By Ginny Whelan 28 only the echoes of my mind” Industry trends My friend, who is a search and res- cue pilot, said this classic song is his favorite song. He says “when I am fly- ing out over the water -‘going where the sun keeps shining, in the pouring rain’”. He takes off in the rain-soaked fog and climbs up to the sun on top and thinks of “going where the weather suits my clothes.” He feels he can fly anywhere as he’s “banking off the northeast wind” with one hand on the throttle and the other on the yolk in a turn. He feels he’s “sailing on summer breeze” and “skip’n over the ocean like a stone”. But then controllers and crew say someone is missing and something spotted and he remembers the words “I won’t let you leave my love behind.” This classic song plays through my mind sometimes when I hear the demands on automotive recyclers day to day. “I’m going where the sun keeps shining, through the pouring rain.” The profitability drain It seems like many auto recyclers are cast adrift in the parts procurement world and have been stumbling through a hard business for so long they have lost all sense of self and well-being. They only want to keep moving - fueled by a paranoia that everyone is judging their recycled parts. They are driven falsely by nightmares about everyone wanting OE new parts or the natural ele- ments for OEs. Many recyclers feel like search and rescue pilots. Trying to rescue their busi- ness and searching every niche to grow a profit. The profitability drain has hit The single most frustrating fact in the auto recycling industry is medi- ocrity at all levels in the parts order- ing process. It can be traced to a mis- understanding of the terms of the deal or interchangeability issues. The parts business is so technical and specific these days that every effort needs to be made to identify what part is really required and to know what is being sold. recyclers so hard that many simply can’t afford to keep up with the best practices in the industry to compete. This is a major problem for the indus- try. The net result will be fewer recyclers and less local recycled parts available. Selling by guessing I see sales people allowing cus- tomers to guess what it is they need. Purchasing parts on guesses can’t be tolerated. Today auto recyclers have ways to check for order accuracy, so don’t be surprised if you are asked to provide VIN’s or you are asked if the part is on a recall. It is easy to share digital photos. Parts images have become vital to selling. We have cre- ated a way to speed up and simplify this process, so our customers can eas- ily get more parts with online images. Repairers talk at us Repairers continue to repeat their top gripes about recycled parts. They talk at us and about us. They talk about the discrepancy between the condition and description. Or they lack understanding about the grading of the part and how inaccurately it’s described. The added cost is from the administration process to the procure- ment of recycled parts. They talk about how easy it is to buy OE new only, about cycle time delays and profit discrepancies. The list goes on - “only the echoes of my mind.” Parts grading is important, but underutilized, misunderstood and often misrepresented. If not properly done it can derail the sale. ARA grading and damage standards need to be accurate and automatically translated into the ARA damage codes which are available in the part locating networks and used in parts locating services for the collision and mechanical shops. There are recog- nized leading parts procurement stan- dards for recycled parts in management technology platforms. The challenge has been in yard adoption of these stan- dards. There is a need to find value in spending time to train employees to com- plete this vital parts detail. One way to help with adoption of this is to leverage electronic location of parts using these standards to improve sell-thru and thus lower return rates for the recycler. The ASA (Automotive Service Association) executive director defined a “Class A” recycling facility as one that includes standards we can rely on in the service industry. “Class A” auto recyclers should have certification stan- dards like ARA’s Gold Seal. “Those cer- tifications get you in the insurance carri- ers door.” Many repairers prefer certi- Reliable industry standards “Many recyclers feel like search and rescue pilots. Trying to rescue their business and searching every niche to grow a profit.” “The single most frustrating fact in the auto recycling industry is mediocrity at all levels in the parts ordering process.” “I don’t hear a word they’re saying, “EVERYBODY’S TALKIN’ “EVERYBODY’S TALKIN’ AT ME” AT ME” “EVERYBODY’S TALKIN’ AT ME”