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Enthusiasm for the Car Wash show...

I.B. Washincars

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I've been on this forum for 24 years, and I don't think I have seen less enthusiasm than this year. I know I use to get excited about it every year. I had even planned on showing up this year, just to visit old acquaintances, but life prevented it. Those of you that went, was there anything earth shattering for the lowly SS/IBA guys?
 

Roz

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Yes. Show had record attendance and booths, just under 10K people.

Rumor has it that they have outgrown Nashville location as they had booths in the outside trade floor hallways on both sides. Next year in Vegas and then who knows where.

From my perspective I am most enthusiastic about the Dencar retrofit doors for Hamilton and Unitech. But will wait to see if they can live up to the hype. They may push both companies to get with the 21st century as those two seem to be content to allow the world to pass them by - which is sad as the machines were the gold standard a long time ago.

On the SS side not much has changed or improved, although I do like the KR VFD Pro SS equipment. Their biggest challenge is that they have no one to help install the equipment. According to Keith that may change soon but again the proof is what people will want to see.

On the IBA side D&S gave a compelling demo presentation of their large vehicle system IQ Max. I am Not ready to wash semis but I would consider adding it to my oversized bay so I can wash sprinter vans.

I also would like to find a place near me to purchase and install a WW Apex as it seems to be a machine heading in the right direction.

best attended presentation (that I saw) was on chemicals. Clearly there is a lot of confusion and interest in how to be a better wash operator using better chemicals.

no keynote speaker which did not seem to matter much to the audience.

the ICA could do a better job vetting the presentations. Too many were ‘lite’ on any info that was helpful to owners and operators.

if you believe some of the messages the industry is still growing at a rapid rate even in this expensive and tight money environment. Some of the transactions I have seen appear to support that hypothesis although buyers are being more selective.

Best part of the show was being able to meet a few active members of this forum to place a face and handshake with a name!
 

Greg Pack

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Roz's assessment was good. I'm not currently in a buying mode so that limits my interest of items on the floor. Just heard from a friend that there was record-breaking attendance of over 9600 attendees. My rough guess is 80% of event space was overall industry or tunnel-related, maybe 10% IBA/SS , 5-10% detail or other. It's amazing to still see the number of reps representing at the big booths and the amount of space they take, what appears to be primarily for marketing presence. For IBA the Dencar booth was interesting for those that want to try memberships. There was a lot of interest in the small petit booth.

I did run into Debra and Jackson on the floor Tuesday afternoon. Met a couple of members, ShinePro and Roz, and always stop by to say hello to Jim Gosnell at his booth. I guess we should have attempted to arrange a forum get together, even if on the floor.

Educational seminars are mostly tunnel driven and revolve around personnel, social media, marketing,etc. It seems the WCA sponsors the self serve/IBA track and I saw a couple of seminars of interest. Gauging from the Q&A there are still newcomers and interested investors in the SS/IBA segment. I attended the chemical seminar and it started out good. The guy was obviously knowledgeable and talked about cleaning chemistry a bit then didn't follow through on real-world application. In my opinion operators need to lead/guide the curriculum and the tech guys need to be there to support the technical side of things. One of the old SSCWN articles JJ did in years past is still one of the best resources to learn the basics on car wash chemistry. On the first day was a presentation from relative newcomer that rehabbed a self serve/IBA a couple years ago. It's great to see some enthusiasm and optimism for the business and that is infectious. It's one of the main reasons I attend the show.
 

Gilleys

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This was our first show we attended. We’ve owned the Car Wash (4SS & 1 IBA) for 17 years. We have a Ryko soft gloss and are looking to replace it along with other improvements.
My wife like the Wash World Apex. There’s a lot of zert fittings on this machine! I saw 36 that were visual from the floor. Also constantly greasing the four slides. I know it’s a new machine, less than 40 in the field. A tech said, owners are not greasing the slides enough. Which will cause the horizontal brush to get jammed angle. To me there’s a lot of moving parts.
I like the Belanger Freestyler and the Petit. I was surprised they didn’t have a Freestyler at the show. I talked with one of the Petit engineers for probably 30 minutes. Our town is about 7,300 people. Three car washes in the town. One 4SS and the other has one touchless and one touch wash.
 
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ShinePro

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I was going to post something before the show when we were headed there Saturday. I B…. Now I feel bad that I did not!
Show was great. Met Roz, Greg, and a few others. Great conversations with all.
I totally echo Greg and Roz’s assesments!

Chemquest booth was busy.
Hamilton had a great booth!
Did some measuring and picture taking at the Wash World booth for farmer engineering on existing units.
I thought the show had plenty for ss/IBA folks.
Great dinners, plenty of Bourbon 🥃👍
one good day at the pool- Sunday-
Other than that the weather was not great!
 

Axxlrod

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I just got back last night, and I'm still exhausted. 5 days in Nash is a lot!

This show felt very crowded.

If they are running out of space, there were many non-car wash booths that they could get rid of; like the massage chairs, drills, many "tchotchke" booths. The back corner of the show floor resembles a swap meet. I'd rather see more booths directly related to car washes anyway.

I only have one SS wash now, and working on two new express tunnels, so my interest pretty much mirrors the trade show.

I was amazed at how many CRM technology companies had booths. Which was confusing as they all pretty much do the same thing... manage/preserve memberships.

I think I saw only 4 or so booths related to SS equip.

The Petit booth was so crowded. Hats off to those guys.

As a litmus test to the industry, the Sonny's party was crazy. Sonny's rented out the entirety of Blake Shelton's bar/restaurant; all 4 levels. And it was packed. Shoulder to shoulder on every level. Plus free food/beer/wine. Can't imagine what that cost.

I also attended the WCA wash tour on Sunday. It was a good tour, but only 3 washes on tour. We were back at the hotel by 11:30am. There was a catered lunch at Martin's BBQ after also.
 
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