By now controllers are common throughout the carwash industry. They help owners save money by providing ways to manage the devices washes use to clean cars.
“A high-quality controller will pay for itself many times over through cost savings,” says co-owner of Xpert Solutions Mark Ellis. “Savings are a result of the controller running each device in the carwash only the correct amount of time for the specific vehicle. This results in utility and chemical savings.”
For Jim Jenkins, general manager of World Wide Microsystems Inc., the most beneficial function to manage with controllers is energy usage.
These savings are what make controllers so popular with washes. According to Dean Lecky, vice president of sales with Micrologic, “[Controllers] are a means to provide control of what equipment should turn on, when it should turn on and for how long. Most recently they are used for tracking of chemicals and equipment malfunctions.”
Lecky shares the most popular function controllers have is the ability to manage chemical use properly. Connectivity allows carwash owners to receive real-time statistics via their smartphones or tablets.
"We find that customers are moving away from PC-based controllers to microprocessor-based controllers," reports Jenkins. These microprocessors require little to no maintenance, he adds.
Operators can also “receive real time car count statistics and alerts if equipment is not operating properly,” concludes Lecky.