Daily Preventative Maintenance Part 1 - Avoid Unexpected Breakdown and Closure

 By: Anthony Analetto
Originally Published in AutoLaundry Magazine

It is 30 minutes before your wash is scheduled to open. Either you or your manager has just programmed the wash for the top package. Four rollers are fired to represent the front and back of the car as well as each tire. Photo-eyes or loop pads are tripped to represent vehicle dimension.  The tire switch is activated for the two rollers that represent them. As you follow this ghost car that doesn’t obstruct your view down the tunnel, observe correct operation of every piece of equipment. Immediate issues are addressed and replacement parts ordered. Suspected problems are documented for further investigation that evening or during the weekly preventative maintenance (PM) night scheduled for complete equipment and tunnel cleaning.

Does this scenario describe your wash? Have you committed the personnel and resources to ensure your wash is attractive to customers and will run right for years to come? Is your PM program scheduled and documented so that personnel are accountable and checks are performed as required?

Elimination of prep labor with many new equipment technologies has resulted in total reliance on equipment. This has brought PM into the spotlight. Car washing is a harsh environment and scheduled PM is vital to your business. In this article I will review the considerations that should be addressed on a daily basis. Part 2, next month, will examine weekly, monthly, and yearly components of a successful PM program.

DAILY PREVENTATIVE MAINTENANCE PROCEDURES:

The first hurdle to jump when creating a PM program is to throw out the assumption of common sense. Don’t leave anything to chance or thinking. Write out the entire PM program down to the last detail. Print check sheets with boxes to initial upon completion, and then post it on the wall. Nothing is more disruptive than scrambling to get ready for the day because someone forgot to do something the night before. It is much easier to ask an employee why they initialed that all trash was emptied when it was not, rather than listen to explanations of how they thought someone else had done it.

Observation and documentation are the two most critical aspects of a successful preventative maintenance program. The key words to drill into anyone involved in PM are observe, look, note, and confirm. The goal is to catch small problems early, before they cause greater damage. Activities fall into one of two types; checks and services. Checks require visual confirmation and must be completed on a regular schedule without fail.  Services are corrective procedures in the wash and are either scheduled or unscheduled. Records of all activities must be kept in order to hold personnel accountable; otherwise, eventually the checks will not be accomplished.

OPENING PM PROCEDURE:

Ideally, each activity performed 30 minutes or more before opening, simply confirms that nothing happened to disturb the perfect condition of the wash when left the night before. It is a series of procedures to verify that the wash is able to produce your best possible product with no risk of damage to vehicles or equipment.

Dry Checks: Small fluid leaks are easily masked in a wet tunnel. The following activities should be performed before running water.

1. Check all hydraulic lines and connections. Confirm that all oil levels are correct and that there are no visible signs of fluid anywhere in the wash. Oil leaks can damage cloth and contaminate reclaims in addition to causing poor wash performance. All hydraulic leaks should be repaired before opening to avoid costly closure and repair.
2. Close the valve on the compressor which should have been drained during closing PM.
3. Turn on breakers to activate all electrical power.
4. Check all fresh, reclaim, and spot-free water supplies. Instruct the inspector to both look and listen for leaks.
5. Check gauges on the spot free pump for pressure and water generation. Check tank levels. It is often useful to post proper readings at the pump to avoid any confusion.
6. Check water reclaim gauges for incoming and outgoing pressure. Makes sure filters are not clogged.
7. Check your odor control system. Many units have sight glasses or gauges but you can always trust your nose.

Detergent Checks: Spikes and drops in detergent consumption can alert an inspector of problems in equipment performance. Detergent checks are performed during closing PM but the opening inspector should refer to notes from the previous day to direct attention to potential equipment issues to monitor.

Wet Checks: Before running any equipment, most controllers have a “wet down” function that is designed to bring all equipment online. The goal here is to soak the cloth in water and detergent, charge all of the foam tubes, and saturate the pads on tire dressing applicators.

1. Inspect all nozzles. Weak spray patterns dramatically reduce the cleaning ability of any wash equipment. Clogged nozzles and weak spray may also indicate a more serious problem up stream. Your wash should have a nozzle replacement schedule based on the type of detergent and number of cars being washed. Unclog or replace nozzles as needed and record in the wet down portion of the daily log. This information is vital in identifying other potential problems.
2. Activate all chemical pumps and check for leaks. Lines can drain back to the tank overnight. This procedure must be run prior to washing vehicles. It ensures all cloth is properly lubricated and that detergent and conditioners reach the first car in the proper quantity and dilution.
3. Check the condition of all wash materials for damage or debris.

Operational Checks:  Go to your entrance management system. Whether it is a greeter station or an automated attendant, you must start with how the first customer will activate the wash when you open. Program a wash for the top package. Activate the automatic roller up and extra rollers so that there are four rollers in total. These rollers represent the front, back, and wheels of a car. Activate the entrance switch at the first roller, tire switch on the second and third, and release on the fourth. This practice allows you to easily view all equipment operation without the obstruction of an actual vehicle.

1. Check that the conveyor is operating smoothly with no jerking or unusual noises.
2. Check that any wrap-around washers or brushes tied to the conveyor interlock are spinning properly. Listen for abnormal noises.
3. Check that wheels are accurately located by detergent application and wash systems.
4. Check that all wash equipment is moving properly without any abnormal noises.
5. Verify that all wash, rinsing, application, and drying actions start and stop correctly.
6. Perform a final check that all detergent and conditioner application is correct.
7. Inspect the equipment room and all support equipment for indicators of proper adjustment.
8. Verify all air dryers ramp up to full speed and that nothing is obstructing the inlet screens.  

CLOSING PM PROCEDURE:

The purpose of the closing PM procedure is to identify everything that could possibly prohibit you from washing cars the next day. Below I will outline the most basic daily activities that must be performed. A common practice growing in popularity is to schedule a thorough “PM Night” at least once a week. In addition to the items below, the tunnel and equipment would be completely washed down as well as all weekly, monthly, and annual services performed.

Detergent Checks: Spikes and drops in detergent consumption can alert an inspector of problems in equipment performance. At the end of closing PM, everything in the wash should be ready to wash cars the following day.

1. Check and transfer detergents as necessary to ensure that all levels are sufficient to wash 10% more than the maximum anticipated volume the following day.
2. Inspect the condition of all barrels and tanks.
3. Note any detergent use that has spiked. Excessive consumption may indicate a problem in the system. Log the condition and move on to other checks. If during the remaining checks there do not appear to be any worn nozzles, open check valves, etc, make a notation for the opening crew to monitor the condition throughout the next day. Order in potential replacement parts as the situation warrants.
4. Note any drops in detergent use that are not directly related to wash volume. Inspect foot valves on the chemical suction lines. Note the condition in the log and move on to the other checks. The problem that has lead to the reduced detergent use should become clear.
5. Check the salt level of the water softener system. The softener sets the wash water quality. If the softener is down, then every chemical and water system will suffer. Fill with salt as needed.

Operational Checks:  Careful observation of equipment each evening can identify damage that may have occurred during the day. The ability to find potential failures before they occur provides the time to bring in replacement parts or make changes to items inventoried for emergency repairs.

1. During last two hours of each day, begin cleaning the property
   1. Empty trash receptacles.
   2. Empty vacuum canisters
   3. Sweep all areas of the wash
   4. Clean Lobby area coffee machines
   5. Clean restrooms and windows
2. Walk through tunnel during the last cars washed. Look and listen for any equipment that may not be functioning properly in both the tunnel and back room. This is the time to find problems. You can make emergency repairs and order parts.
3. Walk through the tunnel after the last car and inspect for any damage that may have occurred during the day.
4. Turn off and drain all air compressors.
5. Wash down the tunnel, rinse the floor and equipment.
6. Inspect and clean all filters on high pressure pump stations.
7. Inspect and clean strainers on reclaim systems.
8. Turn off all necessary electrical and water connections.
9. Secure the building and have a good night.

SUMMARY

Committing the resources and time to an effective preventative maintenance program can save tens of thousands of dollars per year. Have you ever tried to estimate what percent of equipment repairs could have been avoided through preventative maintenance?  Try calculating the impact unexpected closures have, not only via lost revenue, but in terms of how customers perceive your business. Simply put, preventative maintenance is profitable. I hope you picked up a few ideas from this article. Please join me again next month when I outline weekly, monthly, and yearly PM.  

That Can't Work in Our Market - Billions and billions served, now including rural China

By: Anthony Analetto
Originally Published in AutoLaundry Magazine

“Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you
take your eyes off your goal.”
- Henry Ford 

I recently saw a documentary highlighting what American companies are doing to “train” customers in rural parts of China as they introduce their drive-through franchises into those markets. Most interesting wasn’t the signage, staff training, or other simple mechanisms used to educate customers. What really stood out was management’s belief that success didn’t mean changing their business model, but finding the right way to communicate its advantages to a new customer. Several recent conversations flashed in my head. All of them contained some variation of the phrase “Nobody in our market does that, it can’t work here.” Here are the top misconceptions I hear most often – responsible for increasing labor costs, complicating management, and slowing production for car washes around the country.

1. 1 Nobody in our market uses friction; our customers prefer touch-free.
2. 2 Nobody in our market uses pay stations; our customers prefer live greeters.
3. 3 Nobody in our market uses a tire shine machine; our customers expect
      us to do it by hand.
4. 4 Nobody in our market fully automates drying; our customers expect
      us to towel dry.
5. 5 Nobody in our market fully automates the wash; our customers
      prefer we prep by hand (or worse, wash by hand).

What’s at the root of the problem? There’s an apparent fear of eliminating labor at the wash. Why? Let’s take a look.

Myth 1 – You Need Labor to Wash Cars
During my long career in car washing, I have to admit being guilty of the management process I like to call whack-a-mole. Open each day, fix whatever breaks, solve problems as they happen, go home exhausted, and repeat the process the next day. It’s rather like playing the game whack-a-mole. You stand there waiting for a problem to pop up and whack at it until it’s gone. Then, if you get lucky, you discover a trusted manager who can whack moles nearly as good as you. Now you’re able to take a day off, or let them whack moles at one wash, while you open your next location. No doubt you can earn an income running your business this way. But it’s hard to step back and evaluate new innovations to improve ease of management, customer experience, speed-of-service, or any of the things you must do to remain competitive. Fortunately, I learned early on that I could never reduce my labor cost until I designed a solid business model, preventive maintenance schedule, and training procedures to deliver a consistent product. The reason is simple. Without a process that worked, I needed to have excess labor available to help whack moles that kept popping up. Stop whacking moles! It’s easy. First, develop a business model that does not rely upon labor. Second, reduce costs and the drain on your time by utilizing staff only in well-defined roles with a positive ROI that can’t be matched by equipment. Third, use your increased time and cash to evaluate and invest in improvements to your business. Fourth, continue to refine, and watch profits grow.

Myth 2 – Customers Prefer When People Perform Services
This is false. Customers prefer a strong value proposition that delivers the following four components: (1) a quality product (2) in a consistent amount of time (3) at a competitive price (4) with a pleasant and memorable retail experience. Familiar employees, smiling faces, and friendly greetings all contribute to that experience – but are an expensive way to do it. With the exception of interior and detailing services, automated equipment is readily available to deliver superior cleaning, point-of-sale processing, and better customer service than even the best employee. Using labor in the wash process kills your ability to deliver all four components of the value proposition. Why? Because even your best employee will have a bad day resulting in inconsistent quality, slow service time, and unpleasant customer experience. On top of that, labor is more expensive, causing you to raise prices!

Don’t get me wrong. I believe a well-trained smiling staff contributes to a better customer experience. My point is that your business model must utilize labor for one of the following two functions, and never to wash cars. First, employees can ensure safety on your site. Second, they can function as a type of interactive sign, on steroids, shooting blanks.

Shooting what? Shooting blanks! Meaning you might have an attendant create an experience in the wash, but only for show, not wash quality. They might spray foam on a car entering the tunnel, but only a cheap soap to entertain your customers, not because it’s needed. An attendant may drag a towel over the perfectly dry exterior of a car exiting the tunnel – not to dry the car which has already been done by equipment, but to show the customer your personal attention to detail. Shooting blanks means your customer is entertained, but gets the consistency of automated equipment. Shooting blanks means you can dramatically reduce staff. Work is less strenuous so they’ll still be smiling at the end of the day, and you can easily send people home on slow days with no impact to wash quality.

Myth 3 – Customers Won’t Accept Change
We’re now back to where we started. A documentary featuring American franchises helping rural Chinese citizens embrace drive-through restaurants.  Offering an efficient business model delivering a quality product in a consistent amount of time at a competitive price with a pleasant and memorable retail experience – do you think they were successful? Were the American franchises able to use a few simple signs and staff training to educate customers to their way of doing business? Or did the Chinese citizens reject the value in their business proposition, and prefer to stay with the friendly personalized experience at the existing retailers they’d always used?  The next time you feel yourself saying “Nobody in our market does that, it can’t work here,” stop and think about it for a minute. Are you paving a path for your long-term prosperity, or modeling the business practices of a rural Chinese merchant, surprised at the sharp decline in their business.

Mini-Tunnels – The Latest Big Thing

By Anthony Analetto
Originally Published in AutoLaundry Magazine

Mini-tunnels, while certainly not new, are suddenly a main topic of conversation in car washing. In preparing for this article I decided to search for “products introduced before their time.” After reading that the first fax process was patented 121 years before it went into service and that it took over 15 years for compact discs to catch on after their introduction, I suppose it’s reasonable that something not exactly new appears new after being introduced years earlier. The question is why? What’s changed in the marketplace that’s fueling the popularity of mini-tunnels? What’s different about the technology behind today’s mini-tunnels that makes them so exciting? Let’s take a look.

Changing Customers
Last week our office was closed in recognition of Independence Day. In a hurry to pick up a couple of items for a cookout, I stopped at the first grocery store on the way home, a store that I had never shopped in before. Never crossing my mind that they might be closed for the holiday, I parked, went up to the front door, and was shocked to find it locked. No problem. I hopped in the car and went to the store I normally shop at 1/4 mile up the road. Part of me applauded the stores decision to close in honor of the holiday. Part of me was annoyed that I lost the precious time I was hoping to make up by stopping. Another part of me was thinking how amazing it was that I made a decision to abandon my preferred grocery store without even thinking about it in an effort to save less than 5 minutes. Have you ever tried a competitive grocery, pharmacy, or any other business to save time or money? Of course you have. So have your customers.

The primary interest in mini-tunnels is coming from operators with high-volume in-bay automatics at either petroleum or self-serve locations. Although friction in-bay automatics available today can produce a quality wash faster than ever before, the inherent need to make multiple passes over a vehicle will always restrict their throughput. Being attacked from multiple sides, many previously strong in-bay sites have seen wash volumes drop in recent years. For some, express-exterior tunnels have entered their market, siphoning from their business. Others have seen a greater tendency for customers to drive off rather than wait for a wash with even a moderate line. The double edged sword is that profits from those in-bay automatics have become more critical as petroleum operators have watched both gas and c-store margins tighten, and self-serve washes in many markets have seen a dip in popularity for customers to pick up a wand. Throughput has always been an inherent problem with an in-bay automatic. At an already proven in-bay automatic location, it’s no surprise they’re looking to reload with a mini-tunnel able to process a sustained 40-50 cars per hour with every extra service available. What’s interesting is the number of both new investors and regional chains looking at mini-tunnels for free-standing car wash locations.

It’s hard enough to find a piece of land with good visibility, easy access, and a strong daily car count, with limited competition, at an affordable price. Throw in the fact that it has to be large enough to accommodate a 100 to 160 foot tunnel with 20 or more free vacuum lanes and the universe of available properties dwindles further. While researching properties, I often find myself thinking “I wonder if...” Sometimes I’ll see a nice property in a smaller market and I’ll be enticed by a reasonable asking price; only to decide that the daily traffic count isn’t high enough to support the volume needed to make the numbers work for a full-sized express-exterior tunnel. Once you shrink the building requirement to 35 feet however, suddenly, everywhere you look you can see a potential car wash property. Closed gas stations, vacant drugstores, small lots on good streets off the main thoroughfare, even re-use of an existing building all become possibilities.

This of course brings us to another debate. Should a car wash be built to process the peak anticipated volume, or built to average daily volume for a particular site. There’s a popular phrase I’ve heard said by more than one car wash veteran – “you’ve got to make hay when the sun shines.” Having sat by and watched weeks of prolonged bad weather threaten my business on several occasions, I’ve always been a fan of building to process the peak anticipated volume. Knowing I could process every car that came my way once the weather turned always provided the peace of mind that I could make up for days of bad weather in a single sunny day. Building to peak anticipated volume is a form of insurance policy. Today’s mini-tunnels, able to deliver a product on par with the largest tunnel, albeit at a slower chain speed, raise some interesting questions. How much insurance in the form of excess capacity does a car wash location truly need? Does it change in different climates? In an evolving economy where customers will change purchasing decisions to shave minutes from their day, how close is too close to build next to a strong competitor? As a regional brand, is it better to build multiple small locations nearer to one another or large locations spread apart more? We’ll start to understand this better as more locations are built, but for now, it helps explain why there’s so much talk about mini-tunnels.

Changing Equipment
As I said in the opening of this article, mini-tunnels are not new. They’ve been installed at both gas stations and self-serve washes for at least 20 years that I can remember. Although normally attended, a practice I still firmly believe in, I can recall seeing unattended tunnels with a gated entry in operation more than 15 years ago. So what exactly is new? The answer is that nearly everything is new.

Before I get to wash performance, I want to dismiss an old stereotype regarding gas station mini-tunnels. In years past, mini-tunnels at gas stations were predominantly installed and operated by the oil companies. Offered at that time as a freebie with a fill-up, these tunnels rarely delivered a wash quality on par with the professional car washes at that time, mainly full-serves. Equipment, in general, didn’t perform like it does today and most washes relied heavily on labor. Poor equipment maintenance and ineffective labor management from large corporate entities translated to a bad customer experience. Fast forward to today and the story is very different. Many petroleum retailers of today considering mini-tunnels are savvy independent operators looking to build a profitable business. Focused on customer experience and faced with dwindling profit from gas and c-store operations, car washing doesn’t represent a side business, but a key profit center. Armed with equipment that can deliver an absolutely clean, dry, shiny car with no prepping, this group represents serious competition. Speaking of equipment, let’s examine what makes it so different.

First are the wrap-around washers. Able to clean front, back, and side surfaces, this technology was absent from past mini-tunnels. Combined with high-performance top brushes able to detect and retract automatically when required, these tunnels provide effective cleaning of all surfaces at slow chain speeds. Add in high-pressure components, and wash material advancements that clean more effectively and safely than ever before and you start to appreciate the true difference of today’s mini-tunnel washes. Throw in chemistry that is light-years ahead of what was available just a few years ago, and top it off with video pay stations and control systems that can identify repeat customers and manage loyalty programs, and you have a formidable business in 35 feet.

In many ways the original mini-tunnels were a product introduced before their time. I have no doubt, however, that they’ll be altering the way cars are washed for years to come.

Meet Anthony Analetto

Welcome to my Car Washing Blog! My name is Anthony Analetto and I have been washing cars for over 30 years, and am the proud creator of the Original Xtreme-Xpress Mini-Tunnel. As a car wash enthusiast I have had to privilege of working with a wide variety of professionals through out my career and it has allowed me to gain a wealth of knowledge and experience. I currently serve as a President of SONNY’S The CarWash Factory. SONNY'S is the largest manufacturer of conveyorized car wash equipment, parts, and supplies in the world. To learn more about SONNY'S, click here

I would like to Thank You for reading my blog. If you have any questions for me I can be reached via email at Anthony.Analetto@SonnysDirect.com or thetunnelexperts@gmail.com. You can also call me at 800-327-8723 ext 104. For more information like SONNY'S on Facebook. Also feel free to connect with me on Google.

Finding the Road to Success

By: Anthony Analetto
Originally Published in AutoLaundry Magazine

It’s hard to escape the famous quote from Lewis Carol, “if you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.” It’s equally hard, however, to keep this brilliant piece of wisdom in the front of your mind when looking for ways to grow your car wash business. Having just returned from a car wash trade show, an interesting contrast struck me. There’s a growing network of operators pushing the envelope. It seems like they can do no wrong. They’re innovating new ways to increase volume, customer loyalty, and average wash tickets. They’re going to trade shows, communicating with one another, and building new wash locations. Then there are those that are struggling. They’re in the trenches, facing declining numbers, and looking for a quick fix to turn their business around. Whether you’re in the group trying to take your game to a higher level, or just trying to stay in the game, pause for a minute. Have you clearly defined where you are going?

In the past I’ve recommended that car wash operators returning from a trade show event should determine and execute “the one thing they learned” that they feel will have the most dramatic impact on their business, and to do it immediately, within 30 days. This year I’d like to build upon that. Whether you went to The Car Wash Show this year or not, you will never find success without a plan of where you want to go. Below are the steps I like to use when creating my plans. I look forward to hearing from you to help refine it further. After all, without networking and sharing ideas, the road has a lot of unnecessary bumps that could be easily avoided.

Step 1 - Assess Your Environment
It’s impossible to make a plan of where to go without first documenting where you are. When I say document, I mean it. Grab a pad of paper or type a document detailing your current playing field. Start with land. What do you have, and what options do you have to acquire adjacent property? One operator I know has been seeking to add free vacuums to his full-serve wash with an express lane for years. He finally acquired an adjacent parking lot behind his property, and last month started construction of a free vacuum area immediately after the pay stations, before the tunnel. This unusual format is the culmination of constant refinement over years toward his goal of transitioning the property to a flex-serve. I expect to be writing a case study of his success in the coming months, but equally important, it demonstrates the power of assessing your environment, and looking for options to meet your goals. There are always options.

Next document changes in the demographic makeup of your market. Is income going up, or is it going down? What new businesses have opened and thrived or quickly closed? Perform a formal demographic study and keep a log of your observations. Uncovering the evolving value propositions that appeal to your market will help guide what changes you need to make. Don’t stop there. Go back in your reports and look for changes in weather patterns. Evaluate volume reports against weather, holidays, and days of the week. Look for opportunities to more closely align your business with the actual behavior you’ve seen at your wash. Determine the most successful promotions you ran in the previous year and calculate their long term impact on your business.

Last, and less obvious, document changes in the latest tools available to grow your business and at what cost they can be had. Most of us will start with new equipment, extra services, or other aspects related to the wash process. That’s just the beginning. Make a list of new marketing opportunities opening each day. Social media, location-based online advertising, email, and group-based couponing have all become commonplace. Taking a scattershot approach with any of them will produce disappointing results. Carefully evaluating each and creating a plan to leverage them can deliver thousands of dollars in incremental revenue to your wash.

Step 2 - Investigate What Works
“Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.” This quote from Eleanor Roosevelt highlights a problem with many entrepreneurs of which, I too, suffer. It may seem more comfortable to learn from your mistakes, but it’s insanely inefficient. What sets car washing apart from the crowd is that as an industry, operators are remarkably open to sharing ideas. Our network of regional and national tradeshows brings owners together to discuss what’s working and to uncover new solutions. You’ll find a showcase of sites using branding, signage, and marketing that develops an emotional bond with customers. You’ll be inspired by menu pricing and extra service options that add thousands of dollars to the bottom line. Visit their websites. Sign-up to receive the email they send out. Like them on social media sites. Networking with other operators is vital to your success.

Attending trade shows is the quickest way to develop your network, but to make the best use of the relationships you make, you have to get out. Take a road trip. Get outside your immediate market. Visit the washes of at least 5 other operators each year. Talk with them about what they’re doing and what you’re doing. Uncover challenges, solutions, and opportunities. Learning from the success and failures of others isn’t wrong – it’s critical. Take the road trip. Right now, write down at least 5 washes you plan to visit in the next 12 months.

Step 3 - Get the Basics Right
Don’t waste your time. If you’re not delivering a consistent clean, dry, shiny, car with no labor then you’re simply spinning your wheels. Get this done if you haven’t already done so.

Step 4 - Accentuate Your Brand
Provided you’ve got the basics right, before implementing the ideas from your assessment of the environment and investigation of what works, there’s another housekeeping point. Accentuate your brand. That is an article unto itself that involves landscaping, building maintenance, signage and more. In a nutshell, make sure there is a bright and energetic feel to your business. Customers must be met with a clean and engaging environment before they’ll ever feel good about splurging on your top wash.

Step 5 - Push the Limits
Here’s where the fun starts. Armed with the knowledge of where you are and where you want to go, you’ll be firmly standing on the road to your success. Free vacuums, new services, changes in wash format, wash packages, or marketing plan, you’ll be in a position to determine the necessary financing and the calculated return on your investment to select the best course.  I’ll end this article with a passage from Lewis Carol’s Alice in Wonderland. The conversation is between Alice and the Cheshire cat that highlights the quote I used at the start. Alice said “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?’ ‘That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,’ said the Cat. ‘I don't much care where’  said Alice. ‘Then it doesn't matter which way you go,’ said the Cat.”

 

The Next Big Thing in Car Washing:

By: Anthony Analetto
Originally Published in AutoLaundry Magazine

In a sea of debate over how to adapt to today’s economy, one thing is certain – operators competing to deliver a superior customer experience are winning hands down. Two camps have formed. On the one side you have those that are trying to hunker down and cut costs. These are the operators cutting hours, eliminating free vacuums, and scaling back on facility maintenance and improvements. On the other side, you have operators pushing the envelope. These are the operators innovating new ways to give the customer more. They’re focused on creating an emotional bond with customers, delivering a memorable show, and offering a faster, better, and more convenient product. Now I’m a frugal guy. But when you see the numbers some of these forward thinking operators are posting, it gets exciting. The formula is simple. Give more to customers, get more in return. And here are the leading tools I’ve seen used to achieve remarkable results.

Deliver a customer experience:
Some things in life make you stop and scratch your head. In 2001, Microsoft™ launched the first tablet computer. After nearly a decade of dismal market adoption for the Microsoft tablet, Apple™ computer launches its IPad in 2010, sells 300,000 units on the first day, millions globally, and is today the world’s most valuable company. Before you write-off the latest round of innovation in high-end foamed pay waxes as “nothing-new,” look at the numbers. It’s hard to find fault with an online extra service adding $2 to $3 over the current average ticket price at express-exterior sites – with no reduction in wash volume. Is this car washing’s version of the IPad?

Services vary, but feature a combination of state-of-the-art chemicals married to supplemental equipment to deliver a distinct and spectacular show to the customer. Typically, this five-step process begins with two foamed soaps poured over the car at the entrance of the tunnel. Imagine a big trough pouring a sheet of scented foam that covers every part of the car. This show of foam must be visible to cars waiting to enter the tunnel. Ideally, customers waiting at the pay station can see what’s happing as well. Third, after a friction and high-pressure wash, a foamed total-body protectant is poured over the vehicle for a second show. The vehicle then travels through a second set of friction brushes activated only on this top package service to work in the sealant. Next a literal sheet of water rinses the car, cures the protectant, and provides a spectacular experience for the customer. After air dryers, a final set of wraps and a top brush outfitted with one of the drying materials available, buffs the car for a shine and depth of gloss that is clearly visible to the customer. Everything that’s being done in the service has been done before, just not in the same combination.

Excited to see the process in action, I went to a wash offering this service and have to say it’s an absolutely phenomenal customer experience. But there’s more to it than chemistry and equipment. Above all else, the sites experiencing huge numbers are effectively marketing the service. They’ve branded it with signs around the property, at the pay station, and repeated the branding on the actual equipment delivering the experience. Some have created t-shirts for staff to wear that advertise the pay wax, and mailed out postcards to customers to try it. Any operator can borrow from that playbook to distinguish their top wash package and take a huge leap towards delivering a customer experience.

Faster, better, and more convenient:
For so many years, the battle-cry of car wash operators was all about eliminating labor. We’ve done that. Equipment is readily available to produce a consistently clean, dry, shiny car with absolutely no labor. Pay stations and surveillance cameras have enticed most to experiment with just how few attendants are actually necessary to run their business.  The latest battle-cry is something new. Create solutions to provide customers with faster, better, and more convenient service. Last year we saw the introduction of new mini-express tunnels from several manufacturers. This year, things are starting to get interesting.

These tunnels, engineered to fit into a standard 35-foot bay, can deliver the wash quality, extra services, and consistency of the most advanced full-sized tunnel. The advent of express-exterior tunnels washing well over 10,000 cars per month has taught us something. We’re seeing a surge in interest from in-bay operators at both petroleum and self-serve sites looking to retrofit rollover automatics with mini-express tunnels. That was what was expected. What’s surprising is the interest from existing express-exterior operators looking at this format to grow their business.

In markets where express sites are prevalent, customers have been conditioned to expect a consistent wash, in a predictable amount of time, at an affordable price, from a business that is open when they expect it to be regardless of weather. There is an increasingly recognized opportunity to offer this same value proposition to smaller markets with smaller versions of the express exterior model. The key advantage to running a mini-tunnel is that it widens the universe of available properties, at more affordable price points, with lower construction costs.  There is no question that the high volume automated express exterior model is growing, but mostly in large markets. Does this mean that customers in smaller markets don’t want a fast, affordable wash? 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.

It’s safe to say that if the price of gas continues to rise, the cost of construction will go up as well. Combined with documented proof of tunnels less than 60 feet long capable of hitting 15,000 car per month records, interest in this model is starting to heat up. The first tip to any operator looking to run a mini-tunnel is to ensure a premium wash process. This demands more than just a slower chain speed. Elevated attention must be given to water quality, equipment layout, and detergent selection to deliver a great product consistently. In addition, with limited redundancy, there is an even more urgent need to stay on top of all preventive maintenance. In a large tunnel, the breakdown of one component means you run slower until it’s repaired. With a mini-tunnel, you’re potentially closed until the repair is made.

Create an emotional bond:
Creating a customer experience is often free or low cost. Instead of money, it requires creativity, planning, testing, and execution. I’m the first to admit I’m much more comfortable with the nuts & bolts of putting out a clean, dry, shiny car. But the locations reporting the greatest returns aren’t just cleaning cars, they’re creating an emotional bond with their customers. Subtle customer perks such as providing detailing towels, fragrance carts, self-prep stations, and extended service hours are commonplace at these locations. Free vacuums are the standard. Engaging customers through e-mail and social media is their rule rather than the exception. Professional branding and logos with signage working in conjunction with kiosks to promote extra services, fundraising programs, VIP club memberships, and the free perks themselves are their norm. Combined with spotless facilities, groomed and smiling attendants, and gorgeous landscaping, these operators are earning record profits with careful attention to detail. And it works. One wash I know took its logo, created versions of it showing support for local sports teams and charities, and lets members of its VIP club select a small bumper sticker of their favorite logo to put on their car. Driving around town near the wash, it seems that every other car has one of these stickers on it. Each day a different perk or discount is offered to any car with a logo sticker on it, and the result is phenomenal.

Unlimited monthly wash plans are also producing tremendous results for these operators. Tying customers to the wash provides a predictable revenue stream. Be careful here however. I saw one model for an ultra-low monthly subscription that on the surface seemed like a home run. After a few hours of plugging numbers into a spreadsheet however, I realized it didn’t account for increased maintenance costs associated with the tremendous projected volume. It might work, but wouldn’t be the type of location I would want to run. Always do your homework to make sure the strategy makes sense for you.

Competition is heating up, and the lowest price doesn’t always win. Customers want to feel a part of the businesses they frequent and prefer a professional retail look and feel as part of the experience. Ask yourself, as a customer, would you have an emotional bond to your car wash?  Create that feeling, and you’ll likely achieve the next big thing in car washing.

Troubleshooting Action Plan for Success.

By: Anthony Analetto
Originally Published in AutoLaundry Magazine

“Is it plugged in and does that receptacle have power?” How annoying. You call technical support for help and the first thing they do is insult your intelligence. The truth is, however, that without training and procedures, people tend to dive into the complicated first when troubleshooting a system. Overlooking the obvious, people will waste hours of time forcing unnecessary business closure. Having personally wasted 2 hours of my life as the result of poor troubleshooting in the last month, I decided it was time to take a step back and document the steps to effectively troubleshoot a car wash. Not a checklist – but a decision making process. One that includes fundamental concepts a car wash owner must include when creating a location-specific troubleshooting checklist for employees, and themselves, to resolve problems quickly. Like washing cars, troubleshooting is a mixture of standard procedure and personal creativity. Rarely does the source of a problem directly present itself for all to see. A further complication at most washes is that over time, things become less straightforward. Secondary electrical panels and other “work-around fixes” are added to accommodate new wash features. Two weekends ago, for example, I was at a car wash where an in-bay automatic wash shut down. Half the motors were working and the other half stopped. Having confirmed that no breakers at the electrical panel were tripped, I violated my first rule; to exhaust every potential problem within arm’s reach, and dove into the complicated. After an hour of frustration working on the rollover, I went back to the panel. Looking closer, within arm’s reach of the first electrical panel, I found the second panel. Feeling a little foolish, I quickly realized that it powered the other half of the machine, and a breaker was tripped.  As things increasingly become “as-built” rather than following customary practices, put labels where feasible to help guide technicians in troubleshooting your wash. Before leaving, I put a label on the main panel with a note that the other breakers for the unit were in the secondary panel. These “as-built” labels and notes combined with a thoroughly documented troubleshooting checklist specific to your wash can save countless hours of downtime. So, let’s get started.
Have you exhausted every solution within arm’s reach? While some people are gifted with a natural talent for troubleshooting, it is a skill that can be learned like any other. Cause and effect relationships are often complex. Training you and your staff to keep things simple though will almost always yield better results. To drive this point home, I’ll train staff, and try to remember myself, to always exhaust every potential problem within arm’s reach. It’s more than a coincidence that the second hour of my time lost last month from flawed troubleshooting also resulted from a failure to adhere to this principle. At this wash, a colleague had called with an intermittent problem causing his conveyor to fail on busy days. Sounding like a problem with insufficient compressed air to pressurize the air take-up cylinders I had him check the compressors and lines. He reported back that everything was in perfect order and asked if I could stop in the next time I was in the area. It was a Saturday and the site was hopping. Every express-detailing bay was filled. Looking at all the orbital polishers and other tools using compressed air I started to add up the CFM demand. On a hunch, I went to my car, grabbed a portable air compressor, and connected it to the conveyor. Problem solved. Although the air take-up cylinders require very little pressure, it must be constant, and when all of the detailing tools were being used there was insufficient pressure for the conveyor. Admittedly calculating the required CFM required for peak volume is far more complex than me failing to look for a secondary electrical panel, but we both made the same mistake. Failure to exhaust every potential problem within arm’s reach before moving to the complex will almost always add hours to resolving a situation. Are all prerequisites available? In the examples above the electricity and compressed air prerequisites were inadequate. Taking the time to accurately measure that the appropriate quantity and quality of these, and other, variables such as hydraulic power are available before jumping to more complex possibilities is critical to your troubleshooting success. Has anything happened that could cause this problem? Rarely is this as obvious as a lightning strike. In the example above an uptick in express-detailing services from a new menu sign resulted in the conveyor failing. Too often when something fails, the assumption is that something broke. That isn’t always the case. Before going through the costly exercise of replacing parts, detergents, or equipment, stop and evaluate. List anything that’s happened or changed recently. Review all maintenance procedures performed. Sometimes variables such as water quality can change without notice. You may be tinkering with different detergents or wash materials to resolve a spotting problem when the truth is that the Ph or hardness of the water supply has changed. Small investments in time to research and test potential variables and to document any changes can deliver tremendous results. Has this problem occurred before? Here is where taking the time to document troubleshooting incidents, resolutions, and outcomes can really pay off. If a component or process has ever failed in a particular way, having the ability to reference detailed records to find a resolution quickly can save huge amounts of money. The following situation happens too often. Your staff struggles to resolve a problem for hours until a technician familiar with your wash arrives and fixes the problem in a few minutes. Now the employee at your wash knows how to troubleshoot the problem and resolve it quickly but nothing is documented. With the solution locked in their mind, you’re faced with downtime waiting for a technician if that employee isn’t available. Even worse, if a new technician arrives, they may not be as familiar with your wash and will have to troubleshoot the problem, again. Don’t let this happen. Following any repair, update your troubleshooting log with the resolution and post “as-built” labels and guides to help your wash reopen as quickly as possible. How urgent is the need for repair? Every repair needs to be made, but a prepared operator will have a documented procedure to determine how urgent a situation is, and the appropriate course of action to resolve it. Situations that either create an unsafe condition or force the business to close should be treated specially. Diagnostic procedures and telephone numbers to call for support should be posted. Often a wash can turn off components and slow conveyor speed to remain open while repairs are scheduled for the evening. What are the safety concerns before I start troubleshooting? Living in a hurricane zone, it always amazes me that more people are injured trying to troubleshoot and repair damage after a storm than from it. The same holds true at your car wash. Anxious to run in and troubleshoot a problem quickly, staff may take shortcuts with safety procedures or forget to adhere to lockout/tag-out requirements. Combat this with training. Remind staff to take safety precautions with signs. Often the worst offenders are your most experienced employees, who after many years have little fear of the car wash. Help keep them aware by involving them in training new staff in safety procedures. Emphasize that they are expected to act as safety role models when performing any service. Small repairs can turn into business closing catastrophes when staff doesn’t carefully evaluate safety concerns before troubleshooting. What are the process quality concerns before I start troubleshooting? This question is not trivial. One busy Saturday delivering an inferior wash to hundreds of your most loyal customers can damage your business and take months to recover. When first approaching a failed or otherwise misbehaving car wash system, the troubleshooter often doesn’t know where to begin. Upon correcting an issue such as a tripped breaker, the system begins working, and they consider the problem solved. All troubleshooting procedures must include a process quality check to confirm that the problem was actually corrected. Just because the brushes start spinning doesn’t mean that detergent is being applied correctly or that cars are being washed, rinsed, and dried properly. Full-serves will have exit-end attendants to fix wash quality issues and alert the manager of the problem. Express-exterior sites however can potentially put out a stream of unhappy customers, undetected, until they simply don’t come back.