Robert Jungert
Types
of Car Washes:
- Hand car wash facilities,
where the vehicle is washed by employees.
- Self-service facilities,
which are generally coin-operated, where the customer does the washing,
including "jet washing".
- In-bay automatics, which
consist of an automatic machine that rolls back and forth over a
stationary vehicle - often seen at filling
stations and stand-alone wash sites.
- Tunnel washes, which use a conveyor
to move the vehicle through a series of fixed cleaning mechanisms.
- Chemical car wash, also known
as waterless car wash, uses chemicals to wash and polish car surface.
Thought to have originated in Australia and claims to be an eco-friendly
car wash method.
- Steam car washes use a jet of
steam and micro fiber towels, some include detergent injection. Known to
have originated from South Korea, steam car washes have been especially
popular as a low-investment, eco-friendly car wash solution in Asia,
Middle East and Europe thanks to its sanitizing features and mobility.
- Mobile Car Washes, often also serving as mobile detailing systems, which carry plastic water tanks and use pressure washers. Sometimes these systems are mounted on trailers, on trucks, or in vans. Generally these operators also have a generator to run a shop vac., buffers and other tools as well.
Car Wash problems:
Use of
water and energy resources
Use
of water supplies and energy are self-evident, since car washes are users of such
resources. The professional car wash industry has made great strides in reducing its
environmental footprint, a trend that will continue to accelerate due to regulation and consumer and. Many car washes already
use water reclamation systems to significantly reduce water usage and
a variety of energy usage reduction technologies. These systems may be mandatory where water restrictions are in place
Contamination
of surface waters
Contamination
of surface waters may arise from the rinse discharging to storm drains, which
eventually drain to rivers
and lakes. Chief
pollutants in
such wash-water include phosphates; oil and grease; and lead. This is almost exclusively an issue for home/driveway washing,
and parking lot style
charity washes. Professional carwashing is a "non-point source" of discharge
that has the ability to
capture these contaminants and have them undergo treatment before being
released into sanitary systems. (Water and contaminants that enter storm water
drains does not undergo treatment, and
is released directly into rivers, lakes and streams.)
Contamination
of soil and groundwater
Damage to
vehicles:
In
order to avoid marking paintwork, "touchless" (aka
"touchfree" or "no-touch")
car washes were developed. A touchless car wash uses high water pressure to
clean the vehicle instead of brushes, minimizing the chance of surface
damage to the vehicle. There are five primary factors to cleaning a vehicle successfully
using a touchless system. These five factors are water quality, water temperature, chemistry, time,
and water pressure generated by
the equipment. If these factors are all set properly, vehicles will come out clean and
shiny without the chance of vehicle damage caused by brushes.
Links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXGwK0Bw7ys&feature=related
Mavin Martin
·
Most people want to do
it themselves since it is cheapest and they don't need to worry about brushes
scratching the car.
·
A few people wanted an
easy way to take your mats out, and put it on a conveyor belt to wash it for them.
·
A weather forecast
should be at the station with a guarantee that if it says it won't rain within
24 hours but does, they get another free wash.
·
Using Steam rather than
Water for savings in water efficiency.
This shows a mobile Car Wash System where the car sits still and the mechanism is what moves.
A super fun Car Wash. It would probably put more Sumo Wrestlers in a job. Better than Cheerleaders.
Kyle Chittenden
Car-washes (professional)
take 11-20 gallons to wash your car
Car-washes (self serve)
take 12-15 gallons of water to wash a car
Washing our car at home
takes around 50 gallons
Innovative ideas
Gorilla glass has a new
type 2 glass that is supposed to be thinner and will give you a better image
underneath the scratch resistant protection.
A new form of product,
(called liquid glass), is something you spray onto your car and will last
around a year. It's made up of silicon dioxide and some
water/ethanol. It is non-toxic to the environment and is repellent to
water, dirt, bacteria, and basically anything that your car will come into
contact with. To clean, all you need to do is spray it off or wipe it off
with a damp rag and anything attached to the liquid glass will come straight
off without soap.
If we can combine these
two products it would help make a scratch resistant and dirt repellent outer
shell for the car that will not require much water or any soap to clean.
Dan Turchenko
The airblade is an 18 inch thing that sprays out medium-pressure water/soap/wax mix or hot air over its width. It can either be mounted on servos and used in conjunction with a topographical scanning feature to automatically move over the area of your car and closely and carefully clean it, or you can hold it in your hand and clean your car at a self-service wash or at home with a special pressurizer.
Ross Marabella
According to a report done by Ibis World in October 2011, the Carwash and
Auto Detailing Industry had $6 billion of revenue in 2011. The industry
employees 137,000 people across nearly 13,000 businesses.
http://www.ibisworld.com/industry/default.aspx?indid=1695
According to the U.S. Census taken in 2007, there are currently 142
carwash businesses located in Utah.
http://www.census.gov/econ/industry/current/c811192.htm
Other Notes:
The 3 largest, major carwash companies are Wash Depot, Oasis Car Wash,
and Autobell Car Wash
COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE
Demand is driven by new car sales and growth in consumer income. The
profitability of individual firms depends on favorable location and efficient
operations. There are few economies of scale. Chains have advantages in
advertising and customer recognition. Small firms can compete successfully by
having good locations. The industry is labor-intensive: annual revenue per
employee is about $40,000.
PRODUCTS, OPERATIONS & TECHNOLOGY
Major services are exterior wash, exterior and interior cleaning, waxing,
underside cleaning, vacuuming, and premium detailing. Detailing services
consist of intensive interior and exterior cleaning, as well as waxing and
polishing by hand. Some facilities offer vehicle maintenance and repair and
safety inspection services and sell automotive products.
There are three types of car washes: a conveyor or "tunnel"
wash system, where the car is pulled through a tunnel lined with washing
equipment; an in-bay automatic or "rollover" wash system, where the
car is parked in a bay and the washing equipment moves over the car; and a
self-service or "wand" ..
http://www.firstresearch.com/Industry-Research/Car-Washes.html
Adam Durant
General :
Car washes that are automated are often enforced to recycle or treat the water that they use; this makes automated car washes much more environmentally friendly than the manual wash at home.
On average, a full car wash has a cost range from about $12-$28 if automated.
Of the twenty people I asked who owned a car, the average time intervals between car washes is about twice a month (although that is a small sample size).
Gorilla Glass :
Corning, the creators of Gorilla Glass, have already been hired to create Hyundai cars with built in Gorilla Glass.
However, I cannot ascertain the costs of this directly. I did find that most TVs that have Gorilla Glass on them cost an extra $30-$60, so we could estimate that the extra cost, for a car, would be rather substantial.
Through some more research, I found there is a way to maintain and remove scratches from Gorilla Glass should they be incurred. Polishing solutions with aluminum silicate as a main ingredient seems to work wonders when polishing the glass (which is composed of alkali-aluminosilicate). The costs of the polishing solution seems to vary from $40-$60 a quart, so that adds to the costs of maintaining this solution.
Gorilla Glass is fully recyclable making it quite environmentally friendly
Conclusion :
There is a high initial cost to applying Gorilla Glass to a car (probably varying from the high 100s to maybe even an extra 1000 dollars). It has a maintenance cost added to that. The regular car wash has a cost of about $40 dollars a month for the average person (if automated and at the worst). The hidden variables from this equation are the time it takes for the Gorilla Glass to need polishing, and the time saved from applying Gorilla Glass. In any case, it would seem, with the information given, that Gorilla Glass incurs a pricy tag for convenience.
Adam Durant
General :
Car washes that are automated are often enforced to recycle or treat the water that they use; this makes automated car washes much more environmentally friendly than the manual wash at home.
On average, a full car wash has a cost range from about $12-$28 if automated.
Of the twenty people I asked who owned a car, the average time intervals between car washes is about twice a month (although that is a small sample size).
Gorilla Glass :
Corning, the creators of Gorilla Glass, have already been hired to create Hyundai cars with built in Gorilla Glass.
However, I cannot ascertain the costs of this directly. I did find that most TVs that have Gorilla Glass on them cost an extra $30-$60, so we could estimate that the extra cost, for a car, would be rather substantial.
Through some more research, I found there is a way to maintain and remove scratches from Gorilla Glass should they be incurred. Polishing solutions with aluminum silicate as a main ingredient seems to work wonders when polishing the glass (which is composed of alkali-aluminosilicate). The costs of the polishing solution seems to vary from $40-$60 a quart, so that adds to the costs of maintaining this solution.
Gorilla Glass is fully recyclable making it quite environmentally friendly
Conclusion :
There is a high initial cost to applying Gorilla Glass to a car (probably varying from the high 100s to maybe even an extra 1000 dollars). It has a maintenance cost added to that. The regular car wash has a cost of about $40 dollars a month for the average person (if automated and at the worst). The hidden variables from this equation are the time it takes for the Gorilla Glass to need polishing, and the time saved from applying Gorilla Glass. In any case, it would seem, with the information given, that Gorilla Glass incurs a pricy tag for convenience.
The airblade is an 18 inch thing that sprays out medium-pressure water/soap/wax mix or hot air over its width. It can either be mounted on servos and used in conjunction with a topographical scanning feature to automatically move over the area of your car and closely and carefully clean it, or you can hold it in your hand and clean your car at a self-service wash or at home with a special pressurizer.
Adam Durant
ReplyDeleteGeneral :
Car washes that are automated are often enforced to recycle or treat the water that they use; this makes automated car washes much more environmentally friendly than the manual wash at home.
On average, a full car wash has a cost range from about $12-$28 if automated.
Of the twenty people I asked who owned a car, the average time intervals between car washes is about twice a month (although that is a small sample size).
Gorilla Glass :
Corning, the creators of Gorilla Glass, have already been hired to create Hyundai cars with built in Gorilla Glass.
However, I cannot ascertain the costs of this directly. I did find that most TVs that have Gorilla Glass on them cost an extra $30-$60, so we could estimate that the extra cost, for a car, would be rather substantial.
Through some more research, I found there is a way to maintain and remove scratches from Gorilla Glass should they be incurred. Polishing solutions with aluminum silicate as a main ingredient seems to work wonders when polishing the glass (which is composed of alkali-aluminosilicate). The costs of the polishing solution seems to vary from $40-$60 a quart, so that adds to the costs of maintaining this solution.
Gorilla Glass is fully recyclable making it quite environmentally friendly
Conclusion :
There is a high initial cost to applying Gorilla Glass to a car (probably varying from the high 100s to maybe even an extra 1000 dollars). It has a maintenance cost added to that. The regular car wash has a cost of about $40 dollars a month for the average person (if automated and at the worst). The hidden variables from this equation are the time it takes for the Gorilla Glass to need polishing, and the time saved from applying Gorilla Glass. In any case, it would seem, with the information given, that Gorilla Glass incurs a pricy tag for convenience.