WashTec are global leaders in the car wash industry. They develop car washes and provide service for over 40,000 car washes worldwide.
But the growing demands on their field technicians threatened to compromise the quality and speed of the company’s customer service and support.
WashTec needed to find a remote solution that could help them maintain an elevated level of service and minimize downtime, while reducing unnecessary travel.
About WashTec
WashTec has been cleaning up for more than 135 years.
Founded in 1885 in Augsburg, Germany, WashTec began as a manufacturer of industrial laundry machines. In the 1960s, there was an opportunity for a shift with the growth of the automated car wash industry. The company invented the first electrically powered three-brush gantry car wash.
Over the last five decades, WashTec has become an innovator in wash technology for all kinds of vehicles. The company is future-focused and actively seeks out new digital solutions that will make for a better car wash and customer experience.
WashTec installs machines of assorted sizes, from gantry car washes and longer conveyor tunnel systems to self-service car washes. They offer digital kiosks for convenient payment and custom wash options. They also supply all the consumables including soap, chemicals, brushes, and spare parts.
But most importantly, they offer extensive service which includes regular maintenance, wash bay cleaning, cosmetic face-lifting, and repair of equipment.
WashTec serves clients of all sizes. Their larger customers (utility companies, logistics and municipalities) use commercial machines to clean trucks, buses, and other oversized vehicles. But most of their customers are filling stations, grocery stores and small and medium-sized car wash businesses.
Why Remote Services
When car wash operators have a problem, they call the WashTec experts.
The biggest issue for the company? With 40,000 worldwide, they have many more car washes than car wash experts.
WashTec to save time in two ways.
First, WashTec did not want to waste time sending experts in the field if it wasn’t necessary. Because of their growing footprint, it was becoming impractical, inefficient, and expensive to automatically dispatch a tech to every call.
Rolling a truck only to have it show up and flip a switch or replace a fuse was a waste of labor hours and fuel. And sometimes, a fix could take two trips, because of an out-of-stock part or gap in communication.
And since sustainability is a priority for WashTec, the last thing they wanted to do was INCREASE carbon emissions.
While some triage and troubleshooting was already happening by phone, WashTec experts needed a much more robust remote tool.
The second way that WashTec wanted to save time was for their customers. When the company gets contacted with an urgent repair issue that does require service on-site, they need to collect all the information needed to fix it right the first time.
For owners and operators, every minute of downtime costs them money. Every minute that a car wash is not washing cars is lost revenue. The faster WashTec can resolve the issue, the happier their customer will be.
That’s why WashTec wanted to give their service organization a smarter way to serve.
How We Helped
WashTec implemented SightCall Visual Support as a white label service called Digital Technician.
Our enhanced visual assistance platform blends the digital and physical worlds into a real-time collaborative environment that empowers WashTec employees and customers to solve service problems faster.
Visual assistance changes the way that customers, product specialists and technicians communicate.
Remote experts can visually guide customers to collect vital on-site information including high-resolution pictures, video, and serial numbers.
While most problems will not (or cannot) be solved during a live video session, the biggest advantage of SightCall is that it gives WashTec experts the ability to put eyes on the actual problem.
Everything they can see and collect remotely will better prepare field techs once they arrive on site.
For customers, the ability to instantly connect with a Digital Technician gives them the assurance that service issues are understood and WashTec experts are working on a solution.