Car Care Cleaning Equipment & Solutions

India is among the top six leading manufacturers of automobiles with a significant customer base that makes it one of the major consuming marketplaces in the world. Growing demand and increasing supply chain for cars also make it an attractive market for car care and car wash products and services. The niche sector is developing from garage and repair shops to well-equipped and managed car care service hubs. Nikunj Sharma brings an account on cleaning equipment & solutions.

THE TREND is picking up in both formats i.e. dedicated carwash/car care service centres/ chains and as a support shop of dealerships. The market prospects booms on the strong vehicle presence on the road with over 200 million registered vehicles on the roads and many more to come, the market offers a lucrative opportunity for the existing as well as new players. In this purview, managing a car wash facility becomes a demanding job and requires a balanced approach between the supplies and procurement, training and manpower management apart from integrating the man and machine to deliver the best with sustainable ROI.

In an overview to the business of carwash services, Ashok Sharma, MD, Unique Auto Care India Pvt Ltd, says, “Among the many instruments/solutions for car wash/ cleaning buffing machine, car wash machine, vacuum cleaner etc. are very common in practice. Complete car wash includes both interior detailing and exterior cleansing,service stations and vehicles.

Other than the conventional cleaning alternatives, the high end car care service providers also offer exterior steam wash, ozone treatment, protective treatment, polymer nano sealent, anti-rust treatment, extensive interior cleaning, paint correction, under body polymer coating and nano glass coating services to their customers. In addition, high pressure cleaning machines, spray extraction machines, high powered vacuum cleaners and steam cleaners are also used to offer mechanised and customised car cleaning service.

“Among the many instruments/solutions for car wash/cleaning buffing machine, car wash machine and vacuum cleaner are very common in practice.”

– Ashok Sharma

Efficacy of car cleaning solutions

There are plenty of suppliers for carwash equipment and solutions like Auto Finesse from UK, 3M India, Formula1, Lavor Wash and ranging from muddy wheels to steering wheels. We use customized CRM tools to handle all car cleaning needs with an inhouse intensive training center to cater such needs. We have extended this service to the customer’s doorstep resulting in less hassle of bringing the car to service station.”

Car cleaning solutions

The car care market has a varied segmentation comprising chemicals & tools providers, cleaning & maintenance equipment suppliers, and dealers and service providers. A range of solutions, tools and equipment is available in the market to maintain the cleanliness and hygiene at the Neaten. The service providers select the supply on the basis of clientele and as the work demands. Defining the dynamics of varying efficacy of carwash solutions, Jasmeet Singh Gulati, Vice President – Sales and Business Development, Liv India Management Pvt. Ltd, “We have developed a unique and mechanized way of car cleaning where we are using those equipments which saves more than 50% of water than conventional car wash. On an average one complete wash of a car (both internal and external) consumes only around 150 litres of water. Exterior body cleaning is a three step process (Pre wash, Foam and Rinse) and surprisingly these all take only 10 minutes to complete. Even for internal cleaning including upholstery cleaning, we adopt waterless techniques. Thus saves lots of water and producing excellent results. We use Wet and Dry suction machines with spray injections. This way we not only clean the interior but sanitize it thoroughly to make the car’s interior bacteria and virus free.”

It also depends on the segment of car owners a car wash service station is catering to often precision care takes over conventional cleaning and service providers need to address that call. Economics also plays a crucial role in getting quick and efficient machines to match the demand curves coupled with a cost saving mechanism across the process.

“We have developed a unique and mechanized way of car cleaning where we are using those equipment which save more than 50% of water than conventional car wash.”

– Jasmeet Singh Gulati

“Cold Water High Pressure Jet Cleaners have been the first choice of all workshop owners so far and still most workshops are washing & cleaning cars with the same conventional systems. Whereas today we have most cost effective and state of the art equipment with ‘Total Stop Mechanism’ for power savings, Special Nozzles for water saving and on top of it ‘Steam Jet Wash & Wax’ & ‘No-Rinse Wash & Wax’ for total water & power savings, specialised car cleaning process to reduce cleaning time for quality & quantity deliverance. Foam Wash & Special Wax for quality finish, Automatic Car Wash plants for washing up to 400 cars a day, latest cleaning & polishing chemicals for inside compartment with mild perfume for better feeling after wash,” informs, B P Tyagi, GM – Sales & Marketing, Manmachine Works Private Limited .

Supply chain management

Managing a smart supply chain to ensure timely service delivery is key to keep your clientele intact. Speaking about the various handling aspects of the entire car cleaning accessories, Tyagi says,“Our emphasis remains on finding a structured company that can supply latest car wash equipment, specialised & customised accessories, International Standard consumables & cleaning agents, training & consultancy having its Pan-India presence. Manmachine has expertise in all these domains with a strong pan India network of dealers & resident managers/service engineers with a total workforce of close to 100 dedicated hard core company trained professionals for sales, training & after-sale support.”

“Cold Water High Pressure Jet Cleaners have been the first choice of all workshop owners so far and still most workshops are washing & cleaning cars with the same conventional systems.“

– B P Tyagi

In today’s busy lifestyle and changing mechanism of supply and demand it becomes necessary to stay upfront to customer’s expectation, while managing the channel partners simultaneously. A smart service provider maintains a constant inflow of supplies and put conscious efforts to make précised utilization of the same in order to satisfy their customers. Describing the importance of workforce deployment and managed service stations, Jasmeet avers, “We have a network of enthusiastic dealers and through which supplies are being managed along with company owned warehouses to ensure on time supplies to the customers. Apart from that, our efficient network of Engineers and Technicians across India ensures timely delivery of technical services. We are amongst the best companies offering prompt technical/maintenance services to customers under less than 24 hours.”

Training and Procurement

Professional servicing is an outcome of basic training and regular improvement in skills and approach in sync with customer demand and need of the hour. Emphasising on the need of training and procurement, Tyagi elaborates, “Sustainable procurement means thinking carefully about what to buy, from whom to buy, buying what you really need, purchasing products and services with high environmental performance and considering the social and economic impacts of purchasing decisions. The background report, together with the Product Sheets (on “Cleaning Products” and “Cleaning Services” – Basic and Advanced level), constitutes the sustainable procurement guidelines for cleaning products and services.” The rationale behind the sustainable procurement recommendations in the market is availability of sustainable products amongst others. Training is required to give the best amongst other in the industry. Training emphasises not only on how to operate on equipment but rather how to effectively wash and detail a car in minimum possible time.

Car Care Cleaning Equipment & Solutions