“The equipment was made for dummies because a dummy made it!” I wish I had a dollar for every time I heard the founder of Sonny’s, Sonny Fazio utter this line. If I did, I’d have a lot of dollars…
Another one he used frequently was, “Keep it simple, stupid.” I loved that guy! You always knew where you stood with him.
Keeping it simple doesn’t just apply to equipment design, it also applies to troubleshooting when something goes wrong.
For some reason, we, as car washers, tend to over complicate things. For instance, if your conveyor stops, what is the 1st piece of equipment that you run to? The power pack to check the oil? The MCC to check the starter for the power pack? While one of these might very well be the culprit, if everything had been running fine for most of the day and then this happens, it could be something as simple as having a beer can resting on top of your anti-collision pad giving a false signal.
How about this scenario; everything has been turning on and off perfectly since you’ve been open. Six months later, for no apparent reason, your timing is off. Everything is now turning on late. Do you sit down at the controller and start reprogramming everything to match things back up or do you 1st check your proximity wheel to see if the magnet(s) are still intact and clean and that the wheel itself is not slipping?
One more; if your foaming applicator stops making foam. Do you automatically assume you have a bad pump and attempt to switch it out? What if you started with the foaming chamber itself to see if the foaming brush, or scrubby’s needed to be cleaned out and re-installed?
In the CarWash College Repair class, we teach a bonus session on “Problem Isolation” or trouble-shooting. Using a flowchart type of system, we play out several different scenarios for what to check, and in what order to check them. In essence, we “isolate” the problem, then seek to find the solution. It’s a fairly simple way to get to the root cause of what went wrong so you can get it back up and running quickly.
A trouble-shooting chart should be standard equipment in all back rooms. It should be easily accessible to anyone that is responsible for the day-to-day operations of your wash and it should be as simple as possible, starting with the easiest solutions first and then working toward the more difficult. Please see below for an example of our flowchart: Note: This is not a complete chart, please do not attempt to use this for anything other than an example.
As you can see, the chart is simple to follow and gives solutions, or directions, for each problem.
Simplicity. Give it a try. Hopefully, you’ll find your solutions that much quicker.
Bob Fox has 30 + years industry of experience and is an instructor at CarWash College™. Bob can be reached at [email protected]. For more information about CarWash College™ certification programs, visit CarWash College or call the registrar’s office at 1-866-492-7422.
This content is sponsored by CarWash College. Sponsored content is authorized by the client and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Professional Carwashing & Detailing editorial team.
