G532 - Nationwide Service Centre - Auto Services
- Wellington Region
Summary
The Nationwide chain presents a professional service to obtain a competitive
edge. The Kilbirnie franchise offers the option of replacing engine coolant
with reconstituted rather than fresh coolant.
Business Profile
The franchise garage at Kilbirnie in the Nationwide chain commenced operations
in October 1996. There are 6 staff.
Type of Project
Good housekeeping, material reuse, material recycling, resource conservation.
Reasons for Project
To appeal to the environmentally conscious customer and thus gain a competitive
edge.
The Project
Recycling and Reformulation of Engine Coolant
The garage offers the option of having the engine coolant recycled and re-formulated,
on-site but in an off-line unit, at the same price as replacement with fresh
virgin coolant. Spent coolant is drained whilst the engine is hot (flushing
with water is not required) and replaced with pre-prepared, reconstituted
coolant. The reconstitution is done off-line at the garage's convenience.
Spent coolants are aggregated, chemically treated to precipitate the metals,
filtered, and reconstituted to standard requirements.
The service is economically viable overseas where the disposal
costs for coolant are high. Where disposal is prohibited, reconstitution
is the only option. At present there is no relative margin in
the service but Nationwide anticipates similar measures will
be implemented in NZ in the near future. The economic advantage
is in the longer term. The service is expected to attract the
discerning customer and therefore enhance the business.
Energy
The garage is considering a variety of energy conservation measures. Skylights
are to be installed to save on lighting. Energy saving light bulbs and time
switches are to be fitted. A gas space heater could be converted to burn
used oil to save on space and water heating.
Used Oil
Oil is delivered in bulk and metered in, and used oil is collected for re-refining.
Past experience supports the findings of the oil balance study by Dimond
Auto Services Ltd.
For additional information contact:
The Manager (Bob Byers)
Nationwide Service Centre
PO Box 14068
Kilbirnie
Wellington
Phone: (04) 387 2105
Fax: (04) 387 2108
| 
