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Others review ICA convention
- Thread starter MudMoney
- Start date
i didn't see too many innovations that stuck out to me honestly.
it looked like to me ncs is shifting focus from their macneil equipment lineup to their shadow equipment lineup -- they didn't even have their full macneil tunnel on display. their amp paystation looks to be interesting.
american car wash solutions was a new company i didn't know about, and it looks like a very sturdy construction. if they can come out with more equipment configuration like entrance/exit wrap top brush combo i may give them a serious consideration.
abc wash system had lots of dazzle in their booth. im not convinced their stainless steel foamers are worth converting over on all my sites unless i'm starting a new build.
i stopped by kleen-rite booth to complement the oscijet guys on their hpw nozzles.
i was talking to nxtwash paystation company and they were impressive, especially on integrating claude ai. i asked for a demo from them.
i didn't pay too much attention to iba/ss booths so i can't speak on that.
it looked like to me ncs is shifting focus from their macneil equipment lineup to their shadow equipment lineup -- they didn't even have their full macneil tunnel on display. their amp paystation looks to be interesting.
american car wash solutions was a new company i didn't know about, and it looks like a very sturdy construction. if they can come out with more equipment configuration like entrance/exit wrap top brush combo i may give them a serious consideration.
abc wash system had lots of dazzle in their booth. im not convinced their stainless steel foamers are worth converting over on all my sites unless i'm starting a new build.
i stopped by kleen-rite booth to complement the oscijet guys on their hpw nozzles.
i was talking to nxtwash paystation company and they were impressive, especially on integrating claude ai. i asked for a demo from them.
i didn't pay too much attention to iba/ss booths so i can't speak on that.
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PaulLovesJamie
rural 5 bay SS
I had a great time at the show - enjoyed time with old and new forum friends 
and spent enough time with vendors to get re-energized. Im very glad I went.
I talked with the vendor selling Aqua Flow valves, supposedly they reduce your water bill by 10-30%, average 20%. Ballpark price for a 2" water meter is over $5,000. (This was mentioned here on the forum a while ago but iirc it didnt go anywhere). I am DEEPLY skeptical, but if it works I'm installing one. I spent a lot of time trying to get them to explain the physics to me, but either salespeople dont get physics or I'm dense. They have a 90 day risk free trial, so I'm going to test it... as long as I can figure out how. NB: testing suggestions are welcome! Good news is I have an engineer son in the pipeline business, that should help. I'll certainly post results here.
I did notice a long term trend that equipment (iba/express/tunnel) continues to improve in apparent reliability and functionality, which is not surprising.
There seemed to be a lot of lip service around AI. In my strongly held opinion thats all marketing, but just as with many other things it may indicate a developing trend.
Prices on everything are higher. I know, no kidding.
Assuming the price quotes are what I expect I'm going to order some custom towels this year, never did that before. Supposedly cheaper than sams club. Its time to re-order t-shirts and other clothing too, several vendors had nice stuff and acceptable prices.
I've been struggling with what to do about my bill changer, it's been unreliable for a few years. Should I eliminate it altogether, or continue fighting with it? Talked with all the vendors, I decided to replace it - I placed an order with Kleen Rite. I only dispense $1 tokens, and I'm going to stop changing $1 bills. Only $5,10,20s.
Replacing our 25 year old lighted sign at the street wasnt on our budget, but it is now. Modern signs are a lot nicer than what we have, there were several sign companies there, all very helpful. Thats a next-year item on our list now.
and spent enough time with vendors to get re-energized. Im very glad I went. I talked with the vendor selling Aqua Flow valves, supposedly they reduce your water bill by 10-30%, average 20%. Ballpark price for a 2" water meter is over $5,000. (This was mentioned here on the forum a while ago but iirc it didnt go anywhere). I am DEEPLY skeptical, but if it works I'm installing one. I spent a lot of time trying to get them to explain the physics to me, but either salespeople dont get physics or I'm dense. They have a 90 day risk free trial, so I'm going to test it... as long as I can figure out how. NB: testing suggestions are welcome! Good news is I have an engineer son in the pipeline business, that should help. I'll certainly post results here.
I did notice a long term trend that equipment (iba/express/tunnel) continues to improve in apparent reliability and functionality, which is not surprising.
There seemed to be a lot of lip service around AI. In my strongly held opinion thats all marketing, but just as with many other things it may indicate a developing trend.
Prices on everything are higher. I know, no kidding.
Assuming the price quotes are what I expect I'm going to order some custom towels this year, never did that before. Supposedly cheaper than sams club. Its time to re-order t-shirts and other clothing too, several vendors had nice stuff and acceptable prices.
I've been struggling with what to do about my bill changer, it's been unreliable for a few years. Should I eliminate it altogether, or continue fighting with it? Talked with all the vendors, I decided to replace it - I placed an order with Kleen Rite. I only dispense $1 tokens, and I'm going to stop changing $1 bills. Only $5,10,20s.
Replacing our 25 year old lighted sign at the street wasnt on our budget, but it is now. Modern signs are a lot nicer than what we have, there were several sign companies there, all very helpful. Thats a next-year item on our list now.
please keep us up to tabs on your experience with aqua flow valves...!
AI is a real thing in the car wash industry. on your next show visit, give LiveReach a visit. we are currently using their camera system for damage inspection arch, and we also have a camera installed at the paystation where the AI records EVERY interaction (video footages and transcript) our employees have with their customers and the AI grades them based on the criteria i set up so i can coach them later on their sales pitch. when i pop these footages and the transcript the employees' jaws literally drop.
the ai also alerts me when the paystation is not manned for more than 5 minutes or if someone's been in the office for over 5 minutes without a customer. pretty soon they'll also have their own version of nopileup where the ai reviewing the tunnel cameras will automatically stop the tunnel when it sees a car not moving.
microfiber towels i always order in bulk from A & H towels, i've yet to find a place that sells them cheaper.
AnalyticWash
Well-known member
What I couldn't understand is why these guys don't have a secondary meter so you could see the 10-30% savings in real time. Or some function to show gallons used over 1 minute with and without the valve. I understand there is a flow drop but they could account for it in a demo and show actual data backed results.
Compared to some of the other companies that sell a similar product, their install process is by far the easiest as it is simply inserted at a union.