MTD October 2014
I
n the September issue of MTD, dealers, business coaches
and manufacturers shared suggestions for geting more
profts from mounting and balancing services. Te fol-
lowing article looks at how equipment maintenance and
technician training speed bay turns and lower costs.
Kevin Keefe, vice president of marketing for Hennessy
Industries, Inc. says dealers do their due diligence when
buying a machine in order to get the best possible return on
their dollar. Afer the purchase is made, however, they may
overlook cost in bay turns. "Te quicker you turn that bay, the
more money you're going to make and the lower your cost of
owning that equipment," he says.
Bay turn basics
Keefe says speeding up bay turns comes down to several
fundamentals: the right machine for the application, the right
adaptors and accessories to do the work that comes through
the shop, basic maintenance on the machines, local service
support and parts, and training for tire technicians.
"If you do a lot of service on custom wheels or run-fats,
or do large custom work, do you have the right clamping
accessories for your tire changers?" Keefe asks. Likewsie, the
correct assist devices ensure technicians are able to efectively
service diferent types of tires.
"On the balancing side, a lot of pickup trucks require special-
ized adapters to get past mounting challenges. Tere's just a
pure capability standpoint for equipment," he says.
Bay turns are also afected by the reliability and durability
of equipment and the availability of service and parts. Proper
equipment maintenance has a role, too. Keefe cites keeping
tire changers oiled and tabletop and clamp areas clean and
free of debris. Balancers, cones and shafs should be replaced
every three years or 30,000 cycles to prevent centering errors.
Keefe ofers an example to show the sensitivity of a balancer:
"If a 16-inch tire and wheel assembly that weighs 40 pounds
setles into a nick on a cone just ten thousandths of an inch
deep — about the thickness of a business card — that will
generate a balancing error that will cause a vibration equivalent
to almost an ounce of imbalance." He says Hennessy ofers
upgrade kits for its balancers.
Te best balancers available today use a superior alloy shaf
to prolong the life of the shaf to ensure a proper centering
for the life of the balancer, according to Greg Meyer, product
manager, wheel balancers for Hunter Engineering Co. "When
investing in equipment, dealers also need to consider how
easily accessible service and replacement parts are. W heel
mounting and balancing is a hugely proftable area for a shop,
and long equipment downtime can really impact proftability.
Some companies even ofer local support that can provide
same- or next-day service and parts replacement."
For wheel balancers,
age is less of a factor
in equipment de-
terioration than
number of cycles.
" T h e m o re
c y c l e s o n a
machine, the
more rapidly it
will deteriorate
and the more
likely it is to re-
quire service," says
Meyer. "Te older
a machine, the less
likely it is to contain key
technological advancements
that increase speed, accuracy and
overall productivity. Dealers should strive to
invest in equipment that will make them more productive. For
example, the best of today's machines greatly reduce weight
chasing by ensuring an accurate balance on the frst try. Features
like this lead to greater productivity and, ultimately, proft."
Keefe says Hennessy's design philosophy is to anticipate
the probable technological changes in the industry and design
for upgrades. "If you bought one of our tire changers in the
early '90s, prior to the advent of run-fat technology, wheel
diameters of 30 inches, and other technological advances,
you could equip through adapters, accessories or upgrades
that machine to handle any application that's out there today.
"We purposely design with an upgrade path in mind because
we never want a customer to need to go out and replace a
relatively brand new piece of equipment because of new
technology we could have seen. From a durability standpoint,
we design our equipment to last in the highest volume, most
demanding store environments."
Invest in training
Training is essential in light of today's diverse OEM as-
semblies. More conventional assemblies might require a less
skilled technician, but with the rapidly growing number of
specialty wheel and tire ftments, training a technician is more
important than ever, according to Meyer.
"Dealers frequently experience high turnover in technicians,
which complicates the training process and can make a wheel
balancer less proftable than it should be. Te best of today's
machines solve this by including several methods of built-in
training." Examples include 3D animations, a library of video
tutorials and on-screen prompts that guide the operator
through the balance. ■
How to build more profts into
mounting and balancing services
By Ann Neal
feature
that increase speed, accuracy and
32 32