By Craig Peterson
Jason Maddox and I recently had the pleasure of manning the Dosatron booth at the 2010 Car Care World Expo. Our booth featured a full size mock up of a conveyor wash equipment room utilizing Dosatron injectors on all the chemical applications.
Although down from previous years, attendance appeared to surpass last year and the general mood on the show floor seemed cautiously optimistic. Jason and I greeted a steady stream of visitors in our booth, and were impressed by the enthusiastic interest in retrofitting from existing systems to a Dosatron chemical injection system. Many operators explained that because of lingering difficulty in obtaining financing, new site construction has been put on hold. Remodeling, updating, and investing in changes to existing wash locations, on the other hand, is on the upswing. While expanding with new sites is delayed, operators addressed their concern over maintaining market share by employing the latest, most efficient technology available. In doing so, operators set themselves apart as being innovators and acting in the best interest of their customers. This allows them to not only maintain market share, but position themselves for expansion as the grip of the economy begins to ease.
Regardless of where on the globe they were located, wash owners and vendors shared a positive attitude and look forward to the future of the industry. Many countries were represented and I had the personal pleasure of speaking with folks from Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, Romania, Australia, Germany, New Zealand, Spain, Japan and China! Just the fact that these people travelled the distance and incurred the expense to attend the largest carwash trade show of the year is encouraging to me, and I look forward to the balance of 2010 showing tremendous recovery and growth!
