Chemical support

[sudsurfer]

What are your views on how much support your chemical supplier should give. As a GM, I keep an eye on usage, costs, and ph levels, but I'm no chemist. I believe the chemical company you use should give their support for THEIR chemicals; in terms of usage, titration, eyt. Not just show up when you place an order. What do you think?

 

[Earl Weiss]

What are your views on how much support your chemical supplier should give. As a GM, I keep an eye on usage, costs, and ph levels, but I'm no chemist. I believe the chemical company you use should give their support for THEIR chemicals; in terms of usage, titration, eyt. Not just show up when you place an order. What do you think?

I think that after a few years in the business you should not need them unless perhaps you are an absentee owner. It's not rocket science. You can go high tech and buy a titration kit, or low tech and simply look at what type of show and cleaning a product gives you. Use a Sharpie to Mark the time and date when you open a barrel and when you finish it. Figure your cost per car (CPC). Go with the lowest CPC that gives good show and effect.

There is many a story of chem reps entering a Back room and tweaking adjustments so more solution is used.

 

[rph9168]

Good advice Earl. I would add that even if you do have a chemical suppler make sure you know how to titrate their chemicals. It is not that difficult and is a good way to keep them honest. As a personal note, it is important to make sure your chemicals are compatible if you are using several different brands. I have written an article for the October issue of Auto Laundry News about this. If you don't subscribe you should be able to get it off their website when the article comes out. If that doesn't work for you just PM me and I will send the article to you.

 

[robert roman]

A long time ago, chemical reps use to make rounds doing the things you mentioned.

I believe economic distance and shrinking margins has made this practice increasingly difficult to provide on consistent basis.

For this reason proportioning and monitoring system makes sense - most GM’s manage 3 to 4 stores. Put data in the cloud for supplier to analyze.

This would eliminate most of the work except manual titration.

 

[rph9168]

Whether you buy your chemicals through a rep or from a mail order supplier it is very important to monitor usage on a regular basis. There are many things that can cause and unnecessary jump in usage. I think the easiest way is to mark the drums or pails as Earl suggests but I think you should check usage monthly and not wait until all the product is used. There are several ways to calculate how much as been used in that period. The most accurate way would to perform a simple math calculation that can be found on the Internet or in some containers there are markings on the side of the container.