During the latter part of August, representatives from Cheetah Clean Auto Wash took part in the European Management Seminar. This seminar provided the perfect environment for new and reinvented ideas to take hold and blossom through healthy conversation and brain storming within the network of attendees. Cheetah Clean was one of only fifteen partners that took part in this great event, giving them exclusive access to some of the best car wash operations on the planet.
Sometimes it takes leaving your business for a bit to come up with your next great idea, and we here at Cheetah Clean understand that. We took a week away to travel through Germany, France and Switzerland and see the car wash business from a new perspective. For a solid week, we explored different car wash markets, and toured wash sites and locations.
The following companies were grateful enough to open their doors to us:
WashTech: WashTec is the world’s leading provider of innovative solutions for all aspects of vehicle washing. Over 1,700 employees working for them in more than 70 countries help shape the future of the washing business as a whole.
Products, processes and solutions from WashTec offer operators and end customers alike outstanding results and experiences. This great company continuously set new standards in the worldwide washing business.
This is where automated car washing began. WashTec is the largest Car Wash Systems manufacturer in the world. They grossed over 300 million Euro last year and are going to be major players in the United States in the years to come.
Autop: Located in Zürich, Switzerland, Autop is a fully biological water treatment facility that has a very high recovery rate when it comes to washing and cleaning vehicles. Around 80% of 105 gallons, which is required for our car wash, are recovered from the conditioned hot water. Autop only requires around 80 liters of water per car wash, making it extremely efficient and very friendly for the environment.
We were able to take many things away from this location, and we’ll be implementing some of their practices to our own wash facilities here in south central Kentucky. This location is on the cutting edge of car wash technology, and we can’t wait to expand on ideas we took from touring this facility.
Best Car Wash: Zurich’s largest car wash – directly under the Hardbrücke. Best Carwash offers twenty years of car washing free of brushes and scratches . From the normal foam wash and paint protection with wheels to gloss polish, Best Car Wash does it all. Underfloor preservatives allow you to determine your desired car wash program all the way down to the smallest of details.
The additional services start at the exclusive car interior cleaning, and also include car polish and nanosealing services. Their newest addition allows for the opportunity to book an appointment online for both internal and external cleaning .
Elephant Bleu Car Wash: Knowing and satisfying the expectations of their customers takes up the majority of their energy in Strassborg, France. They have the ambition to provide them, as well as the teams that run their wash operations, with the ability to reach an excellent level in car washing.
Elephant Blue believes that one condition for obtaining the highest collective performance in the long-run is that company employees can find working conditions and a working environment that is characterized by both seriousness and discipline. To obtain this we consider the involvement and the professionalism of our teams to be one of our top objectives: competency, innovation ability, a hard working attitude and surpassing oneself, are characteristics that we highly value.
Excellence can only be obtained if we provide our customers with high quality services and products, which is the result of real team work: total trust in one another, deep respect for everyone, good listening skills and our ability to communicate. Being reactive, rigorous and demanding on a daily basis.
All these values guide them in a process to limit the impact of our activity and accompany our process for respecting the environment.
Mr. Wash: München, Germany’s premier car wash facility is absolutely TOP of the line when it comes to quality and efficiency in the car wash world. It is one of, if not the largest wash facility in the world. This company strives on providing the ultimate customer service while being more than fair to the loyal customer base.
The following is an excerpt taken from a piece in the Wall Street Journal detailing the magnitude of this Mr. Wash location:
Eric Wulf has seen lots of carwashes but none like the Mr. Wash here.
“This thing will stand forever,” the chief executive of the International Carwash Association recalls thinking while on a trip from Chicago. “There’s more concrete and steel here than at 10 carwashes in the U.S.”
The two-story structure needs to be strong because it can wash over half a million cars annually. America’s biggest carwashes handle around 200,000 cars, Mr. Wulf says.
On Mr. Wash’s upper level, machines slather a car’s outsides. Then an army of smiling staff attack lingering water streaks and interior dirt. Extra buffing lines will open soon. On the lower level, fastidious customers can continue cleaning with free vacuum hoses, compressed-air guns and special machines to wash floor mats.
“It’s not polite to talk about yourself, but I haven’t seen anything like it,” says Mr. Wash Chief Executive Richard Enning. A few of his 32 other outlets are almost as big.
Germans love cars. They also tend to like things tidy. Now they’re building temples to clean cars.
We had a tremendous time traveling and taking part in this car wash expedition, and we can’t wait to bring a reality to the many ideas we brought back with us. Keep updated with us as we have several BIG things on the horizon for our wash facilities and multiple locations. Swing by 31-W today become a part of the #CheetahCleanTeam!