At that time, the conveyors we used were little more than a single flat chain channeled in a steel track with steel guide rails on the driver-side to corral the straight tracking of vehicles rolling down the center of the wash, as well as the detail shop. Each conveyor had a return chain mounted on a wall stand that ferried the hooks back for reuse. Initially we used pull-chains and eventually pusher bars, both of which could be dangerous and temperamental. If you hooked up a vehicle incorrectly or pushed it in the wrong place, things could get pretty dicey. Injuries were not uncommon in the early ’60s.
The reason for the history snippet is to focus on our early use of a conveyor in the detailing operation. As best as I can recall, we were the first ones to try the concept, at least on the East Coast. My Dad’s background originated in the clothing manufacturing industry as a pattern-cutter where “piecemeal” was the production benchmark and time was money.
Consequently, his detailing focus was on production throughput, and the methodology that made sense back then was an automated assembly line with detailers positioned to process multiple vehicles on a continuum. In the detailing production line, a pair of overhead tracks called dollies provided roll-along electrical connections to power the buffers via drop lines every so often, so the detailers could walk along as they buffed and wiped. The efficiency of the system enabled greater volume, lower labor costs and higher revenues.
At the exit end of the facility, we had carwash vehicles roll out one door to the kiss-off area for hand finishing, and out of the corresponding detail facility door, freshly buffed cars underwent various reconditioning tasks. Once I had a taste of high-performance detailing, the concept and its bottom-line profitability never left me.
The automated reconditioning concept was a bit ahead of its time, however, because the exposed chain and its accouterments were cumbersome and dangerous. It would be decades before the concept could unite with an appropriate conveyor technology that helps this detailing process make good business sense.
Having grown up watching the automatic carwash business evolve into a serious business model that can generate huge revenues, I envision a similar automation metamorphosis to evolve in the detailing business. Automation results in the ability to implement high-volume capacity that can be marketed at a very competitive retail price.
Today, flat-belt conveyors can significantly increase detailing production capacity. Cars ride atop a whisper-quiet, smooth-gliding floor while remaining safely parked. Although this flat-belt conveyor concept has been used in a small number of carwash operations to facilitate full-service tasks, only a handful have focused on streamlining the detailing process. Most have simply remained in a traditional full-service mindset of interior vacuuming and window cleaning in trickle-through fashion.
The problem is operators who are inclined to simply replicate these typical full-service procedures while using flat-belt conveyors wind up underutilizing the potential capacity of the technology. Staying in this full-service comfort zone can waste time and labor resources and result in unrealized revenue and lost profits.
Instead, switching to moving-floor express after-care detailing that uses variable-capacity, production-line processing can provide optimum volume throughput for high-demand operations. This method should be staffed with cross-trained teams of two detailers and has the ability to adapt to volume demand by increasing or decreasing teams to meet marketplace requirements.
The basic model for any after-care detailing operation is a single team of two cross-trained detailers, but most conveyorized operations have found that two teams of two detailers is most effective. Again, staff expansion