2016 NADA Convention & Expo show floor was packed with new fixed ops equipment and products
From cabinets to wheel balancers and more, there were plenty of exciting products on the fixed ops side at the 2016 NADA Convention & Expo to help technicians improve speed and efficiencies. Canadian auto dealer spoke to several vendors to learn more about some of the latest products that were unveiled.
Rhino Linings
Russell Lewis, Founder
“This year we are showing off a couple of opportunities for dealers to get into the sprayed-on truck bed lining business. We have a high pressure alternative and a low pressure alternative. Depending on the volume that the dealer does, they have a couple of equipment choices. We love the truck sales. They’re back to historically high levels, and of course truck bed liners are the number one accessory. Sprayed-on truck bed liners have gained substantially in popularity and Canada is a great market for us. Trucks and bed liners are in high demand in Canada. We have really good margins for the dealers and they enjoy the simplicity and efficiency of our product. They bring in liquid materials and they create the bed liners on site. It’s relatively easy and hassle-free, and it’s been a very good profit centre for them.”
Nelson Industrial
Jeff Nelson, President
“Transparency is a big component in the service area. There are waiting rooms, cafes, and whatnot, just to make the customer more comfortable while they’re at the dealership so they can look into the shop. That’s where our product stands out. Aesthetics and neatness are inherent in our product. We’re launching the next generation of the NEOS product. Most notable in our system is the wall that serves dual purpose. It creates visual impact in the dealership, one of cleanliness and organization. But the wall also provides a functional benefit. It allows tools, diagnostics, IT modules and a whole host of accessories to be stored in a very neat and modular fashion. That is something the competing brands do not provide.
It’s not just pretty, though. It also has a lot of functional benefits, a lot of innovative storage modules that really speak to the efficiency and productivity of the technician. At the end of the day, if the tech is organized and pleased with the work environment, they’re going to be productive and that’s going to benefit the dealer’s bottom line.”
Hunter Engineering
John Peron, Director of Canadian Operations
“Specifically, we’re talking about the Road Force Elite that we have here. We’ve been able with our camera technology to take modular portions of it from one piece of equipment — our liners — over into the balancing portion and what we’ve been able to deliver is probably a 10 or 15 per cent efficiency gain for each of the dealers. Why that’s important is if you’re scheduling things out for a one or two hour job, you can now get that done a little more efficiently. What that means is you can probably look at additional services or additional jobs every day to generate additional revenue….The dealers are trying to make sure that consumers, when they buy their vehicle, want to get them serviced at their locations. The way to do that is to engage them. We have been so fortunate that the technology and engineering portion of what we do allows us to be able to really enhance not only the technician efficiencies in the back of the shop, but it also allows us from a retail standpoint to provide some assistance to their advisors.”
Graco
Amy Anderson, Director of Channel
Marketing, Lubrication Equipment Division
“Here in our booth at NADA we have our GRACO fluid management system, Matrix. Matrix is really a solution that allows dealerships to account for all oil that they use in their facilities. If they have 300 gallons of oil, they know that every ounce of that 300 gallons of oil is accounted for and in their customers’ vehicles. The beauty of Matrix that we add is that it’s a wireless system. We know a lot of dealerships are focusing on upgrading their systems, and with our system you don’t have to completely tear out the old system and put in ours and have all these expenses. Our Matrix Fluid Management System also can track your used oil — your waste oil. When a tank gets full of waste oil, the Matrix system can automatically send a notification to your fluid reclaim vendor who is coming to empty your tank, so you don’t have any spillage or overflow of your waste tank.”
