Full Service Shop Organization

S

Shawn F.

New member
I have recently started a full service auto detailing shop and looking to officially open for business in the next 3-4 weeks after I do some renovation to the place and get everything in order. I am currently doing work out of it but need a lot more work to be done to the place to be proficient. My first problem was lighting but I took care of it temporarily by adding more fluorescence on the ceiling and walls. My next big problem is staying organized and everything easy to access. I plan to build a bench along the whole back wall with tall cabinets on each side for the gallons of materials to go in and to be out of sight and locked up. I also plan to put white peg board above the bench for hooks to put brushes, tools, etc above. Underneath the bench will store my shop vacs, steamer, extractors, etc.

One thing I'd like to add are carts of some sort. I want one specifically for the washing, one for the interior stuff and one for exterior and buffing with lights mounted to the side so I can roll it around in the area I need with more lighting up close. Does anyone have any suggestions on these carts and other ideas to make my shop efficient and organized? I do not want to spend thousands on crazy systems yet until I am fully up and running...

Not sure if anyone has seen the advertising (I'm sure you have) for rebel carts? They seem like the perfect solution but at $2000 starting price before shipping I do not think so... The link for them is RebelCarts Home Page It's a great idea but for the price I believe I can build something myself suited just for me and exactly how I'd like it. Anyways, any information, opinions and suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
 
Thanks David! I did read the cart one for shop or van. I also googled and looked on You Tube for some ideas and there are some Craftsman videos with some killer ideas for work benches and carts using old desks, carts, etc.
 
Grainger, Luxor, RubberMaid all make excellent carts for use in detail shops.

How many employee's will you have working?

Have you considered "vehicle flow" into the building, with the first stop being the wet bay?

A lot of time productive labor time is wasted if the vehicles are constantly requiring moving about to get to a work spot or move a finished vehicle out of the building.

I highly recommend "proportioners" for car wash soap, all purpose cleaners, wheel cleaners if in need of dilution, etc. They are not that expensive and use the water pressure that comes in to run them.

These will pay for themselves in product cost savings and less waste, plus speed up your processes.

Each cart, at each station should be numbered, as should each product, machines, etc on the carts displaying the same number. Bottles, towels, brushes, etc should be accounted for by each employee, which is where this system comes in to play and once again generates big savings at the end of the year. (things do seem to get legs around a detail shop, and it's your money)

The employee that is assigned that cart is responsible for everything on it, so if a buffer comes up missing, etc, you got some one to go after.

Are the lighting fixtures and bulbs "explosion proof", (OSHA)

Any transfer of chemicals used from the original container, must be market clearly with the health/fire/reactivity/safety markings as well.(OSHA)

You must have correct electrical cords that are commercially rated and no "taping of damages to the cords". (OSHA)

You must have an eye wash station for your employees. (OSHA)

You must have signage regarding "wet or slippery floor". (OSHA)

You must have an OSHA approved first aid kit with prominate signs showing emergency phone numbers.

You must have signage telling customers that they are not allowed in the work area due to insurance regulations.

Would suggest, that if you have not yet, buy a good used commercial washer and dryer for the shop. Assign one employee each week to be responsible for cleaning of towels.

Wash and dry glass towels, seperate, polish towels, seperate, and micro fibers, seperate.

Do you plan on having air drops at each work station? Big time saver.

Don't forget to hold a "safety meeting" at least once a month and have a book for each employee to sign that they attended. (OSHA)

Be sure and have a good supply of chemical proof gloves, safety glasses and make your people wear them, at least hanging around their necks. That keeps you off the hook with ---once again-(OSHA)

Where will your water run-off from the wet bay go?

A requirement in most states and cities is a minimum of it going through a 2 stage clarifier. (EPA, etc)

Sure you have considered most of these items, but you asked, I jumped in.

Grumpy
 
Grumpy, I found this cart from HF: Industrial Service Cart - 16"x 30"

With a 20% off coupon I found it's $88.85 shipped to my door and I seen them in person, they are durable and the plastic is better IMO because the metal ones are scary around cars where as the plastic is a little more forgiving on paint if it rubs or bumps. I plan to mount a T8 light to the side, etc but want to have 3 carts. One for wash bay with holes cut in for two wash buckets up top and wheel bucket underneath as well as the brushes, mitts, etc off the side. As for wash bay, I wash the cars just outside the bay door (half in and out of the shop until I figure out about drainage. The shop did not come equipped with a drain (3000 Sq Ft shop that was a wood working shop for 20 years). My father does construction and doing a job now with a jack hammer. He said he could hammer out an area of concrete and run a drain in the place to the outside. Right now the run off goes right into the plant and grass area next to the shop which does not run into the street or drains, etc. I mostly do No Rinse jobs but do blast the majority of the grime off the car and wheels/wheel wells with a pressure washer, pull it in, then do the No Rinse. The first bay is the wash bay. I then pull the vehicle straight up into the next bay for interior and exterior. To the left there is an extra bay (in an upside down L shape) but may use that to store the finished cars and have only two bays (one for washing and the other for interior and exterior), I don't know. I have only one employee who is equipped with gloves, eye protection, hearing protection, etc and he does use them every job.



For the second cart I want it specifically for exterior detailing with a hole cut in the top shelf for the pad washer to drop into (the less bending over the better and easier on the body) and next to that the polishes/compounds. Off the side I want to mount a T8 fluorescent light with a power strip to have an extension cord on as well. Underneath some kind of drawers of some sort for the microfibers and pads. Then the usual brushes for the nooks and crannies and other things as well as a waste basket for the polishing rags that are marked (color coordinated microfibers with color coordinated bins). I want to make everything dummy proof so even an untrained person will get the hint of what does what and what goes where.

For the interior cart I may do either this HF cart or make one like the link I posted on the Rebel Carts but wider and my own design. I'd have waste baskets, peg board with brushes and tools hanging from it, bins for the microfibers and glass cleaning towels, small compressor with hose reel and shop vac and same thing, power strip with extension cord going from cart to outlet on posts or walls so that way everything is powered from the cart essentially.



Hopefully all of this makes sense. I want to have 3 carts. One for wash bay, one for interior and one for exterior with everything on them that the job will require. At the end of the day either I or the employee will go to the cabinet where the gallons of everything will be and refill the bottles. As for labeling the bottles this is where I am confused as to how I can do this... I want all bottles to look the same using PET plastic bottles and print my own labels with my logo and then what the material is in each bottle and it's mixing ratio. What else needs to be on it for OSHA I am not sure.

I still need to get an eye wash station, suitable first aid kit, flammable cabinet and few other things. About the bulbs and light fixtures, how do I know if they are explosion proof? Also what brand and where do you recommend getting these "proportioners" from? I'd love to see some pictures of highly organized shops and little things that keep things organized and with some kind of system. Like I said, I want everything to be dummy proof and clearly written out and easy to understand so that way the employee will know what chemical is what, how to dilute it, what it's used for and where it goes.



As for the washer and dryer, that is next on my list. My father is going to install and hot water heater and washer and dryer section just for the rags and towels and as you stated, I always wash them all separate from each other.



Thanks a lot Ron and please keep the info and suggestions coming!
 
Sounds like you are on the right track.

With only one employee, things are simple.

It's when you have like we did at the ValuGard Auto Processing Center, 20 to 30 workers per site in the busy season, that it hits the fan.

At one time we had over 80 on the payroll, and the number of 1040 we had to send out was amazing. Seems that to keep, say 60 workers, we would go through 150 per year.

I did set up a wall mount tub system (recycle bins painted to match color of towels) for each type and a big color matching tub under each for dirty towels. No excuse for towels laying about the work area.

They wanted a clean towel, took the dirty over put them in the bottom tub, got the clean ones out of the top.

Detailers who attended the PrepExcellence Course saw this in out Tech Center Training facility, but have to admit, the managers of the shops would get a bit lax.

Can't recall with of the proportioners we used, two are made, ours came out of the Cincinnati area, think they may be shown on the ValuGard website under products as we distributed them.

The other brand is out of St.Louis.

Don't waste the money on labels, they will fall off in a week or less.

We had dedicated, silk screen bottles for each product of ValuGard, but also offered generic bottles that were silk screened with the OSHA requirements, just used a Sharpie to fill in the blanks taken from the MSDS for each product. They may be shown on the site as well.

The dispensor bottles and the spray bottles were available. Might check them out.

We had 8 plug outlets at each station for electric, really only needed 4 plug.

The compressed air was hard lined to each station. I can't stress enough the importance of having air to use. Saves a lot of wiping, speeds up interior cleaning as well.

Grumpy
 
Can you clarify what exactly needs to be on the bottles please? I know the name, dilution ratio and now you are saying the hazard rating (diamond)? Anything else? I do know that I need the MSDS sheets as well. Also someone told me that if I have only 1 employee then no need to worry about OSHA, it's only if I have 2 or more. Is this true? Can anyone confirm? I've heard it several times actually but then a few said even just one employee other than me.

I still want to be OSHA compliant because I plan to have more employees eventually and when the time comes I do not want to worry about OSHA regulations and would rather be set up already. Two biggest things for me right now is OSHA compliant and EPA with water run off. I cannot get any confirmation on water run off here in NC... Some say no worries, others say I have to reclaim and then can throw in the toilet or plant area of my home/shop, etc. The area I wash just outside the bay, the water runs right into my little planters/grassy area (I will provide pictures this weekend). As I said, I do not use much water to wash a vehicle unless it's a huge box van, SUV, etc then I use the typical amount (if they are dirty which they usually are). My father said we can add interior wash bay drain and have it run into the planter area outside. I was even thinking about having water barrels and collect rain water with a water de-ionizer unit hooked up and switching to an electric power washer unit instead of the gas one I currently use for lower noise and eliminating use of gas.
 
The requirements on the bottle is standard as far as labeling.

The bottles I referred to are on the website. Why pay for screens for bottles and a run of 144 min to have them when you can get them already done from outside sources?

Don't know about NC, but sounds like for a while you can get away with using the run off as grey water for your grass, etc.

Hope you are going to charge a pretty penny if you plan on "dry washing" most vehicles.

That is product expensive and labor intensive.

If you wish to see a perfect set up for wet bay chemicals, check out the ABC training video on the ValuGard site, it has everything set up for maximum performance and reduced labor time.

Grumpy
 
Ron, I will check the videos out now thanks! I will post pictures this weekend of my shop as a blank slate pretty much minus the office I have built and soon to be waiting room and already built bathroom and kitchen area. Hopefully you guys on here can throw suggestions at me on what you guys think or recommend and can then critique things as I go along with the build or setting up of the shop.
 
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