor. Optional exterior services such as tire shining and bug removal are performed online via computer-controlled equipment. In Express, the customer has no interior option and exit into free vacuum bays for self-serve interior cleaning. In Flex, the customer can exit directly, normally past vended vacuums, or add quick interior and exterior services, requiring 15 minutes or less to complete. If space permits, additional detailing options can be offered that demand greater than 15 minutes.  This is not the same as Full Serve where the object is to get every customer to purchase as many extra services as possible. A properly executed Flex Serve carefully manages and adjusts aftercare service pricing to maintain controlled flow through the property, putting labor where margin makes sense. There are differing opinions as to the exact mix and ratio, but a good rule of thumb to start your planning with is that you want 30% of all exterior customers to purchase aftercare services with 25% or less of gross revenue going to labor cost.

Flex Serve with Self Serve Bays

This unique variation on the classic Flex Serve described above has been highly successful for some operators. It takes the ability of a Flex Serve location to attract a wide range of customers by offering multiple specialties or services on the same property and amplifies it. When executed correctly, it can offer a diverse population of customers with different preferences, a wash where they feel in control of both the time and money they are investing to get a clean car. It also has worked well in periods of inclement weather where people continue to purchase self serve and detailing services even when they normally wouldn’t go through the car wash.

Adding Express Exterior Lanes to existing Full Serves:

Another concept gaining in popularity is adding an express only lane by converting an existing second or third vacuum lane or by adding an entrance lane to the conveyor. Full-serve operations continue during peak times with customers exiting the vehicle, paying in a lobby area, and picking up their vehicle at the conveyor exit. Express lane customers enter a clearly marked “express lane” promising a maximum wash time of 3 to 5 minutes depending on equipment performance. Express customers pay through an automated attendant, stay in the vehicle during the wash, and exit the wash directly with no attendant interaction. The minimal staffing requirements of the express lane permit it to remain open even when the full-service lanes are closed.

Market Momentum:

Another exciting phenomenon being witnessed is what appears to be a more legitimate view of car washing by both investors and bankers. Many Express Exterior locations have enjoyed tremendous volume and return on investment. Their success has built confidence in the model and facilitated traditional financing options for new operators looking to convert or open new locations.

Wash Improvements:

The pace at which advancements in equipment, automated attendants, and chemicals are delivered to market has accelerated.  The elimination of labor through computer controlled equipment in Express Exterior means if the car comes out of the tunnel anything less than clean dry and shiny – there is no person to touch it up. Additionally, there is no prep attendant to find scratches and blemishes before a car enters the wash. These two facts have demanded that equipment wash better, safer, and more economically to support the low price points.

Equipment Improvements:

The low price points and promise of fast service by Express Exterior car washes fundamentally demands an equipment packages that can meet that expectation for the anticipated volume at the site. To achieve this, the most prevalent design philosophy involves a hybrid combination of both friction and high-pressure wash technologies, leveraging the advantages of each to produce cleaner cars, faster, more safely, at the lowest possible cost per vehicle. New wash materials and new high-pressure technologies deliver unprecedented car wash performance with less prepping and finishing.

Advancements in Automated Attendants:

Automated attendants are now available that are faster, can easily process credit cards in seconds, and handle multiple lanes for unlimited throughput. Newer models are available with multilingual interfaces and are easier to work with. Every day, new advancements are created that improve cross selling and merchandising opportunities.

Chemicals:

Getting a clean car at high volumes is like conducting an orchestra of how long a chemical has to dwell and act with gravity before being agitated or removed. Express Exterior has been designed in conjunction with chemical manufacturers so that you do not only have better chemicals; they are better applied and removed.

Lessons Learned:

One of the biggest lessons learned is the need to carefully plan for increased volumes. Traditionally, the rule of thumb, not considering demographic, climate, or marketing, was to design a wash that could handle 1% or your daily traffic count. With Express Exterior locations I would recommend adjusting that rule of thumb anywhere from 3-6% of daily traffic. That means you need to either build or design in the ability to increase to that amount. Sites that have not built in enough capacity, face diminishing the quality of the wash by raising conveyor speeds, diminishing competitive advantage by increasing wait times, or diminishing safety by using harsh cleaning products.

Honey - I Shrunk the Conveyor

By: Anthony Analetto
Originally Published in AutoLaundry Magazine

Take a second to review the two drawings below. Personally, I just completed construction of a 135 foot Express Exterior tunnel on a street with a 65,000 daily traffic count. A few weeks after opening – things are exactly on track and we’re beating estimates on our pro-forma. That being said, the 16 month construction process gave me a lot of time to think about car washing. Actually if you throw in the 14 months it took to find a viable location at a price that made sense – I’ve thought about almost nothing but the construction, marketing, and operation of an $3 Express Exterior wash with free vacuums for over three years. In fact I’m about to break ground on a second, nearly identical location, only 10 miles down the street. Obviously a firm believer in the large high volume location, I have to admit, it does complicate finding a piece of property.

Land Considerations – “I wonder if”

It’s difficult to find a property, with good visibility, easy access, and a huge daily car count with limited competition, at an affordable price – that is big enough to build a 100 to 160 foot tunnel with 20 or more free-vacuum lanes. While searching for properties I would often find myself thinking “I wonder if”. Sometimes I would see a nice property in a smaller market and be enticed by a reasonable asking price; only to decide that the daily traffic count wasn’t high enough to support the volume I needed to make my numbers work. I started sketching out short 50 foot tunnels able to process 60 cars per hour peak. Suddenly every where I looked I saw a car wash. Closed gas stations, vacant drugstores, small lots on good streets off the main thoroughfare, even re-use of an existing building all started to seem like possibilities.

Compounded Savings

It’s no secret that I am the chief operating officer of a large car wash equipment manufacturer. It should also come as no surprise that I believe that on the right property, a large express exterior or flex serve tunnel can be a home run. There are so many success stories in the industry today that I jumped into the market myself and am glad I did.

Unfortunately, a lot has changed over the last several years. Everyone seems to focus on higher land and equipment costs, but the reality is that almost every aspect of building any business has gone up dramatically in recent history. Construction materials such as copper, concrete, roofing, and windows have skyrocketed. Landscaping and irrigation requirements in most municipalities can add huge costs to every square foot of property you have. Once you start getting into the astronomical expense for each contractor and sub, you can almost start to think in terms of how much every square inch of your business will cost. More specific to car washing can be the higher impact fees experienced with larger tunnels. Some municipalities will assess thousands of dollars to go from a standard 1 inch water main needed for a tunnel under 50 feet to a 2 inch hookup for a larger tunnel. Other towns have impact fees to penalize the electrical requirements for bigger locations.

There is no question that the automated express exterior model is growing, but mostly in large markets with a high barrier of entry to meet the land and construction costs to get started. Does this mean that customers in smaller markets don’t want a fast, affordable wash with free vacuums? Traditionally these areas are served by a combination of self-serves, in-bay automatics, and small full-serve locations relying heavily on labor. That appears to be changing. Several operators are discovering a huge return on their investment by building extremely small express tunnels, usually 50 feet or less. Let’s take a look at why this trend seems to be gaining traction in the marketplace.

The Appeal of Extremely Small Conveyors

For years, the growing popularity and availability of In-Bay automatic car washes had a distinct impact on the industry. They delivered convenience, speed, and when tied with a gas purchase, affordability. They still do, but the erosion of gas profit margins has eaten into the ability to discount heavily with a fill-up. Consequently, price points for rollover car washes have risen along with chemical and utility costs. The days of a free wash with a fill-up are nearly extinct. In today’s business environment, the car wash must function as a profit center to justify its existence on a property. That means it must process cars quickly, offer a robust selection of extra service selections to increase the ticket price, and deliver a consistent clean, dry, shiny product.

Equipment manufacturers have responded with new in-bay rollovers that clean better, are much faster, and offer greater extra service abilities. This addresses the fact that customers demonstrate little tolerance for a wet and dirty car when they are paying a fair price for the service, but ignores the reality that people wash cars during peak times. To understand the concept of peak capacity and throughput, think about your average fast food restaurant. Designed to process the maximum peak anticipated lunch volume, most seats are empty at other times. The fact is they must be able to process their maximum potential volume with a consistent waiting time that the customer anticipates. A customer who returns late to work because it took longer than expected to be served lunch will either not return, or only visit the restaurant when they have time to wait. That creates bottlenecks, the same as everyone showing up to wash their car on Saturday.

The other dilemma for an In-Bay automatic is that the most profitable top package normally includes extra passes and takes longer. A potential customer looking at a 5 car line doesn’t know if they will be waiting 30 minutes if everyone before them selected the 6 minute top wash, or 10 minutes if everyone in front purchased the base 2 minute base wash. Despite its shortcomings, the Rollover wash has an extremely compelling advantage; it can operate with absolutely no employee intervention.

In many markets, this fact is keeping things moving along at status quo, with most Self-Serve washes, C-Stores, and Gas Stations continue to favor adding Rollovers. What’s interesting is the growing number of installations of extremely small tunnels, less than 50 feet at these locations. As the car wash is increasingly viewed as a profit center, there seems to be a greater interest managing an additional employee to guide customers onto the conveyor in exchange for increased throughput and reduced abandonment. 

Changes in Technology; Why Now?

Admittedly not as dramatic as the increased power and reduced sizes of computers and consumer electronics, the ability to wash cars in more compact spaces has seen dramatic improvements over the last 5 years. New plush wash materials, equipment designs, and chemical technologies, have advanced the ability to safely clean a car better and faster in a shorter distance than ever before. Advanced computer systems, roller designs, conveyor innovations, and control systems have dramatically improved the safety of loading the front wheel of a vehicle. Internet based surveillance cameras and online equipment monitoring systems have made remote management a reality. Although not the 24 hour availability of a Rollover, extremely small express tunnels have definitely encroached into their hallmark of “always open” while meeting customer expectations for speed and consistent wait times.

Summary

Maybe I’m becoming overly optimistic, but I feel our industry is on the cusp of a major shift in public opinion and opportunity. Professional washes are increasingly recognized as a “greener” alternative to driveway washing. The growth of the Express Exterior model has eliminated the large crews of manual labor that no matter how professional, always are a point of friction with local neighborhoods. I foresee an emergence of what I call drive-through auto appearance centers located right next to other widely accepted retail businesses. All right, maybe I’m getting a little ahead of myself. The municipality where my newest wash is located still groups car washes with adult bookstores, but I really do believe the tide is turning.  Each time a creative operator refines the value proposition for customers to get a clean, dry, shiny car – there is a potential to draw more driveway washers into a professional car wash. I recently read an article that said today’s express exterior wash format has been around for decades. Businesses have also poured coffee for centuries, but it would be hard to argue that Starbuck’s seemingly slight modification to the retail experience hasn’t brought millions of dollars in business out of the home. Car washing is a retail business affecting all senses. I think the investors out there building extremely small express exterior tunnels as stand-alone washes or attached to another business are onto something. It’s another exciting twist on the express exterior model.

An Attitude of Gratitude

By: Anthony Analetto
Originally Published in AutoLaundry Magazine

Writing this article after a large family dinner that drew relatives from multiple states, I think I may have stumbled upon an observation that is nothing less than a ground-breaking opportunity to separate your business from the pack. After slaving for six hours preparing the feast, I am old enough, and wise enough, to not expect gratitude. I couldn’t resist however asking one of the younger children if they liked the meal. Their response, “I didn’t eat anything I didn’t like,” got me thinking. Relaxing after dinner, another of my cooking partners dared to question one of the teenagers at the meal if they liked the pecan pie. When they answered “It was better than Costco’s,” I looked at them and realized that they thought they’d given a sincere compliment.

This isn’t an article about the ingratitude of youth. Face it. Most of us seem to understate our appreciation of people or events at least some of the time. It’s just easier to say “it wasn’t that bad” or “it was O.K.” rather than commit ourselves to “It was fantastic” or “I loved it.” Being a car washer, not a philosopher, I’ll leave the unraveling of why we hesitate to give honest enthusiastic compliments to one another to more scholarly people. My eureka moment at that dinner party however was a simple observation that people seem to be becoming less forthcoming with compliments these days. I may be wrong. But if I’m right, that means that our ability to project an attitude of gratitude to our customers will increasingly stand out from what they expect. It will have an increasingly dramatic impact on the success of our businesses. Winston Churchill once said “Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.” Projecting the right attitude and delivering exceptional customer service may be the differentiating factor between success and failure.

Where to Start

When thinking of extending an attitude of gratitude to your customers I recommend first looking at the property itself. What about your car wash screams out to customers that you value their patronage? Look at other industries for inspiration. Think about your favorite restaurant for example. What is it about the property, including the staff that makes you feel like they care about you? Pay attention to how the lighting, the furnishings and the music affect you. Notice how staff is dressed. Are the bathrooms clean? Do they offer towels, or dryers? All of these factors combine with the quality of the food and service to determine if you become a one time, or repeat customer. The same is true for your car wash.

Next visit your favorite retail store. Again, look at the signage, the checkout process, the organization of products. These factors also combine with the price and availability to determine if you’ll buy one item because it’s on sale, or become a lifelong repeat customer. It’s no different at your business.

Your ability to create a unique environment that screams out gratitude for your customers business is part of your competitive advantage in your market. Everything matters, but here are some places to start. If you’re running an express-exterior, look at what you’re doing to provide vacuum stations that make it easy for your customers and protects them from either sun or icy cold wind. If you run a full or flex serve, explore ways to deliver an engaging and memorable experience in your lobby. Leave no stone unturned. Graphics matter. Colors matter. Landscaping matters. Uniforms matter. Whether it’s a dirty bathroom at a restaurant, or a driveway in disrepair at a car wash, these things communicate whether you have, or don’t have, gratitude for your customer’s business.

Look at Your Policies

The next area of your business filled with opportunity to demonstrate gratitude is your policies and procedures. We’re all familiar with brands such as Nordstrom, famous for taking nearly any return, and many washes offer 24 or 48 hour wash guarantees in that same spirit. Some washes are taking this a step further with positive results. I’ve seen locations that provide amenities at their free vacuum stations including air fresheners, towels, and matt cleaners, with a level of care that rivals a fine hotel. One of my favorites is a wash that gives each customer a towel when they leave to keep their dash dusted, with a simple request to return it for a new one on their next visit.

Once you’re confident that you have the right policies in place, don’t forget to make sure customers know about them. Writing out your policies in a pamphlet isn’t enough. Publish what makes your wash special on signs, receipts, or anywhere a customer will see them. This will elevate the attention your staff gives to customer service and soften the impact of a negative encounter with an improperly trained employee.

Examine Your Product

Nothing expresses gratitude for your customers business like a fanatical effort to deliver a superior product. Examine regular maintenance items. Whether it’s a light that doesn’t blink on a sign in the tunnel, an applicator nozzle that is clogged, or a retracted brush, customers will notice. Worse, they’ll leave feeling short changed, even if their car comes out clean. This isn’t an article about the nuts and bolts of washing a car, but never forget, if a customer does not feel that you passionately care about the quality of your service, they will quickly forget about you.

Evaluate Your Training

Every effort to create a facility, policies, and product that makes customers feel your gratitude for their business lessens your reliance on staff to project the right attitude. That said, at the end of the day, a simple smile from your staff can go a very long way in communicating gratitude.

The other day, waiting in line to checkout at a store, I heard a customer say thank you to the cashier. Hearing the cashier reply “you’re welcome, have a nice day,” I started to laugh. In a perfectly run business, the cashier would have replied, “No, thank you, we appreciate your business and hope you have a nice day.” Cultivating that level of customer oriented behavior from your staff demands training combined with constant coaching and reinforcement, an endeavor worth pursuing.

Your Best Customers - Do You Deserve Their Business?

By: Anthony Analetto
Originally Published in AutoLaundry Magazine

What a trip! In only two days I witnessed exemplary customer service where I least expected; and watched in amazement as a single store manager for a multinational chain wielded the authority to decimate the trust of 15 customers, who, like me, probably believed, to some degree, the years of advertising that said the company cared about its patrons.

It made me realize how fragile customer service truly is. It opened my eyes to how subtly good customer service from a competitor can seduce even your most habitual customer. Personally, I like to analyze good and bad customer service experiences that influence my own behavior. For example, our company often uses a local restaurant for business meetings. The food and service are excellent, but recently a colleague made a slight comment about something that did not impress him. Doubts have snowballed. I brought my wife to another restaurant with similar food for our anniversary. The service was stellar. The waiter made us feel like we were part of the family. When the bill came, it was approximately the same as the other restaurant. At that moment I asked myself the fatal question for any service company from a habitual customer; “What are they doing to deserve my business?”

Don’t Glorify the Obvious

So what exactly is customer service? What makes it good? Before addressing what customer service is, let’s first look at what it’s not. Good customer service is not about delivering a clean, dry, shiny car. Believe it or not, a customer who enters your wash expects a clean car; otherwise, they wouldn’t have turned into the driveway. The same goes for promoting that your car wash won’t damage their vehicle. Imagine reading a fast food menu with a big sign that said, “Our food-handling procedures are so careful you’ll never get sick eating here!” Don’t get me wrong. Promoting your exclusive 12-step wash process that gently shines and protects today’s delicate clear-coat finishes is dramatically different than saying your hi-tech process won’t damage a car. The point is, that delivering the product or service on the sign in front of your business, and not harming consumers, does not give your habitual customer a ready answer to the rhetorical question, “What are they doing to deserve my business?” It is merely the price of entry.

So now the struggle begins. What do you do, or can you do, that you are not expected to do, to enhance the ease, quality, or enjoyment of getting a car wash? Better yet, what is your wash’s distinct competitive advantage?

Formula for Success

Having good customer service policies, procedures, and practices is only one-third of the opportunity. The second third, making sure your customers know how great your policies are, is arguably even more important. The final evolutionary leap occurs when your customers trust that you will always serve them well because they believe in the integrity of your company.  Everything starts with a clear plan and documentation.

Policies

Document the appropriate reply from each staff member on your property to every anticipated interaction with a customer. At a car wash, writing down each scenario and the approved response is particularly important to maintain consistency in an environment of constant turnover. The better your documentation and training, the more likely staff will know how to act appropriately when a situation happens that they are not familiar with. I have had the greatest success when I’ve had employees role play different scenarios and how to properly respond. This will help them to use common sense to override a written policy that in practice doesn’t fit your customer service patterns. For example, at the beginning of this article I mentioned that during a recent trip I witnessed a manager of a multinational chain act rudely to a customer. It was at a crowded fast food restaurant where a mother, trying to balance four toddlers while ordering her children’s meals, requested a different toy in each one. The manager went out of her way to override the cashier who began to honor the request and told the customer firmly that all toys are the same for each day. The woman angrily tearing through the bags, the manager getting frustrated, and the cashier trying to motion to the customer to be quiet, created quite a scene. It turns out that the cashier had the wherewithal to realize that the written policy was inappropriate in this situation and slipped in different toys while the manager wasn’t looking. The customer, upon realizing she had four different toys, loudly exclaimed her gratitude to the horror of the cashier.  I nearly expected the manager to snatch the toys from the customer, but she too sensed that it would be highly inappropriate and simply walked away. Moral of the story; the more you document and train staff on your customer service policies, the more likely they will act in a way that makes you money.

Procedures

Whereas documenting policies is powerful, creating clear procedures is the corner stone of turning customer service into a competitive advantage. For example, pretend you have a rewash guarantee if it rains within 24 hours of the wash. Now, when the customer returns you have a procedure that the greeter must recite, “I’m sorry you had to take the time to get a rewash, I’ll get you right in. Also, here’s a coupon for a free Total Body Protectant upgrade on your next wash anytime in the next two weeks. It’s our best paint protectant and we recommend having it done at least once a month.” This procedure is scripted and very simple but the message is powerful. In a few seconds, you have confirmed that you have the best interest of the customer in mind, respect their time, and also established your integrity. From a trusted position of authority, you outlined the frequency they should visit your wash to prevent damage to their car and provided an incentive to give it a try. Occasionally, I’ve seen great car wash operators throw out good customer service policies, like a free re-wash, without a procedure. What happens is that the customer returns for their free wash to a greeter who won’t make any money unless they can sell them something new. If the greeter is good, chances are the customer will end up buying some additional service and leave feeling violated.  Alienating customers was certainly not the intention of your re-wash policy, but is what may happen without a well-trained procedure.

To me, one of the companies that best exemplify using procedures to elevate trust is the Walt Disney Corporation.  I can visit their theme parks and leave with confidence that they truly tried to make every second of my visit as enjoyable as it could be.  Try to identify companies you trust “to do no evil” and think of how you can own that quality in your market. Being trusted can be very profitable – just ask Google – whose original slogan just so happened to be “Don’t be Evil.”

Mechanize the Delivery

Nothing matters if your customers don’t know about and believe in the sincerity of your customer service policies. Training is vital, but not enough. One employee not singing the same tune can cost you hundreds of loyal customers before you even realize what went on. Put your policies in writing and make them visible on signs, receipts, or anywhere a customer will see them. This will elevate the attention your staff gives to customer service and soften the impact of a negative encounter with an improperly trained employee.

Summary

Ask yourself, “Do my customers believe that I am the best car wash in the market without question?” It’s not just about delivering a clean, dry, shiny car. You must earn their trust through customer service. For anyone still interested where I witnessed the unexpected exemplary customer service, it was at the University where my oldest daughter is starting her first semester. Everywhere I turned someone seemed to be trying to help me. More times than I can remember someone reassured me of the school’s policies and support systems. Each University representative I met gave me personal contact information and encouraged me to contact them with any questions I thought of later. After each procedure I increasingly trusted that no school could possibly care more about my daughter’s success. If my daughter fails – I’m going to absolutely believe it must be her fault and not the school’s. Neat how customer service and trust influence our purchasing decisions.

One Wash Cycle per Every Three Pounds - 5-Steps to Finding Innovative Solutions to Grow Your Business

By: Anthony Analetto
Originally Published in AutoLaundry Magazine

While sitting down to write this article, only two weeks since Thanksgiving, a colleague called. Before talking about business, we had to first cover a very important annual topic – what innovations we came up with in the preparation of our Thanksgiving Day turkeys – and how it relates to car washing.

Now before this phone conversation, I thought I was pretty creative.  Needing to prepare two turkeys to feed our guests, I roasted the first on a bed of carrots, celery, onions, and garlic – a tip I picked up watching Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives on the Food Network. After cooking, the vegetables are then pureed into the gravy, which drew some funny looks from my family, but they ate every drop.  When I said I was going to smoke the second turkey however, I was met with absolute resistance. Ignoring comments like “Dad, why can’t you just make a normal turkey?”  I proceeded to brine it with Bourbon and Apple Juice, making it the happiest turkey I’ve ever eaten.  At the end of the meal – the smoked turkey was gone and leftover roasted turkey was moved to the refrigerator.

My friend however had a bigger challenge – how to serve seven turkeys to waiting guests at approximately the same time. Roasted, smoked, grilled, deep-fried, and my personal favorite – washed! He actually put one bird in several plastic roasting bags with seasoning, put that in the dishwasher, and let it run. “One wash cycle per every three pounds is all it needs, and then just stick it on the grill to brown it up a bit” he says.

The point is, whether it’s dishwashing a turkey, or solving a problem at your wash, sometimes you have to be willing to entertain solutions that don’t seem palatable at first blush.  I’ve only been preparing turkeys for 24 years, the number of years I’ve been married, and my thought process for new recipes is pretty informal. However, after 34 years of washing cars, I’ve discovered that car wash innovation comes out best when you follow a process – starting with a clear vision of a better outcome.

Step One – Create a Vision of a Better Outcome:
My first step in creating innovations to solve problems is to get real specific. Everyone wants cleaner cars, faster, at lower cost, with less labor – but if you try to tackle everything at once you’ll get nowhere.  First break the problems down to more manageable chunks, and then create your vision.  Make sure that your vision’s “steps” are measurable and always write them down with a clear deadline for achieving success.

For example, you may decide that you want to achieve a 15% reduction in detergent expense without impacting wash quality within three months. Armed with a clear vision of a better outcome, you can set out on the task at hand. You may evaluate the detergents and suppliers you use.  Other considerations may be to evaluate the accuracy of your chemical pump stations, application equipment, or water quality. Dig deeper and you may realize that the solution lies in improving your wash equipment, or changing your prep procedure. That’s just the beginning. The point is that it becomes easier to uncover solutions to problems once you’ve created a vision of a better outcome.

Step Two – Share Your Vision:

When it comes to innovation, the more people you can get to join the discussion the better. Start with your managers and fellow operators but don’t stop there. Assemble a team representing different functions related to the problem. This may include other members of your staff, distributors, manufacturers, or consultants. Address all levels of the “food chain.” Keep an open mind. Plan to attend industry trade shows. By sharing your vision with others, not only will you gain outside expertise to finding new solutions, you’ll refine the problem for yourself.

Step Three – Look Outside the Industry

Thanksgiving Day turkeys have been cooked since the pilgrims and many, not wanting to change, eat dry turkey every year just because it’s what they always do. To succeed in growing your business, first examine the latest ideas in the car wash industry, and then look beyond. Study other successful retail services. Search for articles online discussing the challenges of their business models and how they’ve overcome them.  While online, look at some of the fastest growing internet brands and ask yourself, “What are they offering to attract and maintain the loyalty of millions of users?”

Step Four – Generate New Ideas

This is where the fun part starts. Having exhausted every avenue of what already exists, this is where you begin to look for new solutions, or refinements, to an existing product or practice to make it better. Take a walk through your tunnel. You may see a top-brush, a technology previously abandoned for years, now outfitted with foam wash materials and automatic retracts that allow it to perform as a safe and effective workhorse at  your wash.  Your customer may have paid at an automated attendant with an RFID tag admitting them to the wash.  Or you may be running a flex-serve, or express-exterior wash that have changed how many operators organize labor on their properties. Some new ideas are small improvements, that when combined, deliver tremendous results. Others are so big they can change the way you do business. Regardless, every innovation, whether it’s a new sign, policy, promotion, change in equipment, improved processing, or more effective training, can put you on the path to finding new success from your car wash.  Share and discuss your ideas with colleagues, suppliers, or anyone you think will be interested and keep notes.

Step Five – Test, Evaluate, and Refine

The biggest trick with exploring new innovations is to never be afraid to fail. In the words of Thomas Edison, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” That said; don’t fail to test your next great idea on a small scale before betting everything on it.  Based on what you learn from your test, you’ll be able to revise your idea and test it again. Gradually, you’ll introduce the idea to your regular operation.

Imagine for example that you innovate a new pricing menu for your wash packages – an idea you feel is as revolutionary as the $5 foot-long or Dollar Menu now copied at every fast-food restaurant.  You’ve shared it with colleagues, staff, and customers who all agree. You’re confident it will dramatically raise your average ticket and draw new customers to your wash.  The next step would be to produce temporary signs to test its effectiveness on a single day. It may work as expected. You may realize an unanticipated customer reaction that causes you to refine and try another test on a different day. No matter what happens, you’ll be on your way to leveraging innovation to grow your business.

Summary

If the last couple of years have taught us anything, it’s that the status quo can easily evaporate before our eyes. When looking to grow your business, never say never, listen with an open mind, and try new things. Whether it’s a way to deliver more value or reduce your costs, search for new ideas and never hesitate to test, evaluate, and refine them - you never know how tasty they might be.

Car Wash Construction - Pre-Construction Meetings Measure Twice - Cut Once

By: Anthony Analetto 
Originally Published in AutoLaundry Magazine.

Few would disagree with the proverb, “He who fails to plan, plans to fail.” It’s equally hard to argue against the logic of “measure twice, cut once.” So, why is it that so many car wash pre-construction meetings seem to occur on the back gate of a pick-up truck, or not at all? Each day you can cut from the time to build your wash can potentially equal thousands of dollars in your pocket. The fewer hours you spend trying to correct problems due to misunderstandings, the more time you can dedicate to the marketing, branding, and the grand opening of your wash. Building a car wash is extremely complicated, but does not have to be difficult. It all starts with a carefully planned pre-construction meeting.

Who, what, when, where, and why

I’m going to go out of sequence by jumping straight to the “when” a pre-construction meeting should occur. Whatever you do, don’t hold it after construction begins. There are two paths to building a car wash. The first is to use a design-build firm that functions as your general contractor (GC), architect, civil engineer, and will take care of all permitting. The other choice is to hire an architect who will ultimately guide you in selecting a GC, civil engineer, and a lawyer who will aid in the permitting process. Ideally your pre-construction meeting should occur before you sign your contract. If using a design-build firm for example, you will research, interview, and solicit a bid from maybe three firms. Once you select the company presenting the best combination of reputation and price, you will want to sit them down to the pre-construction meeting. Building a carwash is completely different than most commercial construction. Undoubtedly, any initial bid will contain generic items not appropriate for a car wash.  Everyone must leave the table with a precise documented understanding of what actually needs to be done, and with what materials. If using a design-build firm, they will at this point update all drawings, re-bid, and commit to a firm price.

Many car wash operators have long accepted that there will be overruns on construction. Although most GC’s will bid a well planned project with accurate drawings with less “cushion” in their price, the expectation remains that unforeseen complications will almost always add additional expense. To escape this costly situation, you must do everything possible to eliminate any chance that someone involved in building your wash has the opportunity to utter the phrase “that’s not what I agreed to do.” All misunderstandings must be sorted out before you break ground. It all starts with establishing responsibilities and making revisions to the plans before construction begins.

Where to hold your meeting

Avoid the temptation to hold the meeting at the construction site. At this stage you want to focus all attention on the plans and responsibilities. Being on the site tends to distract sub contractors who will often begin thinking about their specific role without consideration of the entire project. Whenever possible hold the meeting in an office setting with limited distractions. If you don’t have suitable office space, look at renting a room in a local hotel. Holding a formal meeting at an off-site location will reinforce the importance of the task, and allow all participants to really stop and make sure they understand their commitments. Bring a video camera and a voice recorder. Some may object to a video, but few will have a problem with a voice recorder. If all else fails bring someone who can accurately document minutes of everything discussed. Print and distribute the minutes to everyone in attendance. Letting people know that their comments and acknowledgements are being recorded in some way, elevates their attention and accuracy.

Who should attend your meeting

In addition to yourself, at a bare minimum, the GC, equipment supplier, installer, civil engineer, plumber, and electrician should be present. Ideally, every subcontractor who will be involved on the project should also be in attendance. Often, local trades will not possess the specific knowledge necessary to perform their function for the construction of a car wash. Unfortunately they may not be aware of just how different the electrical, plumbing, and construction considerations are. The pre-construction meeting is your opportunity to identify who may need additional education to get up to speed and avoid confusion later on.

What must be reviewed

Chances are, your equipment supplier or distributor will have a documented meeting outline, usually including a detailed checklist of everything that must be reviewed and agreed to. Make sure you have a complete set of drawings for your equipment placement in addition to a full set of drawings from your civil engineer. Start with the contract or agreement for the company that will deliver and install your equipment. Get into the details. The agreement will include exact responsibilities and expectations for site conditions and specific points where inspections must be made. Nothing is worse than pouring concrete into an improperly formed conveyor pit, or having your equipment sitting on a truck because the party responsible for providing the forklift was unaware.

Review electrical layout plan

Assume nothing is obvious. In addition to confirming service voltage and amperage, make sure to verify complete knowledge of the termination of low voltage. Pay special attention to tunnel disconnect type and location. An electrician not accustomed to working in a highly corrosive wet environment may not be aware of specialized products available for safe and reliable operation. Make sure everything is specified correctly from the start.

Review electrical one line and circuit breaker

It is important to confirm the service amperage and location of the main circuit breaker panel. Most car wash motor control centers (MCC) are shipped main-lug-only (MLO). This means that the MCC requires an external main circuit breaker (MCB). It may seem like a minor consideration, but if the electrician is not aware or familiar with what MLO is, it can be an expensive change order and delay construction.

Review water and reclaim plan

Water doesn’t flow up hill. Seems simple enough, but this inconvenient truth can add weeks to the construction of your wash. During your pre-construction meeting you will want to confirm the sewer size, location, and invert depth. I really can’t explain why, but it seems to happen far too often that the civil engineer miscalculates either the necessity for, or capacity of, a required lift station. Basically, the drain at the bottom of the conveyor, several feet below the finished floor, must be high enough to properly drain from the pit, to the reclaim takes (if needed) and then to the main sewer at a designated slope (usually around 1/8 inch per foot). Anything less and you’ll need a properly sized water lift station. Another area to pay special attention to is your water-reclaim and tank layout plan. This is, again, something the average trade person does not encounter on a daily basis, but needs to understand in detail.

Review pneumatic and chase way plans

Your plans will spell out every detail down to the size and type of each valve to be used in the compressed air system. Often, slight modifications will be necessary to meet local codes. If local code calls for there to be PVC instead of copper or vice versa, it should be recognized during the preconstruction meeting and the plans updated. Even more critical is to verify every underground chase way is accurately represented on the plans. If a participant at the meeting notices a condition that may warrant the movement of some item in the back room, now is the time to speak up, not after the concrete is poured.

Review conveyor trench plans

Probably the single most critical feature of any carwash is the conveyor trench design. Review the plans in detail. No variable should be left to interpretation with special attention given towards in-beds, chase ways, depth of the conveyor shelf, and depths at drains and dams. Don’t rely on the conveyor pit inspection to identify problems. Save time and money by getting everything correct at the pre-construction meeting.

Summary

This rough outline of the pre-construction meeting is in no way comprehensive and space doesn’t permit me to even address chemical supply and set up. Your local distributor, equipment supplier, or consultant will have documentation and forms to guide the process. The important thing to remember is that this meeting is your ticket to the smoothest possible project. Every day of delay in opening is more than just lost revenue and increased expense.  The energy you’ll spend trying to fix things during construction can distract your from planning the successful grand opening, operation, and marketing of your wash.

5 Ways to Improve Your Wash Performance

By: Anthony Analetto
Originally Published in AutoLaundry Magazine

More satisfied customers. Lower labor costs. Decreased detergent costs. These are just a few of the reasons operators are constantly looking for ways to improve wash performance. Although new technologies are constantly hitting the market, many improvements can be made by simply optimizing what’s already in your tunnel. There are many ways to get your equipment to produce cleaner, shinier cars. Below I’ve listed 5 areas that you should constantly evaluate.

1. Set Your Conveyor Speed

Controlling your conveyor speed is vital. Accurately measuring the maximum potential cars per hour that the set chain speed can process is the foundation to optimizing equipment performance, required labor, and detergent consumption. The quickest method of determining your chain speed is to measure the number of inches a roller travels over a fifteen second period. Every inch traveled equates to one car per hour. For example, if a roller travels 60 inches in 15 seconds, your maximum throughput is 60 cars per hour. This is the maximum number of standard sized vehicles that could be processed if every roller was loaded for a one hour period.  As tunnel speed increases, vehicles receive less cleaning action from each equipment item. To improve your wash performance you must either add equipment items or slow down the conveyor.

Slowing down conveyor speed during slow volume hours will boost the dwell time detergents have to loosen dirt from the vehicle. Additionally it maximizes the friction contact time of mitters and side brushes for better cleaning. Drip time before drying also increases, resulting in cleaner, shinier, drier cars with less prep and finishing. Changing your conveyor speed several times a day is not uncommon at a busy location and setting the proper speed continuously is imperative in a slow to medium volume location.

It is also important to know your conveyor speed to correctly schedule labor. Setting the proper speed establishes a tempo for the property to most efficiently process anticipated volume. Setting the proper rhythm maximizes the efficiency of the equipment in relation to the labor available. This ensures a consistent product and a happy customer. It is better to have cars being washed more thoroughly on a slow moving conveyor than to be backed up at the exit end forcing production to stop.

Full service car washes must learn how to adjust conveyor speeds based on demand and weather to balance labor and deliver consistent service. Express exteriors often fix conveyor speeds to meet a promised wash time. The tunnel length and equipment package are designed to deliver optimal wash quality at the pre-determined conveyor speed. Other Express exterior operators are experimenting with changing conveyor speed to get a better car on slower days.

2. Maximize Your Initial Detergent Application

To maximize cleaning efficiency, do not use only an alkaline or a low PH detergent – you must apply both. For those of us who can still remember a few decades back, most friction tunnels had one barrel of lubricating soap. Combined with the fact that most operators tried to use it sparingly – we basically rubbed the dirt off the car. Needless to say this outdated technology could damage painted surfaces – part of the inspiration for touchless high pressure only tunnels. Unfortunately, pressurized streams of water don’t do a great job of rubbing the car clean. The one barrel of lubricating soap wasn’t really sufficient for friction washes and was completely useless with high pressure. Achieving a satisfactory product in a touchless environment demanded careful attention to the chemistry of the detergents used. Most touchless washes use both alkaline and low PH detergents, applied at different times to get a clean car. If you have ever worked in a touchless wash where one of the detergents run out, the effect can’t be missed. If the alkaline runs out – painted surfaces will look untouched. If the low PH runs out – glass and chrome look dirty while painted surfaces are shiny but difficult to dry. Touchless forced operators to really examine the chemistry of getting a clean car.

Today most of the focus is on the hybrid combination of both friction and high pressure cleaning equipment in the tunnel. Don’t stop there. Although touchless has some distinct disadvantages as a stand alone wash technology, incorporating both touchless wash components and its detergent chemistry into a friction wash is fast becoming the recommended method of getting better results more efficiently.

3. Completely Cover The Car In Foamed Detergent First.

Improving your wash quality is impossible without detergent reaching every part of every surface you intend on cleaning. The advantages of applying first an alkaline detergent followed by a low PH detergent was touched upon earlier. The next critical area is making sure the detergent is applied correctly. It is hopeless to think about improving your wash performance at any conveyor speed without a complete and even coating of detergent on all vehicle surfaces. I recommend foaming all detergent. First, you can visually monitor that all areas are covered. Second, a properly applied wet foam detergent will drag dirt off the car even before the first equipment item touches the surface. Third, the lubricated detergent keeps friction wash media moving smoothly over surfaces for a safer wash.

Making sure that all vehicle surfaces receive precise detergent application may require supplementing or substituting some application equipment. Even the best equipment cannot clean a car without proper detergent application. Application will occur from multiple directions from top, side, and floor mounted applicators. The numbers and quantities will vary depending on the speed at which you run your conveyor.

4. Mix Your Cleaning Materials

When looking to improve wash performance examine mixing different wash materials. Although cloth still delivers excellent performance and durability, many new materials have excellent properties that can complement or replace cloth in certain areas. Tufted materials that feature a soft pile can dramatically improve mitter performance. They are also available from several manufacturers for use on wrap around washers. Additionally, closed cell foam materials have proven very effective and safe when lubricated properly. The principal is to experiment with mixing media within a wash to leverage the advantages of each.

Another interesting trend is the increased return of bristle in the car wash. Why bristle, the product that had been practically eliminated from car washing for years? Simple, because when it is used properly, it works very well. Several new products are on the market using bristle to clean both tires and wheels. For similar reasons, some operators have also begun experimenting with using bristle on 18” lower rocker panel brushes with foamed detergent for lubrication. Will it become a popular option? The jury is still out – but bristle definitely seems to be rediscovering its place in professional car washing. Operators are realizing that cloth, foam, tufted materials and yes even bristle each have their place in a tunnel. Often mixing the different media can improve wash performance without adding additional or updated equipment.

5. Mix Your Cleaning Technologies.

One of the greatest challenges in car washing is the tremendous variation in the size and shape of the vehicles we are expected to wash perfectly in only a few minutes. With automotive designs changing daily, the reality is the top brush that washes one SUV perfectly may miss parts of a pickup truck that gets perfect contact from a front to back mitter. For this reason, just as with mixing wash media, it is also recommended to mix wash motion and angles. One common belief is that wrap around type washers replace side washers. This simply isn’t true. They rotate with the vehicle to move down the side smoothly, while the side washer rotates against the surface. These different actions will produce different cleaning results for changing vehicle profiles. Wherever possible you want to introduce as many variations in wash action that you can. For an operator with two front-to-back mitters looking to improve cleaning performance, first change the wash material on one mitter. If that doesn’t fix the problem the next step would be to replace the item with another action such as a top brush or side to side mitter. If space permits you may want to consider additional components to improve performance.

Another consideration is the addition of high pressure touchfree wash components. One of the best technologies available to clean wheels and wheel wells, these components can complement a friction wash. Many types and configurations of equipment are available and all are very sensitive to conveyor speed. You will want to consult your equipment supplier for advice on placement, type, and sizing to achieve best results.

Summary

Competition is always increasing and every business must constantly push forward to maintain a competitive advantage. Car washing is a harsh and constantly changing environment. By nature, equipment and wash materials take a constant beating. Vehicle sizes and designs are constantly changing with improved technology in the automotive industry delivering more dramatic changes in body styles and contours. To keep up with customer expectations for a fast, consistent, quality product, in this changing environment, every operator must constantly evaluate their equipment and the wash they can deliver. This does not mean always investing in new equipment. Carefully maintaining and maximizing the performance of what you’ve got in your tunnel can go a long way.