Auto Recycler`s - Auto Recyclers Toolbox

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Auto Recycler’s
Helpful Articles, Products & Services
BY Auto Recycler Professionals
FOR Auto Recycler Professionals TM
OSTER
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Insid
a Trade Show in Print!
Annual
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Featuring a Spotlight on
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uality &
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COMBINING OUR
STRENGTHS
URG
OPEN TO
ALL
RECYCLE
RS
Training Conference
2014
Check out Page 3
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Inside the ToolBox
32 How to Make Your Dismantlers Twice
as Productive
- By Ron Sturgeon
4 Combining Our Strengths
URG/CCC Training Confference - By Don Porter
6 Collision Repair Market
- Continued Transformation - By Susanna E. Gotsch
34 People and PASSION!
- By Herb Lieberman
10 Improve Your Business
By Maximizing Sales to the Collision
Repair Industry - By Bob Jabjiniak
36 Online Training By Ginny Whelan
38 Industry News & Views
12 What does HCS/GHS mean to OSHA?
- By Sue Schauls
40 Central Auto Recyclers
Recycler Spotlight
- By Sandy Blalock
14 Is Email Marketing Dead?
- Digital Marketing - By Jay Granofsky
46-47 Classifieds
Buy, Sell, Trade
16 Consistency for a change
- By Amber Elenbaas
18 WINNER!
of the “I Love My Truck” contest
- By Sandy Blalock
ADVERTISER’S INDEX
20 Ask the Answerman
“Should I Give my Children
a Discounted Price?”
- By Jim Counts
22 Have we begun to create metal alloys
so hard that they can’t be cut?
- By Stuart Johnson
24 Pull-Out Poster
Salvage Yards Have Been Around A Lot
Longer Than You Thought!
26 Financial Statement Fundamentals
Bank & Business Beat - By Theresa Kabot
28 Do the Research NOW!
Avoid Title Problems Later
- By Jay Svendsen
30 How to Control Your IMAGE!
- By Mike French
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3
4 Spotlight on URG Training Conference
COMBINING OUR
URG recyclers are
not afraid to share
business practices,
processes and philosophies with
other recyclers
who wear the URG
April 10-12, 2014 Denver, Colorado
logo. By doing so,
they know they are
By Don Porter
raising the bar for all recyclers. Our memhat a great title for this year's bers continue to demonstrate a high level of
conference! It really gets to the business acumen. They strive to achieve a
heart of what URG is as an asso- reputation of being the best automotive
ciation. As many of you know URG had recycler in their respective markets.
In my experience it is rare that an orgait's beginning in 1995. It was created
through the efforts of three very dynamic nization, especially an association, actively
auto recyclers: Ed Lacey, Bill Tolpa and focusses on fully utilizing the strengths of
Ron Sturgeon. The founders of URG had their members to attain the goals of the assoa vision to create an inventory manage- ciation and enhance potential business opment system, by recyclers and for portunities for all members. Too often in
recyclers, that would allow recyclers to achieving the broader goals of the associamaintain better control over their parts tion, individual members may be left to
data. Their vision did not stop there. They struggle and feel they are not deriving apknew that by combining the strengths of propriate member benefits.
Since first becoming involved with
individual recyclers into an active association great things could be accomplished. URG many years ago, and especially now
Today, because of their vision, URG as an employee of the organization, I am
has become the largest progressive group truly impressed with the willingness of
of recyclers in North America. Our mem- URG members to go the extra mile to help
bers are dedicated to ensuring the success educate, train and improve other recyclers’
and growth of the recycling industry. business processes. Being a member of
STRENGTHS
URG
Training Conference 2014
W
URG is really
I Look
like being a
for
ward to
member of a
big family,
seeing you at the
where everyURG/CCC Training
one is hoping
Conference
that each family member can
achieve success.
This Conference is a testament to
the URG membership and to the leadership provided by the URG Board of
Managers.
The URG Board of Managers and
URG staff look forward to seeing you at
the conference. We have a great line up
of speakers, panels and classroom sessions that will capture your interest and
make you glad you attended. Come join
us for the best educational conference
of the year!
Look forward to seeing you!
Don Porter
Executive Director
URG
Qu
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URG
Auto
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Parts
To
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Ser vice
Never miss a parts sale again!
Instantly trade with 100+ salvage yards 24/7!
Membership Benefits Include:
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Invest in our industry’s future
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Qu
The
Brand
URG/CCC 2014
Training Conference
ality &
URG
Auto
®
Parts
To
Trust
S er vice
Opening Speakers
Susanna Gotsch
G.B. Outlaw
Friday Morning, Opening Speaker
Susanna will be speaking on the subject, The Economy, the
political climate, and trends in the automotive industry. She has
presented her research at numerous industry meetings and
symposiums. She brings over twenty years of experience within
the automotive claims industry as Director, Industry Analyst.
Susanna Gotsche is Director, Industry Analyst at CCC Information
Services Inc. and has been with CCC since July of 1992. In 2011, she
was selected as one of five Most Influential Women in the Collision
Repair Industry through the annual industry honorarium established by
Akzo Nobel Automotive & Aerospace Coatings America (A&AC). She has
authored The Crash Course, CCC's annual publication on trends
impacting collision repair and total loss costs since 1995. This publication
has become a key resource for the industry in understanding how
broader trends within the economy, new and used vehicle market places,
and collision industry are impacting auto claim frequency and costs. She
is also responsible for the generation of all trend analyses of the
insurance and automotive industries published by CCC since 1995.
Ms. Gotsch received a B.A. from St. Olaf College in 1989. She also
has an M.A. from Indiana University.
Foreign Parts
For Most Models
“Recycling Today For
A Better Tomorrow”
5800 Elliott Reeder,
Ft. Worth, Texas 76117
www.All-Import.com
Phone: (817)
G. B. will be speaking on the subject, Leadeship & Leading
Change! Are you on P.A.C.E? He will challenge leaders to
identify their Purpose and create Awareness of the target or
goal at hand to deliver value to the organization that ultimately
serves the customer. Through engagement, interactive
dialogue and a commitment to get naked with the truth. Outlaw
helps stakeholders bring Clarity and focus to the factors,
thoughts and influences that impact the ability to embrace
changing demands. With this heighten sense of clarity and
awareness, the people are Empowered to pursue the target(s)
with focus, vision and a clear intentional strategy.
G.B. Outlaw, President of GB Outlaw and Associates, Inc., is a
recognized leader in workshop facilitation, business meeting
facilitation, leadership development and coaching. With a proven track
record, he has helped numerous stakeholders improve their
performance and gain customers to sustain profitable growth. With
over 28 years of experience in the fields of manufacturing, process
improvement, program management, sales and organizational
development.
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6
Collision Repair Market
Continued Transformation
By Susanna E. Gotsch
An Emerging Industry
The collision repair industry has experienced a great deal of
change over the last several years. The recession helped drive
already flat-to-declining vehicle accident frequency down
further, and more customers were opting not to have minor
damage repaired. And with the average age of vehicles on the
road in the U.S. at an all-time high, more vehicles were damaged
total loss versus repairable. As we move into 2014 however, it
would appear that the collision repair industry is beginning to see
a light at the end of the tunnel.
New light-vehicle sales in 2013 hit 15.6 million, up nearly
eight percent from 2012, and the fourth straight year of one
million or more unit sales gain.1 New vehicle sales typically drive
up auto premiums, and improving employment rates often
suggest a return to driving during peak times when accident rates
are highest.2 Early December snow and ice storms across broad
swathes of the U.S. led to higher repair volumes to wrap up the
year, with many carriers' claims counts up nearly 15 percent from
the same period in 2012. According to Aon Benfield, a mixture
of heavy snow, accumulating ice, sleet, freezing rain, and rain led
to dangerous driving conditions from California to Maine,
resulting in thousands of structural and auto claims.3
Longer term it is unlikely the industry will see dramatic
increase in repairs – claim frequency for collision and liability
losses remains stable, with moderate oscillation quarter to
quarter.4
See My
Session at the
URG/CCC
Training
Conference
miles driven per household, per vehicle, and per driver7; and
more vehicles with electronic stability control and crash
avoidance technologies.8
Because the collision repair industry has seen a decline in
the number of U.S. shops, sales per shop may still benefit.
According to data from the Automotive Aftermarket Industry
Association, the number of U.S. shops specializing in collision
repair in the U.S. has declined nearly every year between 2002
and 2011, with the largest drop occurring in 2010, and the final
tally as of 2012 at just over 34,000 independent collision repair
shops.9 A review of the annual statistics reported by ASA's
How's Your Business – Collision suggests that repairers have
seen a gradual increase in the number of estimates generated per
month since the heart of the recession as of the 2012 edition.10
The ASA How’s Your Business – Collision surveys also
track the percent of repairers that participate in insurance
company direct repair programs (DRP). Since 2001 the
percentage reported by the survey has remained fairly steady at
about 90 percent.11 The 2012 ASA survey reported that only 7.7
percent of repairers responded “None” to the question “In how
many DRPs do you currently participate”.12
Analysis of repairable appraisal count for insurance
companies within the top 25 personal lines auto insurers points
to increased use of DRP across the industry, with DRP share of
volume trending at just over 40 percent by 2013 year-end.
The longer term trends that have led to lower accident rates
overall are still in play: drivers moving into safer driving years5;
high unemployment rates among Millenialls6; overall fewer
1
Snyder, Jesse. “Flat December fails to tarnish ‘another great year for auto sales’.”
www.autonews.com, January 3, 2014.
National Safety Council, Injury Facts 2012.
3
Aon Benfield, Impact Forecasting | Weekly Cat Report: Volume 13, Number 50 | December 13,
2013.
4
PCI Independent Statistical Service Fast Track Q2 2013.
5
National Safety Council, Injury Facts 2012.
6
Scholettle, B. and Sivak, M. 2013. The reasons for the recent decline in young driver licensing
in the U.S. Report no. UMTRI-2013-22. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Transportation
Research Institute.
7
Sivak, Michael. “Has Motorization in the U.S. Peaked?” UMTRI-2013-20, July 2013.
8
Highway Loss Data Institute.
9
Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association, Digital 2013 Collision Repair Trends.
10
http://www.autoinc.org/archives/2012/dec2012/2012HYB_Collision.pdf
11
Ibid.
12
Ibid.
13
“Safe Repair: Repair Methods – Are they what they are supposed to be?” Thatcham Research
News, Volume Three, Issue 9, October 2008, p. 2-3.
2
The information and opinions in this publication are for general information
only, are subject to change and are not intended to provide specific
recommendations for any individual or entity. Although information contained
herein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, CCC does not
guarantee its accuracy and it may be incomplete or condensed. CCC is not
liable for any typographical errors, incorrect data and/or any actions taken in
reliance on the information and opinions contained in this publication. Note:
Where CCC Information Services Inc. is cited as source, the data provided is
an aggregation of industry data collected from customers that use CCC's
products or services and/or that communicate electronic appraisals via CCC's
electronic networks.
Auto Recyclers ToolBox ®
Automakers today must meet the growing demands of
consumers as well as U.S. regulatory demand for safety features
such as electronic stability control (required on all vehicles in the
U.S. by the 2012 model year), doubled roof strength standards for
light vehicles by the 2017 model year; and, higher standards for
fuel economy and emissions by the 2016 model year. Each of
these changes will impact the electronics and materials used in
the composition of vehicles in the coming years. Many of these
changes to vehicles have the potential to reduce frequency, yet
add complexity in material and electronics that may raise the cost
to repair a vehicle in the future.
As the complexity of vehicles increases, repairers must have
the capital necessary to support the significant investment in the
training and special tools required to repair these vehicles. The
use of multiple material types can add a great deal of complexity
and potentially cost to the repair, and perhaps the most significant
challenge lies not in the use of a single substrate such as aluminum, but rather numerous substrates in a single vehicle. The use
of a broader range of materials requires new joining techniques,
methodologies and machine parameters to reinstate reliable
repair joints and ultimately restore the integrity of the preaccident vehicle structure.13
Repairers will need to focus on improving production
models and potentially increasing scale to afford greater purchasing power, flexibility and the ability to handle new complex
repairs. Repairers must keep pace with the variety of new
materials and technologies gradually being incorporated into the
vehicles on the road today. Tools such as integrated repair method
data and the training and certification programs provided by
numerous OE's will help repairers.
Technology Drives Transformation
As repairers of all sizes have adopted technology that
streamlines the appraisal and repair processes, the industry has
benefited from an improvement in cycle time. As repairers and
insurers jointly manage cycle time from the date the loss is
initially reported, through appraisal and vehicle drop-off, to
ultimately vehicle pickup, the industry benefits from better
productivity and customer satisfaction. Measuring the overall
number of days for the vehicle repair and the overall number of
days the vehicle is in the shop by total labor hours enables
repairers and insurers to understand opportunities to reduce
down-time where the vehicle owner is waiting for his or her
vehicle to be returned.
Advancements in insurance and collision repair technologies have been instrumental in restructuring the way auto claims
are handled. Electronic appraisal reviews and shared guidelines
7
provide business partners have the information needed to fulfill
work in a transparent, compliant, and efficient manner.
Management dashboards facilitate claims performance review
in a concise, targeted manner, enabling managers to address
specific areas of performance, adjust levers, and evaluate the
impact in real time. And when pre-fill and predictive analytics
are incorporated into the overall process, unnecessary steps can
be avoided at FNOL and at other points in the claims process so
that the proper resources are not only assigned, but are equipped
with information for quick and satisfactory claim settlement.
The collision repair industry too has benefited from greater
use of technology – whether through the ability to update the
vehicle owner automatically of the status of a repair, or through
the ability to automatically update the repair production stages
via an iPhone® device or Android™ device. These changes have
shaved time off of the claim and repair process and have worked
to streamline communication between the parties.
Repairers that want to succeed in the future will find the
necessary balance of their ability to repair increasingly complex
vehicles, and their ability to deliver high levels of productivity
and customer satisfaction. Technology will play a key role in
achieving that balance – where the shop manager, estimator,
technician, and front office personnel will be equipped with
tools that provide them with the information at the right time, on
the right device. Knowing how to use technology to cater the
claims and vehicle repair experience to each customer will
enable repairers and insurers to reach higher levels of customer
satisfaction, retention and growth. With the right business
processes, information, and systems, businesses can respond to
these expectations and deliver an experience to their customers
that they will want to share with friends and family.
Susanna Gotsch is Director, Industry
Analyst at CCC Information Services Inc.
She has been with CCC since July of
1992. Susanna brings over twenty years
of experience within the automotive
claims industry as Director, Industry
Analyst. She has authored The Crash
Course, CCC’s annual publication on
trends impacting collision repair and total
loss costs since 1995. This publication
has become a key resource for the
industry in understanding how broader trends within the
economy, new and used vehicle market places, and collision
industry are impacting auto claim frequency and costs. She is
also responsible for the generation of all trend analyses of the
insurance and automotive industries published by CCC since
1995.
Ms. Gotsch has presented her research at numerous
industry meetings and symposium. In 2011, Ms. Gotsch was
selected as one of five Most Influential Women in the Collision
Repair Industry through the annual industry honorarium
established by AkzoNobel Automotive & Aerospace Coatings
America (A&AC).
Ms. Gotsch received a B.A. from St. Olaf College in 1989.
She also has an M.A. from Indiana University.
COMBINING OUR
STRENGTHS
Qu
The
Brand
ality &
URG
Auto
®
Parts
To
Trust
URG
April 10-12
The Inverness Hotel
Englewood, Colorado
S er vice
Over 50 Sessions Again This Year! Here are a few of them!
Be sure to see the updated list at the conference for session locations and times
The economy, the political climate, and trends in the automotive industry
Susanna Gotsch - Opening Speaker
Leadership & Leading Change! Are you on P.A.C.E.?
G.B. Outlaw - Saturday Morning Motivational Speaker
Management, Sales, Marketing
& Production Sessions:
n Meetings: who, what, when, where, and why! When is it time to have a department meeting? What
about a company-wide meeting? Should the salespeople meet with the shippers? There are plenty of
good (and bad) reasons and ways to hold meetings. This presentation gives you guidelines, ideas,
and structures for different types of meetings and explains why specific types of meetings are
essential for growth and productivity. - Amber Elenbaas - H & H Auto Parts.
n How to Motivate Sale People. MONEY! If money is not the motivation for a sales person they are not
a sales professional! We will discuss some simple ways to increase your companies sales! Recruiting
a Quality Sales Person Finding the right people to be the voice of your company is always difficult,
how to, what to do and where to look for your next sales professional! - Rob Rainwater - Bishop Auto
Parts
n Selling ABC's - Always Closing. Increase profits in full service by your self-service operations. Rian
Garner.
n Purchasing Smart - Where The Money is Made. Sales Management Made Easy. Bill Stevens.
n Are recyclers the next target of Insurance Companies? How the insurance companies are dumping
cost onto recyclers and charging us to sell our parts. Why recycler peer groups and phone guidance
can improve your profits and lifestyle. Panel with 2-3 recyclers. Jim Counts.
n How to pick the right Trading Partner. Owners Perspective: What are the Characteristics needed in
a great trading partner? 5 steps needed to review the correct trading partner. What you should expect
from a partner. How do I know I picked a wrong trading partner? Developing good customer
relationships in a challenging sales environment. Knowing what questions to ask to build a long term
relationship with a customer. What should a customer know about you and your company. How do
you get more from customers than they are will to give. JC Cahill.
n Know What’s Driving Your Business: Leads and Lags. Everyone wants to grow his or her business.
While most owners and managers know how to measure growth by looking backwards, You need to
know how to find the things in you company that predict growth. A lead predicts growth and lags show
results. Create a culture of winning: How can we have a culture of winning if we don’t keep score?
Have you ever played a game without knowing the score or objective? How engaged were you?
Start keeping score. Start engaging your employees where employees solve the problems and take
the lead. Robert & Chad Counts.
n Route Optimization and Delivery Tracking with EZ Route. Planning and tracking your deliveries with
EZ Route can save you time, money and drastically increase customer satisfaction. Learn how EZ
Route integrates with your YMS and gives you tools to make decisions about your deliveries. With
ridiculous fuel costs and increased pressure on our customers to improve cycle time etc. how can you
afford not to take control of your delivery business? Jim McKinney - EZ Route.
n Improve your business by maximizing sales to the collision repair industry. Making it easier for
recyclers to help customers to do their job well is a quick way to win more business. This isn’t always
an easy task considering the competitive landscape, multiple stakeholders/customers (repair shops,
insurers, independent appraisers), and the complexity of collision repair and insurance claim
processes. The session will describe the collision repair processes with a focus on the integration
points that matter most to recyclers and provide industry examples to highlight actions recyclers are
taking to win in this competitive marketplace. CCC & Knox Auto Parts.
URG Membership
Not Required to Attend
n The 3 Elements Needed to Build a Reliable Workplace Team. Many productivity experts focus on
individual productivity, even though few of us actually work completely alone. With rare exceptions,
each of us fills a slot in a team focused on specific tasks and projects. Team productivity is as crucial
as personal productivity, if not more so; but it can be difficult to maintain, since a workplace team can
only be as strong as its weakest link. Accordingly, it’s your responsibility as team leader to shore up
any weaknesses you see, so you can forge a work group you can be proud of. This class will give you
creative ideas for laying out a TEAM for success in all aspects of your business. Building Procedures
for a Successfully Driven Job Performance.This class will teach you how to create and maintain
healthy structured job descriptions with set goals, accountability and enhanced team performance for
a stronger more profitable business environment. Terry Westedt - Rydell Auto.
n Growing Sales through Quality Aftermarket Parts. A detailed analysis on the addition of aftermarket
parts to your current recycled business model. Tips on how to increase revenue, create customer
value, become more competitive and sell more parts! But most importantly, make more money! Rob
Barkley - Perfect Fit Group.
n Total loss supply…. Past….Present….Future. This is a review of the history of how total loss
vehicles have been handled by insurance companies. We will touch on the evolution of how
automobile salvage has been disposed of in the past, leading up to today and predictions of what the
future might look like. Bo Roten - Thirty Degrees West, LLC & Damaged Vehicle Consulting and
Management, Inc.
n Exceptional Customer Service. In the changing environment in our industry it is key to realize the
importance of excellent customer service for sales to increase. Companies cannot afford to become
complacent when it comes to offering exceptional customer service, it starts from the top down and is
necessary for all employees to embrace. We will explore the ways for a company to make exceptional
customer service embodied in not just the sales department but also a companywide initiative. Ryan
Falco - Midway Auto Parts.
n Value of Trading Groups/ Working Relationships. There is a lot to be said about strength in
numbers. The value of like minded business owners coming together to share ideas and learn from
each other can be one of the best things to happen to your business, without you giving up the
independent ownership of your business. Gain a better understanding of what can happen when
strategic partnerships are formed, and the value you gain from working together within a network.
Stacy Bartnik - Executive Director PRP.
n Aftermarket Parts from Dorman & How it is Profitable. We can show you how stocking just a few of
our products can pay big dividends on the bottom line. With our parts experience and exclusive data
we can produce results. John Harshaw - Dorman Products.
n Grow Your Business at the Expense of Parts Stores with Dorman. Don’t let parts stores rule the day,
there is plenty of opportunity for recyclers to compete with the parts stores, AND WIN!! John Harshaw
- Dorman Products.
n Environmental Compliance at Your Yard. Salvage yard environmental compliance can be complex
to understand but simple to implement once you know the basics of fluid storage, labeling and
disposal plus how to maintain stormwater permit compliance. This session will de-mystify enviro
compliance at your yard. Sue Schauls - Environmental Consultant.
n Your Auto Salvage Safety Program (HCS & GHS). A safety program is built on the idea that empoyees
have the right to work in a safe facility. Learn the basics ofsalvage yard safety and the simple steps to
implement a compliant safety program. Handouts will be given to help! Sue Schauls - Environmental
Consultant.
n URG Data Tierring & Data Certification. URG/CCC, Kristi Werner (URG), Bob Jabjiniak (CCC), &
Tom Denton (Knox Auto Parts).
n Sell More Parts Through URG's New & Improved E-commerce Program. Kristi Werner (URG), Billy
Abold (A & P Auto Parts).
n URG Parts Pro, Powered By Mitchell Repairmate. URG/Mitchell/Kristi Werner (URG)
n Inventory Buddy 5.5. See how the best inventory tool on the market is getting better with new
features under development. See the new features in action, and be the first to hear of them!
Sponsored by Buddy Automotive Innovations, LLC. John Johnson Jr & Mike Lambert, Buddy AI.
Continued next page . . .
n How Bid Buddy makes You a Better Buyer. See why the Bid Buddy is the perfect tool for the job of
buying smarter, not harder. See how the built in intelligence works helps you buy the vehicles that
will turn the fastest, making you more money. Sponsored by Buddy Automotive Innovations, LLC.
John Johnson Jr & Mike Lambert, Buddy AI.
Pinnacle Inventory Management
Training Sessions
n Understanding the estamatic application and how recycled, aftermarket, and OE surplus data is
transmitted. Panel of CCC/Audatex/Mitchell.
n The future of E-Procurement as it relates to the insurance industry, collision industry, and the
parts supplier. Panel of CCC/Audatex/Mitchell/PartsTrader/APU.
n Green fielding a U-Pull-It. The good and bad of green fielding a self-service from set up through,
zoning, through the pro forma into the execution and the result followed by a Q & A. Brian Shell
and Jason Finley - Go Auto Recycling.
n Core Optimization with URG. Cores are becoming a vital part of being able to purchase vehicles.
Come see how URG foresees the future of cores and how to increase your piece of the market.
Mike Kunkel - American Auto Salvage.
n Who is Dahmer Powertrain? The best kept secret in the world of powertrain. Providing URG with
solutions on New, Remanufactured, Late Model and Hard to get products. Let us show you how to
give your customers more options which will result in more sales. David Dahmer - Dahmer
Powertrain.
n Mechanical industry selection and use of replacement parts. How can the recycler better
partner with the mechanical repairer and provide the service to gain business and potential market
share? Donny Seyfer - Automotive Service Association.
n Sink or Swim? New Hires and Training Programs. What traits to look for in new hires,
suggestions for training programs (shadowing, trail by fire, structured training), maximizing the
resources you have and when to look outside your organization. Jen Wilson - Jencey Consulting.
n Social Media boom or bust? Panel/talk on social media its merits, usage and pitfalls. As well as
tools such as Craigslist and online ads. Jen Wilson (Jencey Consulting) & JC Cahill (Browns Auto
Parts).
n Best Practices Agenda: Lead Generation, Validation of Collateral & Remarketing. John Prado CARFAX
n How to Purchase Business Insurance. This presentation provides the participant with an
overview of many of the items that need to be taken into consideration when purchasing business
insurance, including insight into most all lines of coverage that are routine to a recycler. The
presentation includes tools and take-aways that the attendee can use immediately, upon their
return home to their business. Gerald Cecil - Arrowhead Automotive Aftermarket.
n Salvage Purchasing, URG Auction. Overview of the URG Salvage Auction and presentation on
purchasing salvage units directly from insurance companies. New enhancements to bidding
process. Discussion of insurance company trends, estimatics, titling and salvage processing. Joe
Hearn - Advanced Remarketing Services.
n Best Practices & Helpful Hints. This session is designed for active and soon to be active
PartsTrader users. We will review important application profile features as well as share ideas that
will help users maximize their success and experience utilizing the PartsTrader application.
Kenneth Weiss - PartsTrader.
And more!
n The Bottom Line: Getting back to business basics. What reports in Pinnacle help to buy vehicles, make
business decisions, determine profitability, find best practice solutions, and decrease overhead. Join
Jason Finley and Brian Shell of Go Auto Recycling as they explore using Pinnacle Pro as a total business
solution.
n Returns Management: Go over the returns process from customer to your yard, and from your yard to
your vendor. Join Donna Myers of Lewisville Motor Company as we explore the seamless returns process
in Pinnacle Pro
n Introducing Your Online Parts E-Commerce Solution: Travis Neill of Actual Systems of America will
introduce and take you on an in-depth look at the new E-Commerce solution to supplement and integrate
into Pinnacle Professional. Look at current user's setup and participate in an interactive discussion
regarding the logistics required in setting up this game-changing web tool.
n Introducing Your New Parts Module for Pinnacle Professional: Welcome the latest addition to the
Pinnacle Professional pantheon of features, the New Parts Module. Join Elliott Bostrom of Actual Systems
of America in an in-depth discussion of features, setup and implementation of all things new status parts.
n eBay and Pinnacle Pro; Beauty in Simplicity: The integration of Pinnacle Pro and eBay and its
functionality is a snap. See how easy it is to set-up, customize, and operate. Participate in an in-depth
discussion and watch how sales from eBay automatically creates orders within Pinnacle and slides
effortlessly into the production process.
n Make the Leap to Pinnacle Pro: Nervous about making the switch? Spend some time with one of Actual
Systems of America's most outspoken advocate for Pinnacle Professional, Amber Elenbaas of H and H
Auto Parts, accompanied by Jason Shoemaker of Actual Systems of America. Participate in an in-depth
discussion regarding the preparation, transition, and follow up of the data conversion process from your
old Inventory management system into Pinnacle Pro.
n Don't Buy from the Hip: In a world of big data, data management, and the interpretation of daily
information how do we tease relevant figures of what vehicles to buy out of Pinnacle Pro? Join Paul
Delaney of late Model Auto Salvage while that question and many others regarding the purchase of
vehicles is explored, headed by prominent Industry and Pinnacle Professional users.
n Pinnacle Pro and Your Accounting: So you've made the sale and collected the money? Now what? You
need to manage and report your revenue. Join Mary Poirier of Valley Automotive as she discusses your
daily and periodic accounting and bookkeeping responsibilities with respect to your accounting software,
templates, and Pinnacle Professional.
n Pinnacle Pro and Best Practices: Turn your report numbers into results. Track down inefficiencies and
shore them up, find your weaknesses in your process and turn them into your advantages. Join Angus
Harris and Actual Systems of America as we dive into reports that speak directly to your operation's best
practices to include Just In Time (JIT), production, resupply, buying and many, many more!
n Pinnacle Pro Security. What it is and why you need it: Jen (Jencey) Wilson of Jencey Consulting, LLC
will give you guidance into understanding security settings, overview of why its important and general
direction for making good decisions.
Thank You To Our Sponsors! *
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Auto Recyclers ToolBox ®
10
IMPROVE YOUR BUSINESS
By Maximizing Sales to the
Collision Repair Industry
By Bob Jabjiniak
By Bob Jabjiniak
A
question recyclers often ask me
is “How can I sell more parts to
collision repairers?”
My answer: Make it easier for your
customers to do their job well.
Most of us need to do more with less
these days, so working smart and helping
your customers work efficiently have
become critical to a company's success.
Are you doing the things that make your
customer's job easier or more difficult?
How well do you understand your
customers' job?
When car accidents happen, a
majority of collision repairers use
technology to manage and improve the
repair process – from estimating repair
costs, managing the repair itself,
communicating repair status with the
insurance company and the consumer,
and measuring performance. Parts
procurement is an integral step in this
process and one that can impact a
collision repairer's key performance
metrics, including costs and cycle time.
Many parts suppliers know the
import role they can play in a collision
repairer's workday, which is why in the
past year, recyclers have joined with CCC
to create the industry's only free data
network that directly connects recyclers
with collision repairers. Recyclers that
are making the most of this network are
seeing their efforts translate to improved
sales - typically in the 20-50 percent
range.
How it Works
CCC ONE™ Estimating, the
industry's most widely used estimating
solution and its broadly adopted shop
management solution, allows recyclers
to embed part inventories into its
system putting available parts directly
in the path of purchase for thousands of
collision repairers who use CCC ONE
every day. Your connection to CCC also
means important information on
recycled OEM parts are available to
collision repairers as they write
estimates and repair decisions are
made.
What can you do to help make life
easier for your customers? Some of the
most impactful things being done by
some recyclers today include:
Getting connected and staying
connected.
Make sure your parts inventory
management system is connected to
CCC ONE Estimating and communicating available parts inventory. If your
data isn't in front of insurers and
collision repairers when they write
estimates, it can create more work for
anyone who wants to use your parts,
requiring potential customers to call or
look up information in other disconnected tools.
Improving data quality
ARA standards for grading and
pricing parts are critical for customers
to identify your available parts. You're
not making your customers’ life easier
if they're trying to write estimates and
need to call you to understand the part
condition, applicability, or price.
Also be sure to review your own
part descriptions for obvious conflicts
with how you've inventoried or graded
the part. Customers can become
frustrated with recyclers that have
confusing or inaccurate data since it
takes valuable time to locate what
they're looking for. Prolonging the parts
selection process or selecting the wrong
part can negatively impact repairer
See My
Sessions at the
URG/CCC
performance metTraining
rics. Don’t give
Conference
them a reason to
remove you from their
preferred supplier lists.
Participating in recycler groups
United Recyclers Group (URG) has
developed unique programs such as datatiering and a certification program. The
data certification program allows insurers
and collision repairers to quickly know
which recyclers will make their jobs
easier simply through improved data
quality. URG helps by reviewing recycler
data for adherence to guidelines based on
the top data quality issues experienced by
collision repairers.
What's Next?
Helping recyclers sell more parts by
making their customers' life easier is
important, and CCC is committed to
helping you do just that. Look for more
innovations later this year as CCC
continues to work with recyclers and the
ARA to better integrate recyclers with the
collision repair industry. If you have
ideas on how CCC can help, we'd love to
hear from you. My email is
[email protected]..
Bob Jabjiniak joined CCC
Information Services in 2011
and leads product management for the CCC TRUE Parts
Network. Bob led CCC's
recent initiative to provide free
parts listing services that
directly integrate qualified
recyclers with CCC's repairer
and insurer network. CCC repairers and
insurers process over 10 million collision repair
orders annually and are now writing more
recycled parts on collision estimates than ever
before. Bob has over 17 years of experience in
supply chain management prior to joining
CCC. He has helped companies leverage
technology to execute supply chain strategies
including the transformation of Hewlett
Packard's $60B+ global supply chain. Prior to
HP, Bob’s leadership at supply chain software
companies enabled industry leaders to
achieve competitive market advantages as a
result of their supply chain management.
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11
12
Auto Recyclers ToolBox ®
What does HCS/GHS
mean to OSHA?
By Sue Schauls
T
he U.S. OSHA has agreed to the United Nation’s
standard for Globally Harmonized System (GHS) of
Classification and Labeling of Chemicals. This simply
means that the material safety data sheet (MSDS) for
chemicals will look the same in all nations across the globe. An
existing rule called the Hazard Communication Standard
(HCS) was updated to accommodate the global standardization.
Even though media has presented the Hazard Communication Standard as a new rule, HCS has always been the rule
that requires employers to provide training and chemical
hazard information to their employees. The requirement of
maintaining an inventory and the material safety data sheets
(MSDS) for chemicals found in the workplace is the most
commonly know portion of the rule. Having a Safety
Supervisor, MSDSs, monthly training and a written Hazard
Communication Standard are the basic requirements.
What is new is the format of the MSDS changing to the
global standard and becoming known as Safety Data Sheets
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See My
Session at the
URG/CCC
Training
Conference
or SDS which look similar to
MSDS and contain the same
information but will uniformly
convey that information in all languages augmented by the
use of universally accepted hazard pictograms. This change
was to be conveyed to your employees by the December 1st
deadline. If you have yet to get it done, then there is no time
like the present, as they say!
The Hazard Communication Standard (HCS) is based
on a simple concept - that employees have both a need and a
right to know the hazards and identities of the chemicals they
are exposed to when working. The other change that we will
begin to hear more about between now and June of 2016 is
the labeling requirement. While the shipping labels will be
very specific to the new global standard, the secondary labels
used on drums kept on-site simply must convey safety
information as identified by the pictograms. Here is a sample
of a label for gasoline.
There is no reason to fear the changes. A compliant
safety program is not as difficult as it seems on the surface.
The most important step is start now and make safety a
routine part of your workplace by engaging employees in the
process. Effective management addresses all work-related
hazards, whether or not they are regulated by government
standards. OSHA has concluded that effective management
of worker safety is a decisive factor in reducing the severity
of work-related injuries.
Sue Schauls is an independent environmental
consultant with automotive expertise. She is
the Executive Director & regulatory consultant
for the Iowa Automotive Recyclers (IAR); she
developed and implements the Iowa – Certified
Auto Recyclers Environmental (I-CARE)
Program. She contributes articles to several
trade publications and is a member of ARA
Technical Advisory, Safety and Affiliate
Chapters and Certified Auto Recyclers Committees. She
conducted nationwide outreach in the Mobile Outreach for
Pollution Prevention for 13 years while at the University of
Northern Iowa's small business technical assistance program.
Sue has a bachelors of Arts degree in Science: Environmental
Planning from the University of Northern Iowa, 1996.
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13
14
Digital Marketing
Ask Jay
Digital “Is Email Marketing
Dead?”
Marketing
Questions & Answers
By Jay Granofsky
Hi Jay,
Is email marketing dead? I get so many emails from
companies every day, I’m wondering if other people are just
skimming over their emails too and if it’s worth it to run email
campaigns anymore.”
- Signed: Cold in California
Dear Cold,
This is a really good question! I know what you mean about
receiving a lot of emails every day. Some days, I can’t possibly
open and read every single email I receive, but that doesn’t mean
that the companies sending them are wasting their time running
their email marketing campaigns.
I’ve also heard the conversations circling around the
marketing world that email marketing is ‘dead,’ but I don’t
believe it’s true. Email marketing remains an effective way to
communicate with your customers and prospects directly. The
key is to make sure that the emails you’re sending are relevant to
the people who are receiving them.
Of course opens, click-throughs and conversions are the
most important metrics when evaluating an email marketing
campaign, but they’re not the only ones to consider. Here are
some of the other benefits of running email marketing campaigns:
Keep your brand top of mind
Seeing a company’s name in my inbox on a regular basis
helps keep it top of mind, so the next time I’m in need of their
products or services I’m more likely to think of them.
Get to know your audience
When people subscribe to your emails, you get information
about them which you can use to send relevant emails. Using
analytics and demographic information can help you determine
which emails and content are most appealing to your subscribers,
what they like and dislike, what’s working and what’s not. For
example, you can send promotions directed to men, strictly to
your male demographic. U-Pick yard promo? Send your
marketing email to the DIY’ers or to people who have previously
showed interest in that section of your business. Further, the
information and preferences you gather from your subscribers
can be beneficial to your business as a whole.
RIP
Email Marketing
More personal than social media
Email is a more personal environment and makes subscribers feel special and connected to the brand on a more intimate
level than very public social media channels. Unlike social
media tools like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, email can help
you reach a very specific audience directly with specific deals,
trends, and information.
Subscribers want to hear from you
If customers and prospects are giving you their email
addresses by subscribing to your services, buying your products
or requesting specific information, they’re giving you permission to communicate with them and they typically want to stay
in the loop with what your brand or company has to offer.
Increase interactions on social media
Email campaigns are a great way to drive interactions on
your website and social media channels. Sending emails can
trigger interest and curiosity about the conversations you’re
having on social media and motivate them to connect with you
there as well.
Auto Recyclers ToolBox ®
Gain trust and credibility
Regardless of whom you’re targeting with your email
campaigns (prospective customers or your loyal customer base),
professionally designed, well-written and interesting emails help
build and maintain trust and credibility. No one likes spam and
everyone already gets plenty of it. You want to be the company
that provides valuable content. It starts with good subject lines
that tell the recipient that the email is full of quality information
that they will benefit from.
I’m not saying to forget about those hard email marketing
metrics that I mentioned earlier. If your open rates are low, take a
look at your subject lines and whether you’re sending the right
messages to the right people. If your click throughs are low, look
at your calls to action, are they direct and compelling? If your
conversions are low, look at the offer you’re presenting and how
you’re presenting it. Tweak your emails and try again. It’s an
ongoing process.
One thing to always keep a close eye on is your unsubscribe
rates. There are a number of reasons that subscribers become
unsubscribers. Most reputable email marketing and subscription
management services will help you gain insights into why people
are leaving your lists by asking them why they’re leaving during
the unsubscribe process. Use the information to help you improve
your emails.
Although I don’t have email marketing at the top of my
digital marketing quiver anymore I do believe if you keep your
email marketing alive, it will thank you. A solid email marketing
program can have a significant impact on your company’s
success.
Bid Buddy & Inventory Buddy
Comp Nine Total
VIN Decoder
Manufacturer’s Build
Sheet VIN Decoding
Precise & Accurate
Bidding & Inventory
Entry
Bid Buddy &
Inventory Buddy
Integrated
for Improved Data Sharing
Bidding
Auction Lists Automatically Downloaded and
Evaluated in seconds
Integrated Formulas from Jim Counts gives Stock
Level and Purchase Recommendations for Every
Hollander Interchange Number based on Your
History.
Works on a Windows PC, Slate, Tablet, or Notebook.
Auction Parts Pricing Service (APPS) Shares your
information with fellow Recyclers to Improve the
Speed and Accuracy of Purchasing.
Highlights the Vehicles that will turn the Fastest and
Avoid the Duds to Increase Your Turns.
NEW! Parts Saved in Bid Buddy are passed
into Inventory Buddy Automatically.
Inventory
Got a Question for Jay
about marketing
your company on
the web?
Email your questions to:
[email protected]
Be sure to put “Question
for Jay” in the subject line
Stop by
and See u
at the URG s
/CC
Training C
Conferen
ce
Paperless Inventory System with Virtually No
Typing Required. Faster & More Accurate.
Loose Parts Module allows you to Add/Edit/Delete
any Part from your Inventory in the Palm of your
Hand. Lookup Parts by Stock Number, Location or
OEM Number.
NEW! Integrated Picture Handling in FDR to
Automatically Import Pictures of Vehicles in your IMS.
NEW! History & QOH Available is Loose Parts when
combined with Bid Buddy.
NEW! Cores from both RASCorePro.com &
MCICores.com.
NEW! Powerlink E-Commerce Fields now updatable.
Works with all the Major Inventory
Management Systems
NEW! Comp Nine Total VIN Decoder reports
are Searchable & Viewable in Buddy
Jay Granofsky
Jay has been at the cutting edge of online marketing
and search engine optimization for the past decade. Jay
is an active and well-respected member/contributor to
many online communities including DigitalPoint,
NamePros, Webmaster-talk and Site-Point. Currently
Jay is the Search Marketing & Social
Media Manager for:
www.greenvehicledisposal.com and
oversees approximately twenty web
properties within this portfolio.
15
Auto Recyclers ToolBox ®
16
CONSISTENCY
For a
change
By Amber Elenbaas
A
s progressive automotive recyclers, we attend conferences that
inspire us to change our businesses. We try out new ideas, start aggressive programs, and we change our pay
structures and our policies. Which can be
great! Unless each year we come back
from a conference and change a whole
bunch of things, but don’t follow through
on those changes or integrate them into
existing systems, or get employee buy in.
Then our employees think that each time
we come back from a seminar with
exciting plans, that they are yet another
craze that will die off or be replaced in a
few months.
Consistency, reliability, dependability. These are not thrilling characteristics,
but they are what will make you a great
manager. It’s easy for yard owners and
managers to forget what it’s like to be an
employee. Have you ever felt like your
boss changed their mind every few
months? That they went back and forth on
how they wanted things done? Have you
ever had a boss who said they would hold
meetings but then they were “too busy”?
Laugh or Cry
“Who’s just happy to be
It’s frustrating and it makes team
members feel like they aren't important
and their jobs are always in flux. When
we go away to conferences and have a
weekend of networking and learning, we
come back energized with great new
ideas and plans for change. But in order to
those plans to work and for them to last,
we need employee buy in, and we need to
provide a solid management structure
that does not change or waiver.
Consistency is an underrated
attribute in a manager. It’s not flashy or
fun. But it is essential to creating stability
for your team. This means that there are
hard and fast rules and schedules that
remain constant. You ALWAYS have
department meetings on Mondays,
always. Or if someone is late, they
ALWAYS lose an hour of personal time.
When there is a
problem, you
always keep your
cool and keep
asking questions
that get to the
root cause of the
problem. Or
when there is an
employee issue,
you always wait
an hour before
talking about it
so everyone
cools down. I’m
not saying you
have to adopt
these rules, you
should have your
own set of rules
that everyone
employed?!”
knows and
follows. When
See My
you are preSession at the
dictable and
your people
URG/CCC
can depend on
Training
you, you are
Conference
empowering
them to do
more! If your people can count on you not to blow up and
yell, or to always get two quotes for a
project, or to listen to them at the same
time in the same place every week, then
when you announce the changes, they
know those changes will be within the
framework of the existing management
structure.
You can use consistency as a
jumping point for change. It seems
contradictory, but if you have that solid
starting point, it’s a lot easier to build
upon. When I make changes to my core
program, my people know that they can
handle the change because they know the
ins and outs of the existing program, and
they know we can add a vendor or a
process to it without compromising the
goal of the program. When we decided to
get on board with a parts runner, my team
was excited about the possibility of
brokering more and having next day
service with a number of yards because
we already have a great structure in place
for parts coming in and going out. Adding
to that and changing what we do becomes
easier. Even drastic change is accepted
and implemented more readily when your
team knows which parts of their lives are
NOT going to change, and which are, and
that the change will be permanent.
So after you return from the URG
Conference, or any other educational
event you attend, take the time to think
through your changes and talk to your
staff about them. Get their feedback, and
ask how you can incorporate the new
ideas into the existing procedures. Make
sure you are providing a consistent, stable
work environment where people feel
secure in their role in your company.
When you can do that, you can make
incredible change!
Amber Elenbaas is a longterm automotive recycling
consultant currently serving as
the GM of American Auto Parts
in Omaha, Nebraska. Amber
credits her success to her Alma
College education and to her
mentors, Ron Elenbaas, Robert
Counts, and Peter Fink. You
can read more articles at
www.amberelenbaas.com or contact her by e-mail
at [email protected]
17
18 ToolBox “I LOVE MY TRUCK” Contest
Jim Butler, winner of the Auto Recycler’s ToolBox Magazine’s “I Love My Truck” contest, stands proudly next the “The General”
WINNER!
By Sandy Blalock
J
im Butler, of Butler Auto Recycling
in Pensacola, Florida, loves cars and
trucks. He entered his truck in the
Auto Recyclers Toolbox Magazine’s “I
Love My Truck” contest and came out the
winner. Here is the rest of the story in
Jim’s own words…
“I was looking for something to use
in our marketing, so what could be better
than a monster truck that just happens to
be a wrecker. It took just over year of
searching government websites and other
auctions looking for just the right truck.
What I found was a 1972 AM General
M816, which is a 6 Wheel drive 5 ton
Cummings powered wrecker. It has three
winches, two that are PTO driven, and one
hydraulic. The largest is a 45,000-pound
recovery winch mounted on the rear deck.
The boom articulates and is also tele-
scopic. We use the boom to lift the cars
into a trailer that we use for our ‘DON’T
TEXT AND DRIVE’ campaigns. We
affectionately refer to it as ‘The General’.
We also use The General in parades,
rodeos, car shows and military exhibitions.”
To view footage of The General in
action at the 2013 Christmas Parade visit
this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fr1Y
-De3Jhs.
Jim Butler has a long automotive
history. He is a third-generation used car
salesman. His family got into selling auto
parts as a by-product of cars they couldn’t
sell. His grandfather Cecil Butler started
in the 1950s working for the Cadillac
dealership and sold model A’s out of his
front yard. After Jim’s father got out of
the military and completed college he
taught high school for 10 years. All the
while he was still selling used cars in his
front yard. “It wasn’t until 1980 that the
business grew large enough for my father
to quit teaching and devote himself fulltime to auto recycling”.
Jim grew up working in the business
on weekends and after school. Since 1983
he has worked full-time in the recycling
business. Jim considers the honor of
serving as FADRA President twice one of
the highlights of his career in auto
recycling.
Jim remembers watching other
recyclers in the early 1980s grapple with
the challenges computerized cars were
bringing to the auto recycling industry.
He felt that it taught him the benefit of
accepting challenges of change. He
believes that the impact of technology
and globalization in the auto industry and
in the auto recycling industry in particular
will be even more of a challenge in the
future. Jim plans to be up to the challenge.
Butler Auto Recycling, Inc. and UPull-It in Pensacola, Florida are family
businesses. Jim feels blessed to have his
wife, Suzanne, both parents Jack and
Ruth, brother Mark and sister Cheryl
Nelson, working with him directly and
Auto Recyclers ToolBox ® 19
indirectly in the daily operations. Jim
said, “Along with my family, who has
dedicated so much of their lives to our
family business, I can never forget all of
the employees who have helped make
our achievements possible; they’re
absolutely critical to our success!”
Taking care of his customers, his
business and his employees is not enough
for Jim. He believes in giving back to the
industry and has shown that as, ARA
Regional Director, and FADRA President and Board Member. He has served
on many ARA and FADRA committees.
Jim also worked with the Florida
Department of Environmental Protection
to develop the “Green Yards” program. In
2007 Butler Auto Recycling was the first
facility west of Tallahassee to receive the
“Green Yard” award. Butler Auto
Recycling takes great pride in being
environmentally responsible. Along with
being a Florida Green Yard, Butler’s is
also ARA Gold Seal Certified.
About the Author
Sandy Blalock
Blalock Consulting
11 Eastwind Lane,
Edgewood, NM 87015
OFFICE: 505-281-5418
Recycling
Industry
Advocacy
[email protected]
To view footage of The General in parade action, visit this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fr1Y-De3Jhs.
“Along with my family, who has dedicated so much of their lives to our family business,
I can never forget all of the employees who have helped make our achievements
possible; they’re absolutely critical to our success.” - Jim Butler
20 Auto Recycling Answerman
Ask the
Automotive
Recycling
Answer
Man
“Should I give my children
a discounted price when
selling them my business?”
By Jim Counts
Dear Answer Man,
I have been running a fairly profitable recycling
business for many
years. About 15
years ago a couple
of my children came
into the business.
This has developed
to the point where
they now handle most
of the business
decisions in the
company. We are to
the point where I’m
considering slowing
down and possibly
selling the company
to them. So here is
my question: If the
company has grown
considerably during
the time since they
came on board should
I give them a discounted price when
they purchase the
company and if so
how would I value
that?
- Stan
Dear Stan,
You ask a very good question
and I think the answer is pretty easy
to calculate. Plus - you are very
fortunate to have someone to pass
the company on to.
If you have been paying your
children less than what it would
normally cost you for the jobs they
do, then they are, in fact, accumulating sweat equity. However, I
must say that I find the opposite to
be the rule. I can only think of a
couple of examples where the
children were paid less than what it
would cost to hire someone else to
do the same job. Most parents over
pay their children, rather than under
pay them. Therefore, there is NO
sweat equity accumulated toward
the buy out.
There is the argument that the
company grew while they worked
there and therefore they should be
compensated by a discounted price
on the purchase. My question would
Auto Recyclers ToolBox ®
be that if the company did NOT grow
while they were working there,
would they then owe the company a
rebate? In that case, they are probably
not wired or qualified to run the
business by themselves anyway.
Early in my working career I was
a troubleshooter for a large company.
I had gotten this job after the company gave a number of us a battery of
tests and temperament inventories to
see who was naturally wired to do
which jobs.
Every week they sent me to a
facility which had substandard
performance with the expectation
that I would get them back on track.
During that time I was able to turn
many of those facilities into profitable parts of the company. That did
not mean the company owed me
something special or some discounted price on company stock for
doing my job. They paid me to
accomplish a job and I was paid the
going rate for the job I did for them.
It’s no different with children who
work in the company. As long as we
pay them at least the going rate for the
job they perform, they have no
grounds for claiming a discount on
the price of the company when and if
they buy it.
Now, if your children have been
working at a substandard rate with
the promise of “someday owning the
company” you are in fact accumulating a debt to them. The amount of the
debt is fairly easily calculated. Take
the dollar amount that you have
underpaid them times the average
they could have made on that money
during that time. The “average they
could have made on that money”
would be about 10% per year,
compounded annually. (The 10%
comes from the long term average
growth of the stock market and is
therefore a good standard.). Once
you have this for each year, add up
21
specific situation further please
email me at
Jimcounts@
See My
USA.com
Sessions at
the URG/CCC
and I will try
Training
to help.
Conference
jimcounts@
USA.com
- Jim Counts
the total. After you calculate the
accrued amount of “sweat equity”
they have earned, you then deduct
that from the fair market value of
your company.
The hard part of the company
value calculation is usually determining the value of your inventory.
When that time comes I will be glad
to help you come up with the figure.
Again, the most common
situation I see is children who have
been more than fairly compensated
and then think they should get a
DEAL on the price of the business
simply because they worked there
for XX years. This attitude is
neither fair nor reasonable.
Stan, I sure appreciate your
question and encourage anyone
else out there who has one to write
to the ToolBox so I can help you.
Stan if you want to discuss your
Got a tough question
or unique challenge?
Looking for a better way
to get your job done?
Here is your chance to get an
answer! Just send an email with your
brief question to:
[email protected]
We may include your question along
with Jim’s answer in a upcoming issue.
For as little as $250 per month
you can have your business
growing in sales and profits!
Four options to choose from
One: Discuss your ideas, opportunities and issues over the phone.
Two: A monthly one hour webinar about the best business
practices on a very important and specific subject.
Three: A semi-annual meeting at a hotel near the
Dallas/Fort Worth airport.
Four: A Visit to your facility. This option includes everything in
option 1 or option 2 or option 3. It is your choice.
“Don’t miss out on making
2014 one of your best years”
[email protected]
22
2011 It Show Edition
Auto Recyclers ToolBox ®
Have we begun to create metal
alloys so hard that they
they can't be cut?
By Stuart Johnson
O
ver the last decade, auto makers
around the globe have been
increasing the use of ultra-highstrength steels (boron steel or manganeseboron alloy steel) in critical safety areas
on car frames. These new alloys are an
extremely difficult cutting challenge for
auto recyclers and emergency responders
extracting victims from vehicle accidents.
Have we begun to create metal alloys
so hard that they can't be cut? Has cutting
technology been keeping up with these
advances?
The short answer is that the traditional reciprocating saw is still the best
tool to use for most vehicle dismantling
operations. Recip blades and saws are
constantly undergoing subtle design
improvements, but we have yet to see the
breakthrough that will make these new
alloys as easy to cut as traditional metals.
It's never been more important for
saw handlers to understand and employ
good sawing technique. The new
materials are much less frustrating if you
are armed with the best information.
In a series of in-house tests, we
determined that in order to effectively cut
ultra-high-strength steels with a reciprocating saw, both the blade specification
and the saw speed (measured in strokes
per minute or SPM) are equally important. Effective speed control is critical to
cutting ultra-high-strength steels quickly
and has the additional benefit of maximizing blade life. The results of our
findings are as follows:
Ÿ A metal cutting blade such as our
HUB Premium 1” 14TPI blades
perform best when cutting ultrahigh-strength steel
Ÿ “Demolition” blades, with wider
kerfs and larger teeth, did not
perform nearly as well against the
hardest alloys
Ÿ Fastest cutting occurs at slower
blade speed; optimal machine
speed is 1250-1500 strokes per
minute using a lower speed control
setting
Ÿ Orbital motion improves blade
performance (contrary to most
metal cutting applications)
Ÿ Corded power reciprocating blade
machines are necessary for
optimum blade performance
The tests were performed on a BPillar and A-Pillar made of Boron Steel
from a Mercedes-Benz R-Class.
We conducted hand testing using a
corded reciprocating machine to
determine the optimal TPI by testing 14,
18, 10/14 1” bimetal blades as well as a
few others. Test results showed cutting
performance in this material measured by
length of the cut width after 60 seconds of
cutting time. This test demonstrated that
our HUB Premium 1” blade with 14 TPI
with its profile designed for heavy metal
cutting applications performed best on
the boron steel. Other blade specifications were tested including various
profiles and TPls (including 18, 10/14
TPI and specialty grit blades) but, these
variants did not cut as quickly or last as
long as the 14 TPI blades.
Next, we confirmed that speed at
which the blade ran (measured in strokes
per minute, or SPM) had an impact on
boron steel cutting performance. A hand
test was conducted using an electric
powered reciprocating saw cutting the Apillar of a Mercedes-Benz using a 14TPI
bimetal blade. This test measured how
long it takes to make one complete cut in
the material with a failure mode of 2:00
minutes. This test concluded that in order
to effectively make a cut in boron steel,
the SPM setting of the machine is critical.
Speed settings of 1250-1500 showed the
best results. If the speed of the saw is set
too high (>1500SPM), then excessive
heat is generated, causing the blade to fail
prematurely.
After dialing in the optimum blade
type and SPM, we looked at one last
variable: orbital action of the saw. This
feature, found on many higher end saws, is
usually turned off when cutting metal as it
leads to premature blade failure. Results
from our tests showed that when cutting
Boron Steel with the proper SPM and in
orbital mode, blade performance
increased. At these lower blade speeds the
teeth do not fracture prematurely; thus it is
our conclusion that when cutting boron
steel, the orbital setting aids in blade
performance.
You may be wondering how to
maintain a stroke speed within the
optimum range. Our best answer: get out
your strobe tachometer and schedule a
training session with your staff. The best
way to achieve these lower speeds is to
have your staff cut a few things so they can
learn what that speed feels like. The tach
will also assist you in setting your saws'
speed regulators, if they have any, to the
right speed range.
If you have any further metal cutting
questions, our staff of specialists is more
than happy to offer assistance.
S t u a r t J o h ns on i s Vi ce
President of HUB Industrial
Supply. He can be reached by
email at:
[email protected] phone
at 800-743- 9401
www.hubindustrialsupply.com
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23
Salvage Yards Have Been Around
A Lot Longer Than You Thought!
Please put this poster up for others to enjoy
800-238-3934
www.MikeFrench.com
Proudly Serving The
Automotive Recycling
Industry Since 1982
This poster brought to you by:
Automotive recyclers
recycle over 10 million
vehicles each year
In doing so, they keep 11 million
tons of steel and 800,000 tons of nonferrous metals (aluminum, copper,
zinc and lead) out of landfills.
Cars are one of the most
recyclable products on the
planet.
Professional automotive recyclers
recycle an amazing 75% or more of
each vehicle–namely its steel,
aluminum and plastic. By contrast,
consumer recyclers reclaim only 61%
of aluminum cans, 30% of paper
products and 20% of glass annually.
Recyclers save an estimated
85 million barrels of oil each
year
The recycling process begins
as soon as a scrapped vehicle arrives.
First, all hazardous and recyclable
fluids are removed.
Second, any undamaged parts
that can be sold or reused are tested,
removed and cleaned. This typically
includes body panels, engines,
transmissions, wheels, water and fuel
pumps, alternators and fuel systems.
Third, the vehicle is sent to a
shredder, which removes all the metal
for recycling.
© 2014 Auto Recycler’s ToolBox Magazine, www.autorecyclerstoolbox.com
(See ARA's website: www.a-r-a.ord to read more.)
Automotive recycling serves
a vital role in preserving
natural resources
Each year approximately 95
percent of vehicles retired from use
are processed for recycling.
Recycling vehicles saves millions
of barrels of oil that would have been
used in the manufacturing of new or
replacement parts.
Additional energy and resource
conservation is realized by recycling
re-buildable "core" parts to the
automotive parts rebuilding industry.
In addition to conserving natural
resources, automotive recycling plays
an important role in reducing air and
water pollution, and solid waste
generation.
Automotive recyclers abide by
stringent local and national
regulations dealing with waste
generated by salvaged automobiles.
Modern Salvage Yards are RECYCLERS!
And we’ve come a long way baby!
26
Auto Recyclers ToolBox ®
Bank &
Business
Beat By Theresa Kabot
Financial
Statement
Fundamentals
J
ust as a CPR and first aid class trains one to understand the
basics of cardiac pulmonary resuscitation, we can also
learn how to understand the basics of financial statements.
In this article we will discuss the basic components of a
balance sheet. Just the basics, we are not trying to train you to be
accountants just like taking a CPR course will not train us to be
doctors.
A company’s total resources (assets) minus what the
company owes (liabilities) equal the owner’s equity. Tangible
equity refers to an owner’s share in assets of the business if we
remove items that typically aren’t available for payment of a
debt. This would include things that can’t be touched but still
have value, like goodwill, trademarks, patents, copyrights,
catalogs and organizational expenses.
The total of a company’s resources are
Assets = Liabilities + Equity (they always “balance”)
Sometimes companies distribute equity earnings, instead of
retaining earnings. The distributions are called dividends.
In the last issue of the “ToolBox” we talked about the
concept of cash flow and how it is a measurement that indicates a
company’s ability to cover existing debts and the ability to take
on additional debt. I received several great questions following
up this discussion.
Dave from Massachusetts asked for clarification on what I
meant by “current portion of long term debt”.
Great question Dave! The words current and long-term
don’t exactly go together but in this case it works. The current
portion of long term debt (CPLTD) is a number derived from a
company’s balance sheet which is the financial statement (as of a
specific date) listing values for assets, liabilities and equity. The
assets represent the total resources of a company and the
liabilities, as well as equity, represent the claims against these
resources by creditors and the owners.
Both the assets and liabilities are divided into two common
categories often labeled as current and long term shown in a
broad overview.
Assets
Current
Long Term
Cash
Inventory & Merchandise
Notes Receivable
Accounts Receivable
Pre-Paid Expenses (like insurance, rent,
taxes)
Land
Buildings
Furniture and Fixtures
Equipment
Investments
Liabilities
Accounts Payable
Accrued Expenses (like payroll)
Debts to banks
Customer Advances
Notes Payable to Owners or Related
Companies
the depreciation which is taken as non-cash expense. Debt service
is the current portion of long term debt plus dividends. This
resulting measurement of the cash flow from operations compared to its total debt is often referred to as “debt service ratio” and
it demonstrates solvency.
This explanation helped me answer Dave’s question and I
hope it helps you, too.
When does it make sense to take on more debt?
It might seem crazy to devote all of a company’s cash flow to
debt repayment but in some cases the numbers add-up. For
instance when debt is used to finance increased operations and a
company can generate additional revenue (and profit) that it
would not have otherwise made. In this case it makes sense
because a company can increase earnings by a greater amount
than the cost of the debt. The cost of the debt is what we know as
interest.
Automotive parts and recycling companies tend to have
higher debt service and debt to equity ratios because the return on
investment from buying new inventory is greater than tying up
that same money in fixed assets which can be financed. In this
case the debt is actually making more money for the company’s
total earnings than the company would have had without the
financing.
Do you have a question or a topic you would like to discuss? I
would love to hear from you.
Mortgages
Bonds
Long-term notes payable
The current portion of long-term debt (CPLTD) is everything due to be paid within one year of the date of the balance
sheet and is generally paid with cash. Long term liabilities are
debts not due within one year after the date of the balance sheet.
For example, in the case of a 6 year contract where monthly
payments are $1,000 per month the current portion of the long
term debt for that particular contract would be $12,000.
Cash flow is the net income after tax and after adding back
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[email protected], or visit her 000
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27
28 NMVTIS Report
Do the Research
NOW!
Avoid Title
Problems Later
By Jay Svendsen
W
ith all the calls I am
getting from companies
having problems titling
vehicles they spent time,
money and resources rebuilding, I felt it
necessary to add some information to
the article I wrote last time. A better
understanding of how state titling and
the National Motor Vehicle Title
Information System (NMVTIS) work
together can help salvage operators and
rebuilders avoid quite a few headaches.
NMVTIS is a database that contains
title information from participating state
DMVs, plus salvage records from
insurance companies, tow companies,
auctions, recyclers, crushers and
shredders. The salvage reports come
from each of the parties that handle a
vehicle, create a record of each step in
the end-of-life process. NMVTIS
currently contains 93% of the US DMV
data.
All states are required to perform a
title verification check in NMVTIS
before issuing new title for a vehicle
(though only 34 are currently compliant). This check lets one DMV see title
brands like “junk” or “flood” on a previous title from another
state, and ensures that those brands are carried forward to the
new title. States also use the vehicle information reported by
salvage entities to apply new title brands, such as “crushed.”
Because of this, when vehicle information is reported in error,
meaning that the vehicle does not meet the NMVTIS definition
of a junk, salvage or total loss vehicle, or a vehicle is reported as
crushed when it is intended to be rebuilt, incorrect brands may
be applied to a title by a DMV. When the problem is discovered,
the company that made the incorrect submission can report the
mistake, and the record will be amended in NMVTIS, but the
state may not automatically remove the title brand.
We receive several calls each month from companies who
may have initially reported a vehicle to NMVTIS as crushed,
but later amended the report to reflect that the vehicle was still
intact. Even though the vehicle has a correct "disposition" (the
vehicle status in NMVTIS) the title may still shows a
CRUSHED brand, and a state will not issue a rebuilt title.
Currently because the DMV title verification is only done in the
34 fully-participating states (soon to be 35, when Texas comes
online in April), a vehicle that's been accidentally reported as
crushed can be bought and sold and issued several titles before
the problem is discovered, making it exponentially harder to
correct the problem.
To illustrate: if a vehicle is incorrectly reported to
NMVTIS as being crushed by a recycler, it will get a “NonRebuildable” or “Junk Only” brand placed on its title by the
DMV, which is then reported to NMVTIS by the state. If the
mistake is uncorrected and the vehicle is sold and retitled in a
non-participating state, the DMV in the new state may not see
the end-of-life title brand, and issue a rebuildable title.
Whether accidental or unintentional, the vehicle title has now
been “washed” of its previous brands, though they still appear
in NMVTIS.
This is where the headaches for a rebuilder begin. The
vehicle is sold again, and the buyer spends time, money and
effort to rebuild it. He gets it inspected and takes his documentation to the DMV to be titled, but the rebuilder's DMV is in a
Auto Recyclers ToolBox ®
fully participating, NMVTIS-compliant state. When the DMV
clerk performs the title verification check, she sees the “UnRebuildable” brand in NMVTIS from three titles back, and
refuses to issue a title. Now the rebuilder is caught between two
state DMVs, with the frustration of trying to contact the
company that made the incorrect "crush" report to report the
error, and then hoping the state will subsequently remove the
incorrect brand.
To avoid long, drawn-out situations like this, it's always a
good idea to run a NMVTIS history report before you buy, so
you can check for title brands that might affect your ability to
title a vehicle. Not only will it give you the information you
need, if it's a rebuilder, you'll also have a vehicle history you
can offer a potential buyer when you are ready to sell.
If you've already purchased a vehicle, your next best
option is to run a NMVTIS Vehicle History Report before any
rebuilding work is started. At least before you put in a lot of
time, effort, and money, title problems can be addressed and
potentially resolved, so the subsequent titling process is easier.
If the issue is too much to fix, the best option is to return the
vehicle to the auction or part it out.
There are more than ten different NMVTIS Vehicle
History Report providers, and a list of them can be found at
www.vehiclehistory.gov.each. For Auto Data Direct customers, NMVTIS Vehicle History Reports (with additional lien
info and national theft check) are available in your existing
account. For Full Service accounts, the vehicle histories are
only $1.50 each, and include a subsequent salvage upload to
NMVTIS. For Basic (Free) Auto Data Direct accounts, the
NMVTIS Vehicle History Reports are available for only $4.95
per report. Reports are also available from ADD's website
without an account for $4.95 each, but will not include theft
check information. If you're not an Auto Data Direct customer
already, it's easy to create an account to access these vehicle
history reports.
Jay Svendsen is the National sales manager
for Auto Data Direct Inc. ADD (as it is commonly called) is one of the three approved data
consolidators for reporting to the national
NMVTIS data-base. Jay has been at most the
industry shows since the start of NMVTIS and
tries to help explain the new NMVTIS reporting
requirements, changes in the laws, and what
must be reported. ADD was the only data
consolidator that was fully operational from the
start date, has recently become the sole consolidator for the
state of GA, and works actively with the industry, software
providers, and associations trying to make meeting the reporting
requirement as easy as possible for the parties affected. ADD
continues to add services that help the recyclers do their day to
day jobs. Jay continues travel throughout the country to explain
the present status of NMVTIS reporting and how reporting to
NMVTIS will benefit recyclers in the future. When Jay isn't
traveling for ADD he spends his time fishing, boating , brewing
beer, or playing in his garden.
29
30
ADVERTISING & MARKETING
How to Control Your
IMAGE!
By Mike French
I
n preparation for a seminar I was
giving to auto recyclers, I took a
cameraman with me to the streets
of my town to ask people what they
honestly thought about automotive
salvage yards.
One question I asked was, “Do you
think an automotive salvage yard is a
green business?”
Most folks said they didn't know. A
few said, “probably, because they do sell
parts off cars.” But, a surprising number of
people said they thought automotive
salvage yards were definitely NOT green.
Some even bristled at the question and
said they thought auto salvage yards are
an appalling example of the opposite of
green. One lady even said the thought of
junk yards makes her angry, because she
pictures “huge piles of wrecked, rusting,
chemical-oozing cars, dissolving into the
earth and polluting the planet!”
I was really shocked that people in
my own community believed this way!
We have one automotive salvage yard in
our county and it is nothing like what this
last person described. I have visited that
business many times and let me tell you
the owner is environmentally conscious.
He runs a clean, earth friendly operation.
As soon as a vehicle arrives at his facility
the fluids are removed and recycled. No
chemicals ever touch the ground! Parts on
each vehicle are removed, placed on racks
and inventoried. There are no “piles of
rusting vehicles” anywhere. Vehicle hulks
are kept on site for a limited time, then
crushed and removed. This business has
carefully met all environmental requirements and is truly green!
So, if the only automotive salvage
yard in my community is so green, why do
people here have such a wrong perception
of it? People are probably ignorant about
this business because they have never
visited it. They have never seen anything
positive in the local media about it. They
have formed their opinion about all
automotive salvage yards on information
they've gotten elsewhere - most likely
YOU
from TV shows and movies where
salvage yards are portrayed as being junk
yards full of hazardous waste.
Every auto recycler MUST work to
educate their own community about their
business and about the industry as a
whole. Here are a few suggestions:
Get your business Gold Seal
Certified by ARA. This will give your
business credibility as you achieve the
highest standards within the industry.
Join your state association and meet any
state requirements.
Be green and clean in everything you
do. Most people I interviewed told me
they judged a company's greenness
primarily by whether they recycled paper
and plastic, used eco friendly products
within their business, and used energy
wisely.
Create Green Curb Appeal. People
form opinions about your company by
what they see when they drive by or visit.
Make sure you look clean and green. A
typical salvage building looks basic and
ordinary but doesn't send a positive
message about what goes on there. You can
do an appearance survey of your facility by
checking for rust damage anywhere in the
front or grass growing in the pavement.
Are there other signs of neglected
maintenance such as faded striping on the
pavement? These little maintenance
problems occur slowly over time and go
unnoticed by owners. Do a walk-through
survey with a couple of perceptive people
who are not familiar with your business.
Give them a pad and paper and ask them to
write down what they see that should be
fixed or improved. They will notice things
you don't see. Then go fix those things so
your facility sends a more positive
message!
Paint the building! This can make the
most impact with the least amount of cost.
Use the word “Recycled” everywhere
you can. Many within the industry are still
using words like “used” or “salvage” to
describe their parts. Change the word
“used” to “recycled” on your sign and tell
Auto Recyclers ToolBox ® 31
people “recycled parts are sold here”. It's a
first step in getting people to think of you
as a recycling operation.
Add Green Logos and Symbols to
your signs and buildings as an inexpensive
way to “green up” your business and send
a positive message about what you do.
Add a green slogan on your building,
perhaps under your company name, to tell
people something positive about your
business. You can use something like the
following: “Saving the planet, one part at a
time”, or “We were green before it was
popular”, or, “We're extreme when it
comes to being clean and green.”
Put a sign near your entrance to tell
your green story. This is an inexpensive
way to establish your business as green.
Every business has two stories to tell, their
own story of what they are doing to be
green, and the recycling industry’s story.
Tell both. For instance the following quote
is from the United Recyclers Group. “The
size of the American automotive fleet
currently numbers some 270 million
vehicles, nearly one apiece for every man
woman and child in the country. Of these,
it is estimated that nearly 11 million
vehicles are taken off the road each year
when they reach their so called ‘End of
Life’ (EOL). For a typical EOL vehicle,
about 75% of the parts are salvaged for
reuse, about 20% of the vehicle is
recycled, and the remaining 5% is thrown
away. This makes an EOL vehicle one of
the greenest products on the planet”.
Add green landscaping & plants.
Plants bring life to any facility. But take
care of them! There is nothing worse than
poorly maintained plantings. There is
probably someone in your company who
has a love for plants. Put them in charge of
keeping your plantings healthy and
weeded.
Have an open house occasionally to
welcome the public to your facility. Give
them a tour. This could be in conjunction
with an event such as Earth Day. Invite the
people in your community to be your
guests. Send out news releases before and
after the event to the local media.
Remember, nobody cares more about
your business than you. So don’t leave
your image up to others. They may get it
wrong.
Mike French
President of Mike French &
Company, Inc., has been pro-viding
advertising and marketing products
to the auto recycling industry since
1982. Mike can be reached toll free
at 800-238-3934, or by email:
[email protected].
32
BUSINESS STRATEGIES
How to Make Your
Dismantlers Twice
as Productive
By Ron Sturgeon
I
ncreasing sales often takes months.
To do it, you need money to buy
more cars and do more marketing.
Want a shortcut to higher profitability? Think about cutting your costs. The
beauty of increasing profits by cutting
costs is that it can be done now.
Smart cost cutting often produces
better cash flow and profit numbers
within weeks. Having achieved better
cash flow and profits, you can then use the
extra money to buy more cars and get the
inventory that will produce higher sales.
I have helped dozens of yards roll
pay for performance and achieve lasting
gains in productivity and profit. Some
recoup the cost of hiring me in less than
one week.
You can make a successful move to
pay for performance and get back to the
levels of profitability your yard once
enjoyed!
In past articles, I have discussed pay
for performance for sales people. In this
article, I will discuss how to do pay for
performance for dismantlers.
It’s easy to start pay for performance
in your yard’s dismantling department.
Ÿ First, gather your metrics. The
number of cars dismantled per day per
dismantler will vary depending on
what your people do (move the
vehicle in and out, dismantling,
checking engines, verifying parts,
cleaning, tagging and stocking parts).
Solidly managed yards using pay for
performance should achieve well over
two vehicles per day when the
dismantler moves his car in and out
and checks and pulls all parts.
Ÿ Second, make certain you have well
trained dismantlers, standardized
procedures, adequate forklifts, and
good storage devices, carts, etc.
Ÿ Third, apply your metrics to your
current rates of pay and figure out
what your top performers, average
performers, and laggards are doing so
that you can set the right performance
benchmarks. The price you will end
up paying for the dismantling
described above will vary, but you
should expect to pay a minimum of
$75 per car.
Ÿ Fourth, implement the program and
keep tracking your KPIs.
Expect at least a 50% lift in productivity. In dismantling, a good pay for
performance program should double
output. It has in the dozens of yards where
I have helped put it in place.
When I first switched my yards to
pay for performance, sometimes
dismantlers finished all the cars I had on
hand. When they did, I gave them the
option of going home early or doing extra
side work at their dismantling hourly rate.
Whatever the side job was, I issued
them a PO for the number of hours we
agreed at their dismantling rate. My
dismantlers hustled because they more
productive they were, the more they
earned for any side work.
Realistically, you should not run out
of cars to dismantle very often, but you
also need to make sure that you don't get
too large a backlog. I tried to never have
more than two weeks' worth of cars
waiting for dismantlers. For every 4
weeks of standing dismantled cars, you
will need an extra parts puller, a drain on
payroll forever.
Part of your pay for performance
program should be communicating a
change in how vacation pay works. I paid
vacation pay based upon the average
weekly earnings of the dismantler over
the previous eight weeks. My guys always
hustled dismantling to make their
vacation checks as big as they could be.
Your best dismantlers will earn over
$1000 a week. They will never leave, and
you will be glad to pay them because they
will be doing twice the work of you got
from them when they were hourly.
Your most successful competitors have
already lowered their labor expenses by
switching their dismantlers to pay for
performance. It's time for you to make the
jump.
Are your labor costs above 20% of
total parts sales? The easiest way to bring
them back in line and make this year your
best ever is a good pay-for-performance
compensation program. I can help you
make it happen.
Remember only you can make
business great!
Ron Sturgeon
Ron Sturgeon, founder of Mr. Mission
Possible small business consulting,
combines over 35 years of
entrepreneurship with an extensive
resume in consulting, speaking, and
business writing, with 6 books
published. A business owner since age
17, Ron sold his chain of salvage yards
to Ford Motor Company in 1999, and
his innovations in database-driven
direct marketing have been profiled in
Inc. Magazine. After the repurchase of
Greenleaf Auto Recyclers from Ford and sale to Schnitzer
Industries, Ron is now owner of the DFW Elite Auto suite of
businesses and a successful real estate investor.
As a consultant, Ron shares his expertise in strategic
planning, capitalization, compensation, growing market
share, and more in his signature plain-spoken style, providing
field-proven, and high-profit best practices well ahead of the
business news curve.
Ron is a web expert, but he is also an expert in helping
all types of small businesses become more successful and
more profitable. He has helped owners in industries from
restaurants to law firms with a wide variety of business issues,
including sales, promotion, production, financial measures,
business strategy, and planning for startups. Whatever your
unique challenges, Ron can help you.
To inquire about pay for performance compensation
plan consulting or keynote speaking,
contact Ron by calling 817-834-3625, by
emailing: [email protected],
by mailing: 5940 Eden, Haltom City, TX
76117, or online: Mr. Mission Possible.
Auto Recyclers ToolBox ®
34 A Little “OUT OF THE YARD” Thinking
PEOPLE AND PASSION!
By Herb Lieberman
I
n today’s ever changing world and,
yes, challenging business environment, having passion for what you do,
a plan for success and an audited
perfomance is absolutely required to
make a profit.
If you take a hard look around you at
businesses large and small, I am sure you
will find that motor vehicle dismantling
and recycling is no different than other
businesses in its quest to become and stay
profitable.
Having been in our industry since I
was a teenager, through my adulthood and
now that I’m a senior, I have seen our
industry transition into the maturity. I've
seen this both as a member of a four
generation family business and as a part of
a consolidated international motor vehicle
recycling organization. I was part of the
“good old days” as a junkman. That was
when you could make every mistake in the
book and still be profitable. That was
when we sold scrap for two dollars a ton.
If we paid too much for a car, then we
made a profit by charging too much for the
parts. Simple math did the trick. We made
a profit not even knowing which vehicles
were truly profitable and which were not.
The only thing we knew was at the end of
the month bills were paid and we had more
money in the bank than when we started.
Fast forward from the “good old
days” to today; it is quite different now. I
assure you that the only difference
between the challenges of the largest in
our industry to the smallest is in the
numbers. We all face the same challenges,
be they regulatory, competitive or finding
the talent to run our companies. Like the
saying goes, “It ain’t easy. If it were,
everyone would be doing it”. As we know,
attrition in our industry is growing
because “It ain’t easy no more.”
I believe the path to profitability in
our industry today must include talented
people. They are the key to our success or
failure. Companies do not make money.
Corporations do not make money. People
do. Passion for the industry we are in and
for the value it brings to the market place,
for the community, for the environment
and for the health of our planet is essential.
As owners or employees, if we do not
truly have passion for our industry and
what we do, it will be very hard to succeed
and be profitable.
When I talk about passion I do not
mean a passion for profit. I truly believe
the profit in our industry today can only
come from a passion for what we do and
who we are as an industry.
A plan and a product, persistence and
performance - can you be profitable
without these?
The plan we put in place to achieve
our goals, with the persistence to move
the plan toward the goal, is very
necessary. That also means we need the
ability and desire to change the plan to
meet the challenges that will come up.
None of us can afford to continue doing
what doesn’t work. Do you know what
is and what is not working in your
business? If you don’t, you need to find
out.
Then there is the product. Are you
stocking the product that is in demand in
your market place? Or are you following the herd by trying to do what works
for someone else? If your racks are full,
what is that telling you? After all, we
purchase inventory to sell, not to store.
And what about performance? Are you
auditing your business to assure goals
are being attained? These are the goals
which you have set in your plan.
No, it is no longer the “good old
days”. Yet, for those of us willing to
change with the times, these days can be
better.
Only you can make the difference, with
the help of your team. Your team’s dedication and, yes, passion must be equal to yours
in order to meet the challenges and capture
the opportunities that truly do exist.
The time is now; the opportunity is
yours. Are you and your team ready to do
what it takes to meet the challenges, and to
capture the opportunities that truly do exist?
Herb Lieberman
Herb Lieberman has been active
in the Auto Recycling Industry
since 1957 and is known for many
“firsts”. He was first to offer
warranties on used parts, first to
build a storage warehouse, and
first to move to a five-day work
week. Since his family business
became part of the LKQ
Organization in 1999 Herb acts as
an Inter and Intra Industry liaison
for LKQ Corp. Herb is an ARA
past president and continues to
serve in the organization. You can reach him by email:
[email protected].
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36 Training
We are the Ladies
of
the
Online
Auto Recyclers Association!
Training
Many prefer it because
they can learn at their
own pace
printouts, documents or other materials
leave the office, avoiding the potential of
it falling into the wrong hands.
The second type of online training
uses public Internet connections. For
instance, distance education programs,
driver's safety training and online test
preparation courses are conducted over
public connections, allowing users to log
in from anywhere in the world around the
clock
By Ginny Whelan
I
f you’ve taken a job recently,
chances are you’ve done some
online training. From retailers like
the Gap to the U.S. military, more
employers are using online training.
But it doesn't stop with corporate
America. Driver safety, college classes
and certification courses are also
offered online in non-workplace
training environments.
Online training has become a major
industry, with many training and human
resource managers relying on it to
educate employees. According to a
survey of 2,000 manager 60 percent
reported using online training and
another 57 percent used virtual
classrooms and related training tools.
Employers prefer online training
because people can learn at their own
pace. Ever want to ask the teacher to
repeat something, but you were too
embarrassed to interrupt the class?
Online training, which is private,
allows you to read the material at your
own speed, go back and review the
material, as you need to.
In this article, we'll explore what
online training is, how to get started and
potential problems that may arise. We'll
also look at options for online training
outside the workplace.
What is Online Training?
Online training is a software-based
teaching program installed on a
computer or a computer network.
These programs feature a section for
teaching, informal quizzes and tests
and/or a final exam. Depending on the
software, tests may be multiple choice,
true/false, fill-in-the-blanks, and
sometimes even essay. Some online
training is text-only, but programs that
are more sophisticated have video,
flash animations, audio content, or a
combination of all three.
Online training comes in two
forms: closed network or over an
Internet connection. Closed networks
require users to show up in person. For
example, major retail stores, such as
Old Navy, provide a closed network to
train employees on handling shoplifters. Retailers want to keep these
procedures private and on a “need-toknow” basis, so it uses an “in-house”
computer network. Users log in to a
computer system with their employee
number and password and complete the
training, ensuring that company secrets
stay within the company's network. No
Online Training Needs
When training is a simple review of
company policies, rules or procedures,
an online entry in a company Wiki serves
the same purpose as a seminar or group
instruction. For example, the United
Nations uses this format for gender
issues training through its Web site,
which provides learning material,
teaching resources and additional
information.
Training needs vary, and material
that’s more complex requires a more
sophisticated approach. ARA University
relies heavily on high-tech "learn-asyou-go" online training. Its Employee
Help System gives on the spot training
for a number of systems an employee
might need during inventory, dismantling or at the counter. The ARAU system
lets employees solve routine problems
on their own, just by looking up the right
information.
When it’s time for more formal
training, such as military computer
security training courses, “self-paced” is
still a guiding principle. At one time, the
U.S. military used “mass briefings” to
teach recruits the military’s policies on
computer security issues, but now an
online program goes step-by-step
through the information. At the end of
Auto Recyclers ToolBox ® 37
each chapter, an overview of the
material is given with the chance to start
the chapter over if needed.
Prior training involved a one-hour
class with little time for review. The
lack of a time limit to complete the
modern online version plus a chance for
one last look before testing is another
major benefit.
The best online training is flexible
and lets a user stop and repeat. The U.S.
Air Force's Safety Manager introductory training program offers a quiz at
each chapter end. If they miss too many
questions, users can start that chapter
over, or they can review previous
chapters before starting new material.
During the final exam, users can't return
to train.
Online Training Problems
Online training can be a big
advantage, but it only works as well as
the computer systems it has been
installed on. Running software on
outdated or slow computer systems can
cause problems. Most training software
comes with a list of system requirements and should be followed exactly.
These requirements include:
1.
2.
3.
Minimum hard drive space
needed for program installation
Computer RAM requirements
(i.e. 500mb RAM required to
run the program)
Operating system requirements (Windows or Mac)
power may affect training. A power
surge or a single second of interrupted
power may cause the program to shut
down or crash. Surge protectors can
prevent these problems. Using an
uninterruptible power supply, or UPS,
prevents losing data during temporary
power outages. The UPS is a battery
backup, which automatically starts
when the electricity is cut off. The UPS
keeps the machine running for as long
as the battery reserve lasts, keeping the
training or testing session from being
interrupted.
During the testing phase of online
training, you may be required to take
the entire test session over again if
there's data loss, computer crash, or
other technical problems. Many online
training tests don't allow users to stop
and start the test over again.
A third issue to contend with is
computer hacking. The illegal compromise of a computer or computer
network is the classic definition of
hacking. People break into computers
and networks for a wide variety of
reasons, including data theft. If an
online training program is hacked, third
parties get illegal access to username
and passwords, test results and any
other confidential information. To
avoid hacking, many companies offer
training on closed systems. If training
is offered on public Internet connections, steps need to be taken to safeguard private data
Handling the Problem
When you take online training, you
Some training programs may may experience problems with the
conflict with other programs. If the computer, accidentally exit out of the
instruction manual says to close other program or need to go back to a specific
programs before running, this should be section of your training for review.
followed. Interruptions in electrical While the instruction phase of your
training should
cover these general
Laugh or Cry
issues, sometimes
they're overlooked.
It's best in these
situations to contact
the person who
supervises the online
training for help.
It's particularly
important to know
what to do in case of
problems during the
testing phase of your
online training. If
you have any doubts,
ask the training
supervisor before
“I hope the jumper cables work. I promised Ginny Whelan
your online testing
phase of the training
that I’d finish the online training today!”
begins. A common
problem for online testing programs is
losing the network connections due to
inactivity. If this is the case, you may
need to get a training supervisor's help
to re-establish the connection. You may
not be able to back out of the test phase
or step away from the computer once
testing begins.
Many online training programs can
be done from home.
Online training has many uses
outside the workplace. Distance
education is one of the best-known
examples. ARA University, offers
online classes ranging from ARA
Grading Standards and Dismantling to
safety and compliance, depending on
course availability in a given job role.
Students can register online, attend
classes and even turn in final exams
online.
According to a recent study,
millions of people are taking advantage
of online training, teaching, and
learning opportunities. In 2010 alone,
there were nearly 4.5 million students
taking college classes online. The future
of online training, according to a survey
of 12,000 college instructors and
administrators, indicates a huge upward
shift in reliance on online training and
teaching. Nearly half those surveyed
believe the quality of online training
over the next 10 years will be greater
than that of traditional, classroom based
teaching and training methods.
Employers see the value of online
training in a similar way. Companies are
spending more on online training and
increasing their budgets to take advantage of the increasing availability of jobrelated training. If your company or
university doesn't offer online training
yet, don't worry. Chances are they will
very, very soon.
Ginny Whelan
A longtime automotive recycler
industry leader, was the first
woman President of the
Automotive Recyclers Association, is an International
Educator, current Managing
Director of the ARA Educational
Foundation, Vice President of the
ALS Hope Foundaton and Founder of the ARA
University. Ginny is a business consultant and
investor in women-owned businesses. Ginny can
be reached by email at [email protected],
or by phone: 239-362-1283
38
Auto Recyclers ToolBox ®
Industry News & Views
Vortex Solves the Drill
versus Punch issue for fuel
recovery
SEDA founder, Josef Dagn, in 1993 with the world's first complete vehicle fluid drainage system.
Celebrating 30 Years serving America – SEDA USA
2014 marks a milestone for SEDA Environmental in the United States. Since 1983, SEDA
has been producing vehicle depollution
equipment for the auto recycling and scrap
processing industry for American companies.
From the first gas tank drill to the new “Made in
America” Patriot, SEDA has always focused on
quality, efficiency and safety as the backbone of
their products. SEDA founder, Josef Dagn, started
the company in Austria in 1967. Since then, he,
and his team have grown the SEDA brand to
become synonymous with quality all over the
world. SEDA now has companies in the US,
China, Japan, Holland, Austria, Turkey and
partner distributors throughout the world,
including Australia, Great Britain, France,
Germany, Italy and Canada, to name a few.
New York was the original headquarters for
SEDA USA in 1983. Two years later, in 1983, the
company was moved to St. Petersburg, Florida
where it remained until the company had grown
so much, it needed to be moved to a larger, more
logistically capable location. In 2009, SEDA was
moved to Fayetteville, Georgia, a suburb of
Atlanta, where the United States headquarters
now has a 3,000 sq. ft. showroom for in house
product training and demonstration, a 5,000 sq.
ft. maintenance and production warehouse and
2,500 sq. ft. office equipped with a conference
room. From humble beginnings, Mr. Dagn, has
seen his dream flourish into a household name in
the auto recycling industry.
As SEDA USA moves into a new decade of
serving American businesses, the message will
remain the same; Quality, Efficiency and Safety.
Over the past two years, SEDA USA has begun
manufacturing USA made products using
American labor with the precision of SEDA
components to create one of the most affordable
and highest quality drainage offerings available,
the “Mobile Drainage Station”. This year SEDA
has begun working with its customers to offer
solutions to one of biggest dangers facing their
business, fire. We look forward to another great
30 years in America by continuing to provide the
American customer with premier vehicle depollution solutions available.
For more information on SEDA products,
contact Ernie Jackson or Josh Baildon 1-800-991SEDA or visiit SEDA-USA.com.
New hardfacing wire for tire shredding knives
introduced by Hardface Technologies
CLEVELAND, OH February 1, 2014: Hardface
Technologies, a business unit of Postle Industries,
has just introduced a new product said to be the
ultimate hardfacing wire for tire shredding
knives. Postalloy® Ultra-Shred 580, a metalcored, gas shielded wire, is a martensitic tool steel
type alloy with numerous tightly packed carbides
for excellent abrasion resistance under high
impact. One layer deposits exhibit wear
characteristics that would be expected from a
chromium carbide hardfacing product. The alloy
properties create a resistance cutting edge even
under high heat conditions created by extreme
friction. Deposits are slag free and exhibit a
hardness of 55-58 RC.
“Postalloy® Ultra-Shred 580 has proven to
be a exceptional way to hardface tire shredding
knives,” explained Russ Speese, Hardface
Industries' vice president, sales and marketing.
“But, beyond that application, the product has
also seen great success in other areas including
cutting tools, shear blades and hot or cold trim
dies.”
Hardface Technologies manufactures a wide
range of wear resistant solutions which find
application in a variety of industries. The
company's advanced hardfacing products, which
have been engineered specifically for high wear
environments, are available through their
worldwide distribution network. For more
information contact Russ Speese, Postle
Industries Inc., Cleveland Ohio 44142, USA.
Phone: 216.265.9000, Fax: 216.265.9030. And
web at address below:
www.hardfaceindustries.com.
Got News?
We would like to hear it, and we may
choose to run it in a future issue.
Please email news of interest
to [email protected]
Vortex De-pollution and Recycling Equipment, of Denver Colorado, are pleased to
announce that they are now North
America's official distributors of the Award
Winning Green Car De-pollution System.
Nigel Dove, CEO of Vortex, explains how this is
such a huge step forward for the company.
“Everyone in the vehicle processing business has
an idea of the system they prefer for de-polluting
a vehicle at its recycling stage. For the first time
ever, our customers now have the freedom to
choose the system they prefer – and can mix and
match elements of the Vortex and Green Car
Depollution systems. We are the only company in
the world to offer them both drill and punch
solutions”.
Julian Dale, manufacturer of Green Car
products, is very pleased to be partnering with
Vortex across North America. “Vortex's
reputation for building robust equipment
designed specifically for American vehicles fits
well with our new gas tank drill design, which is
also specifically designed for the US market.
Green Car and Vortex are genuine partners, and
we are now incorporating a Vortex style sight
glass (which allows the fuel quality to be
determined before pumping it into clean or dirty
fuel storage tanks) as an option in our brand new
drill head.”
Vortex's US President, Willem Geyer, said
this move will put Vortex in the forefront of the
industry. “Green Car equipment is built to a
higher engineering tolerance than competing
drill systems, “and therefore doesn't require the
repair and maintenance that competitors
systems suffer. He told us, “With increased
performance and reduced maintenance costs,
we agree with Green Cars existing customers
that it is the best drill system on the market”.
“Intelligently engineered to aerospace precision,
without trailing cables and cluttered parts, Green
Cars equipment and spares can be incorporated
into existing, leading drill systems on the market
today. Combining proven gas tank drilling
technology with the latest cutting edge design
and manufacturing processes, which Vortex
customers have come to expect. “
“By increasing the choice and quality, with
interchangeability of drill products, and all of our
growing range of metal processing equipment,
Vortex is fast becoming the “go to” supplier for
vehicle processing and metal recycling across
North America”
For more information and imagery please
contact: Nigel Dove, CEO Vortex De-pollution
and Recycling Equipment, 12445 E 39th Avenue
Suite, 506 Denver, Colorado 80239, USA
Tel: 303-900-4040
Or visit www.vortexdepollution.com
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“I would like to take this opportunity to thank
my team for their many years of dedication.
I look forward to our continued success at
Butler Auto Recycling. It's a true privilege
to work with such a great team.”
Jim Butler, Owner
Butler’s Auto Recycling
Pensacola, Florida
Winner of the
Auto Recycler’s
ToolBox Magazine’s
“I Love My Truck” Contest
See the write up
about us on Page 18
39
40 Recycler Spotlight
Central Auto
Recyclers
Central Auto Recyclers
“Success Comes From Having GREAT Employees!”
By Sandy Blalock
B
ob Phelps has been in the auto
recycling business since 1986
when he purchased an auto
recycling business located in Concord,
New Hampshire, that had been founded in
the 1950’s. It is now known as Central
Auto Recyclers. His two sons work with
Bob. Zac oversees the daily operations
and Tyler manages eBay sales, Craig's
List and the company website.
Bob is proud of all his employees.
Most of them have been with the company
for many years. Bob says they are his most
valuable business asset. He attributes his
company's success to their hard work.
They have a great work ethic, are skilled at
working to-gether, know their responsibilities and are flexible. Multitasking is
important with an operation of only nine
employees and they know how to cover
each other's jobs when one is away. “I
never hear that’s not my job,” said Bob.
“Our people are able to embrace new
technologies and new systems to further
improve the business. Without the
acceptance of this evolution, our yard
would be just a museum.”
Central Auto Recyclers, in three
years, has only had one workman's
compensation claim. This is in part due to
the fact that they constantly train for
safety. They use the New Hampshire
Green Yards best management practices
to keep everybody up to date on environmental and safety issues. “Training pays.
It creates a safe and efficient workplace
that protects your environmental footprint,” said Bob.
Bob says the greatest challenge his
company faces today is getting good
recyclable salvage. He says, “Another
challenge to me is trying to satisfy all of
the external constraints that affect our
business. This includes environmental issues, workers safety, state re-quirements,
both as a recycler and a vehicle dealer. Not
to mention the Federal rules and regulations, the things we have little or no
control over.” He pointed out that vehicles
are lasting longer. That poses another
problem for our industry of recycling
parts. It is tough to sell a part with 200K on
it. A vehicle becomes more valuable as
scrap than as a rebuildable product.
The team at Central Auto Recyclers is
proud of their accomplishment of being a
Bob Phelps is proud of all his employees
Certified New Hampshire Green Yard,
which Bob, along with other recyclers like
Jeff Kantor, worked diligently with the
NH Department of Environmental
Services to create. It is one of the first
programs where state officials in-cluded
small businesses in the writing and
implementation of common sense, real
life workplace regulations. This program
has now been copied by other state
agencies and is used when industry and
government need to change re-gulations.
The program truly is a better format than
ones that people engineer from a desk and
not from real life experience.
Auto Recyclers ToolBox ® 41
When asked what advice he would
give someone seeking to open a vehicle
recycling business today, Bob said, “It
would require a special desire, that most
people don’t have. Our industry has been,
for the most part, handed down from
generation to generation. Today you
would truly need to be an astute business
professional that looks at it as a business
and only a business. Most of today’s
recycling families came from people who
loved cars and trucks. Today it is only a
commodity that you buy and sell.
Numbers rule the game, not the love of
the car.”
The team at Central Auto Recyclers
has worked diligently over the years to
make their business a success. Bob said
that the biggest challenge is creating
profitable markets for his product and to
be constantly one step ahead of the curve
by always being adaptable and never
saying “never.” “As my friend Ron
Sturgeon says, ‘You don’t know what you
don’t know’. I make it a point to know
how to work smarter not harder.”
Bob acknowledged that by being part
of his state and national association, he
learns more from his peers at meetings
than he would have imagined. He has
made friends for life. Recyclers are
always there to give and take advice and
counsel. Associations are tools of the
industry, just like the wrench in the
toolbox. When they are used properly
they help create a successful business.
Use them incorrectly and you can get
bruised knuckles or worse and be out of
business.
As with everything he does, Bob has
been actively promoting and supporting
the industry in various leadership
positions, both in his state and nationally.
He has served as President of the Auto and
Truck Recyclers of New Hampshire and is
the current President. Over the past
twenty years he has been Treasurer and
Vice President of the association as well.
On the national level he served on the
ARA Board as Regional Director,
Chairman of the Regional Directors, AtLarge Director and chaired several
working committees of ARA.
Bob has been very active in his
associations and works hard to protect the
industry he loves. He not only worked
with the DES in New Hampshire
developing the Green Yards Program but
also fought to protect recyclers from
having to spend thousands of dol-lars to
change out their oil storage to steel tanks.
They were able to get an ex-emption to
continue using plastic tanks when the
used oil was considered “heating oil”.
Don’t get Bob started about what the
government has done for our industry. He
asks, “Quite frankly, what has government done for our industry? It is one of the
largest industries in the country when
taken collectively. Have
we seen any incentive
programs for recyclers?
Have we seen any protection for our industry
relative to the off shore
sale of our source of
Laugh or Cry
product? Have we been over burdened by
rules and regulations environmentally?
Many of these rules the rule makers don’t
understand. I could go on, but I can’t
control what I can’t control, so we will
work to do what’s right for all recyclers.”
Bob is the consummate auto recycler
and his love for our industry is apparent
through his continued efforts on behalf of
our industry. He and other New Hampshire Auto Recyclers have worked for
many years to make sure that automotive
recyclers are protected. They have been
instrumental in the close working
relationship New Hampshire Auto
Recyclers have with the many state
agencies with oversight of the industry.
We can never thank people like Bob
Phelps and his team at Central Auto
Recyclers enough for their commitment
and continued service to all automotive
recyclers.
Sandy Blalock
Blalock Consulting
11 Eastwind Lane,
Edgewood, NM 87015
OFFICE: 505-281-5418
FAX: 866-722-8642
[email protected]
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In Each ToolBox Magazine is a free pull-out poster
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Thanks for Reading the
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Published by
Be sure to say you saw it in the
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Mike French & Company, Inc.
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1619 Front Street,
Lynden, WA 98264
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Proudly Serving
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Thank You To Our Sponsors! *
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Call URG Today: 303-367-4391, or visit www.U-R-G.com