National Carwash Solutions drives innovation with wireless internet and IoT solutions
at scale
National Carwash Solutions (NCS) is a leading provider of high-quality car wash equipment. NCS provides operators with a one-stop shop for all the equipment, maintenance and chemicals required to keep cars sparkling clean and drivers happy. The firm's full-spectrum car wash service serves customers ranging from your local mom-and-pop car wash to private equity firms that own hundreds of car washes across the country.
For more than 50 years, NCS has delivered innovative systems and solutions to the car wash industry, rooted in its core value of commitment to hard work, quality and innovation. Its mission is clear: "To make life better through carwashing," said Josh Barnes, Senior Product Manager at NCS.
This mission is coupled with an ambitious vision—dubbed Carwash 4.0—to shape the future of car washing. Laura Moriarity, Creative Director at NCS, said, "We want to shift the perspective that operators have of us—from being just a manufacturing company to being a partner that provides solutions to run their business smoothly. That informs our approach to technology." To take this vision to the next level, NCS needed reliable nationwide connectivity that they could depend on at scale.
Manual procedures cloud operations visibility
Before NCS set out to implement its Carwash 4.0 vision, operators had to manage every aspect manually. Through Carwash 4.0, NCS helps owners use data to optimize efficiency, cut costs and significantly improve their customer’s experience.
With many operators owning multiple car washes—sometimes hundreds across diverse geography—managers lacked day-to-day visibility into operations, equipment condition and inventory management. As a result, operators could be caught off guard by a broken component, often leading to unexpected downtime, and employees had to constantly monitor supplies and chemical tank levels to ensure they didn't run out of crucial cleaning supplies in the middle of the day. High employee turnover further challenged this resource-intensive approach. With limited employee continuity and low day-to-day visibility, crucial operations like equipment maintenance and inventory management often went unaddressed.
These challenges also hampered growth. "The speed at which the largest car wash brands are expanding is astounding," Moriarty said. "They need the same level of data and insight as any other business to grow at scale." To scale to its Carwash 4.0 vision, NCS needed a connectivity partner that could deliver a reliable, fast network and a platform for automating its operations and services across hundreds of car washes nationwide. NCS found the partner it needed in Verizon.
Verizon is the unsung hero for a lot of what we're doing because it empowers everything we do."
Josh Barnes, Senior Product Manager, National Carwash Solutions
Connectivity at scale cleans up with remote monitoring
Carwash 4.0 taps into Verizon’s Internet of Things (IoT) platform—ThingSpace—to find solutions that enable devices to collect and share operational data. Car wash operators can access and analyze this data to make more informed decisions about maintenance, supplies and quality. "Our approach lets operators automate and track their operations, so they can ensure best practices are being followed," Barnes said.
This approach comes to life through the firm's proprietary NCS Lens suite of equipment and applications. With NCS Lens, car wash operators can monitor the performance of all their equipment and locations right from their phone. Apps and equipment communicate with each other in near real time, with alerts to let operators know when there is an issue. "Car wash owners used to struggle to precisely track and control their dosing or how much water they use. Now, they can dial it in and be precise while monitoring their operational costs in near real time," Moriarity said.
NCS turned to Verizon to make these systems and sensors talk to each other and bring Carwash 4.0 to life, as they required reliable connectivity at the scale Verizon could deliver. With LTE coverage over 99 percent of the domestic U.S. population, Verizon's LTE Business Internet, delivers the reliable connectivity across the U.S. that NCS needs to serve its customers. Verizon also helps National Car Wash Solutions easily implement the NCS Lens-enabled solutions at every car wash in the country without creating any unexpected connectivity issues. "We can tell them we're operating on Verizon's reliable network, separate from their internal systems, and they have peace of mind." Barnes said.
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Driving the future of car wash operations
With the power of Verizon LTE Business Internet and the ThingSpace IoT platform, NCS helps operators make data-driven decisions about their car wash operations. Thanks to NCS and its Carwash 4.0 approach powered by Verizon, car wash operators nationwide are experiencing new standards for efficiency, productivity and customer experience. For example, car wash operators can optimize the amount of cleaning fluids used for each wash, reducing their chemical costs by as much as 27%, Barnes said.
Not only that, but connected equipment enables operators to use less water and energy to help meet their sustainability goals. NCS wants to help car wash operators do all they can to be responsible water users. "Car washes reuse water, making them far more efficient than washing your car in a driveway. By leveraging data, we can help operators minimize their environmental footprint further by reducing their energy usage, using less water and fewer chemicals through accurate dosing," Moriarty said.
Added Barnes, "Verizon is the unsung hero for a lot of what we're doing because its solutions power everything we do. Connection is something that might be taken for granted, but not all networks are created equal. We have an awesome connectivity solution with Verizon as our partner."
Car wash owners used to struggle to precisely track and control their dosing or how much water they use."
Laura Moriarity, Creative Director, National Carwash Solutions