Reduce employee turnover, reduce safety incident rates, attract better employees and increase profit.

Reduce employee turnover, reduce safety incident rates, attract better employees and increase profit. I am sure that most automotive recycling owners and managers would jump at this combination of win, win, win and win!

I can hear the doubters now; in this industry it won’t work, it will cost too much money, I haven’t got the time and many more objections. 

Before we start outlining our ideas lets be honest. This will not be an easy fix, it will take time, commitment and some cash, but the benefits far outweigh the investment that is put in.

We are talking here about Servant Leadership.

In a nutshell, Servant Leadership is described as helping your team (or your staff) be the best that they can be.

Many assume that you cannot serve and lead at the same time, but you can. This concept has been around for 2000 years but came into prominence when Robert K Greenleaf published ‘The Servant as a Leader’ in 1970.

Lets split this into two parts:

Servant - this is an implementation or operational role 

Leadership - this is a strategic or visionary role

All good leadership starts with a vision that outlines the purpose of the business, a picture of where the business is going and the values that will guide the business on its journey. This role is very much the traditional pyramid shaped hierarchy, with the bosses at the top of the pyramid and the staff cascading down to the base - it is clear who works for whom and who is responsible.

The servant part flips the pyramid upside down, this puts the customer contact people (and the customers) at the top of the organisation and the boss now becomes the least important person in the business because it is now the customers and the customer facing staff who are the most important and the bosses now have to work for the customers and the staff.

Implemented properly the benefits are massive; employee retention rates rise, staff are happier and satisfied with their work, because staff are happier the customers are better served, happier customers return for more purchases, people want to come and work for the business and profits are lifted.

Waste Connections in the USA were losing over 40% of their employees each year, many of them voluntarily leaving. They introduced a significant change to the management culture of the business that was based on Servant Leadership and over 5 years saw employee turnover rate drop from over 40% to 17%, and safety incident rates drop by 40%, over the same period they saw earnings rise, and Waste Connections became a place where people wanted to be rather than had to be, and they also attracted better employees because of the great culture in the business.

Want to know more - come to the Salvage Insight Launch Day on Wednesday 17 June at Stonebridge Golf Centre, Meriden, Coventry, where Peter Judd, Head of Salvage Insight, can tell you all you need to know.

Full details, please contact Salvage Insight via andy@salvagewire.com

Parking your car during Covid-19

Never before have so many cars been parked up and not moved for weeks on end - once the lockdown ends many will stay exactly where they are, why? A lot of modern petrol,

diesel, hybrid and electric vehicles are very sophisticated and their power hungry electronics mean that they are constantly ‘on’, using battery power to keep them ready for operation and maintain the ‘memory’ of all the ECU’s and computers, so this enforced lack of use could mean that the vehicle battery is drained of power and will not start the vehicle when needed.

Most of these vehicles are designed to retain their battery status for a few weeks - think long term parking when on holiday - but not for much longer.

An unattended battery in any vehicle will eventually lose its charge. Failure to keep the battery topped up could leave you in trouble, remove the battery from the vehicle to charge it and you could end up needing a full ‘re-boot’ from the local dealer, best option in this

circumstance would be to bring one of the vehicle recovery services out to put a booster on the battery so the vehicle can be started and the battery then brought back up to full power.

To be certain, make sure you start and run the car every week and once it has armed through drive it for about 15 minutes if possible. Driving the car periodically has several benefits. It will maintain the battery's charge, keep the engine and other components adequately lubricated and using the brakes will keep the discs clean and free from rust.

Road Map - Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Repairs

The UK was the first major economy to set a net zero emissions target by 2050 in law last summer, and in February the Prime Minister announced plans to bring forward a ban on petrol and diesel cars, which includes hybrid cars, to 2035 - five years earlier than initially planned.

We can draw parallels from Norway, who have already set out laws that ban the sale of brand new petrol and diesel engined vehicles from 2025 (a full ten years ahead of the UK); already over 50% of brand new vehicles sales are of zero emission vehicles.

Assuming similar trends over the next 10 years in the UK, the percentage of zero emission vehicles being sold will steadily increase, and as this occurs the volume of affordable used electric and hybrid vehicles in the market place will also steadily increase to a point where these vehicles will become the majority.

Depending upon the rate of change the UK Government have advised that they could bring the petrol and diesel ban forward by a few years.

This rate of change will mean that all businesses handling vehicles will have to learn about this new technology, and any other technology that becomes mainstream, such as Hydrogen Fuel Cell vehicles, so that they can continue to operate effectively. This will include training and development of their staff, investing in equipment and buildings, changing processes and procedures, understanding any new risks, health and safety implications, and also having the ability to work on every type of vehicle and powertrain on the road.

Don’t forget, this is not just electric and hybrid or fuel cell vehicles; there is an enormous amount of new advanced technology under development, including advanced driver assistance systems, autonomous operation, and many more innovations and designs.

All businesses involved with the repair, maintenance and transportation of vehicles will have to change and adapt, this includes: vehicle repairers, recovery agents, vehicle transporters, collision repair centres, valeting centres, fast fits, tyre specialists, windscreen replacement and many more, so how do companies grow, develop and become specialists in this vital area? This document will set out some proposals and suggestions for this development and growth.

Jim Collins, in his book Good to Great said “enduring great companies preserve their core values and purpose while their business strategies and operating practices endlessly adapt to a changing world’.

Clock Building, Not Time Telling

Build an organisation that can endure and adapt through multiple generations of leaders and product life cycles: the exact opposite of being built around a single great leader or great idea or a single owner or family.

Genius of AND

Embrace both extremes on a number of dimensions at the same time, instead of choosing A OR B, figure out how to have A AND B - purpose AND profit, continuity AND change, freedom AND responsibility etc.

Core Ideology

Instil core values and core purpose as principles to guide decisions and inspire people throughout the organisation over a long period of time

Preserve the Core and Stimulate Progress

Preserve the core ideology as an anchor point while stimulating change, improvement, innovation and renewal in everything else.

Therefore all businesses need:

Level 5 Leaders who build a company that can tick along without them; who have personal humility AND professional will; are ambitious for the company and have a sense of purpose beyond their own success; and are relentless in stimulating progress towards tangible results and achievement. This culture should be encouraged and developed throughout the management team and through the core values of the business. Succession planning means that there will never be any gaps in leadership as the team expands or changes as leaders move upwards, retire or depart.

Who First - Assessing all current team members and making certain the right people are ‘on the bus’; This could be brutal, as those people in the wrong seats have to be moved and some may need to get off the bus altogether. Develop recruitment policies that are driven by the need to bring people into the business that fit the culture, the core values and the ambitions of the company. Continuously develop and improve staff knowledge, ability and competence and promote from within as much as possible.     

To Be Brutal about Facts - Being honest, open and unafraid of the truth can be difficult. The culture of the company must be such that all members of staff can be honest, open and unafraid to speak the truth. This brings out the best in the right people, means that all discussions and decisions are taken for the right reasons and exactly follow the culture and values of the business, and any wrong decisions are squashed before they create damage.

Discipline - Building an enduring culture of discipline will bring massive levels of success to any corporation or business, gives all staff freedom AND responsibility and will eject those that do not share the values and standards of an organisation. Staff will be loyal, they will arrive on time; they will want to grow, develop and move upwards through the organisation; they will give their best every day and will step in and help in a crisis or time of need. 

Technology - Vehicle technology is driving change across the automotive industry, and is what this paper is about; this is the final point, deliberately. Technology is subservient to the business, getting the leadership, structure, core values and culture of the business has to come before the technology. If the technology comes first then we are wasting our time - staff can be trained and developed endlessly, but without leadership, structure, values and culture the business will not see the fruits of that training and development because staff will leave. It is said that people do not leave their job, they leave their manager, and this is very true!

Using all of the above we can now build a potential road map for automotive businesses to advance into the new ‘fully charged’ automotive era. 

If you want to build a road map for your business then contact Salvage Wire through their website www.salvagewire.com

Petrol and Diesel Car Sales Ban Brought Forward to 2035

The UK Government said today that from 2035 all new vehicle sales must be zero-emission vehicles, effectively banning the internal combustion engine from our roads.

Friends of the Earth’s Mike Childs said that the government was right to bring forward the ban, but that 2030 would be better than 2035 whilst the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said that the 2035 target could not be met without ‘market transformation’. 

What are the facts:

• Climate Change is bad for the planet and steps need to be taken to reduce our carbon emissions - the internal combustion engine is a contributor to carbon emissions so something needs to be done.
• Norway have already legislated to stop the sale of brand new internal combustion engined vehicles in their country from 2025 - a full 10 years before the UK Government. Other countries in Europe, including Germany, are discussing the same rule for 2030.
• The technology is already available, has sufficient range for the vast majority of motorists and charging infrastructure is improving. 
• We are 15 years away from the proposed ban, a massive amount of time to develop the technology, build the charging infrastructure and develop new zero emission technologies.
• This is not just electricity, zero emission vehicles include hydrogen powered fuel cells, so we are not completely reliant upon electricity
• This is not a switch off of petrol and diesel powered vehicles, they will still be available to purchase up to the end of 2034, and it will take a number of years for these vehicles to roll through to the end of their lives and be replaced by a zero emission vehicle - and this was one of the reasons why the government brought forward the ban: the original date of 2040 would mean that there would still be internal combustion engined vehicles in use on the zero emission target date of 2050.

This will involve everyone, vehicle manufacturers, governments and legislators, power suppliers, drivers, owners and companies. 

• Vehicle manufacturers need to bring affordable vehicles to market and increase supply
• Governments and legislators need to help vehicle owners and drivers make the switch to zero emission vehicles
• Power suppliers need to improve the grid, continue to invest in renewable power and the oil companies need to change and become power suppliers - as they see the sales of petrol and diesel (and oil) drop, they need to back fill this with hydrogen. Once the hydrogen refuelling infrastructure is there people will purchase and use hydrogen powered vehicles.
• Vehicle drivers and owners need to look at their daily use, accept that the vast majority of them only travel 30-40 miles a day and an electric vehicle will be perfect for them. Fit a charge point at home and purchase a vehicle - for those that cannot park outside their house see the next point.
• All companies, however small or large, need to invest in charging points so that their employees and customers can plug in and charge whilst the vehicle is not in use. When does a car stand still the most? At home, at work or when you are visiting a tourist attraction, shopping centre, city or town centre or an hotel - every single one of these needs enough charge points to cope with demand.

Is this a challenge? Yes, but more importantly this is an opportunity for the UK to show that it is one of the leaders in zero emission vehicles, that we can step up to a seemingly impossible task and achieve net zero by 2050; we can contribute to our planet and give our children and grandchildren a future that does not include the threat of global warming, and that they can still have personal mobility and the freedom to travel that we have.

New Offering From Salvage Wire

Salvage InsightA new offering from Salvage Wire

How can the vehicle salvage and recycling industry react to the challenges they currently face, the changing future, bring best practices into their business, attract staff, retain talented staff, remain relevant, profitable and successful?

Led by a former FTSE100 board level manager and leader, Salvage Insight is a range of Intensive Management Boot Camp/Hot House options for business owners and managers who want to:

• Measure current value creation, exploring areas of high margin untapped potential. 
• Create compelling customer experiences and value to give clear competitive advantage.
• Market, promote and sell more effectively.
• Improve profitability.
• Manage smarter at every level of the business…and deal with non-performance.
• Determine the most effective light-weight, fleet of foot management structure with strong value based performance metrics.
• Create a Strategic Vision, refresh mission statement and develop a new time-bound Business Plan.

Find out more by contacting Salvage Wire at info@salvagewire.com 

Helping Automotive Recyclers Become Leaders in their Industry

Winning in the vehicle recycling industry

One of the most difficult questions for any business owner to answer is Why are you doing this? Why do you do what you do?

For many this industry is all then know, their business was started by a previous generation and they have inherited their role as owner, leader and CEO from their father, grandfather, or another family member. So why are they doing this job?

For me, my role in this industry is to help others to grow, learn and develop and become leaders in the industry. Leaders who can then influence their colleagues, peers and workers to also grow, learn and develop and become leaders themselves.

In many cases this is not happening, and lots of people are just here for the pay check, or turn up because they have no alternative. 

There is hope for everyone though; if they set their minds to work and plan their future they can do almost anything!

Zig Ziglar in his book Born to Win says that “you were born to win, but to be the winner you were born to be, you have to have a clear plan to get there, this means having specific goals that you are shooting for.”

How many of us have set clear goals for our future, ever? Physical goals, spiritual goals, mental goals, family, financial, personal and career goals?  I suspect that many of us have a few goals on parts of our lives, but not all, and many will not have any goals over any part of their lives.

Once I realised that I needed a clear focus for my working life, a reason to work for example, then everything became much clearer and better defined. I want to help others become leaders in the vehicle recycling industry, and as I put everything I have into that then success has followed.

But how does this help the CEO facing financial problems, or regulatory issues, or lack of employees I hear you ask. It doesn’t give them immediate answers, and may not be swift enough to avoid financial collapse or a court hearing, but it can give them the focus, motivation and reason to go to work, to make a difference and be successful. If they can realise the ‘why’ of their role, understand what it takes to win, and lead others down that winning road then their business will be successful, their employees will thrive, their customers will be happy and satisfied and their profits will grow.

This is a life time of effort, because you never stop getting better, never stop growing, never stop learning, never stop teaching: and as soon as you reach one of your goals you need to set another so you do not lose momentum.

So what should you goals be? And how do you set goals that are achievable?

Goals will be different for different stages of your life, for your personal status( single, married, parent, grandparent), for your employment status (owner, leader, employee, retired), for your financial situation (home owner, renter) and more; separate short and long term goals will be required. 

Time needs to be taken to analyse your current situation and where you would like to be in a year, five years, ten years etc. Then write the goals down - nothing is true until it is written down - and then plan how to achieve each goal. Every goal is just a series of small steps between your current situation and success, breaking them down into chunks of activity makes them much less daunting and gives you a plan to follow.

Week in Words - Poland

Musings, activities and thoughts for the week.

Monday

Normality for a day, teaching technicians on electric and hybrid vehicle technology and how to keep themselves safe whilst working on these vehicles.

These guys are the lifeblood of the vehicle repair industry, a lot of the work they do goes on behind the scenes, is unreported and not very glamorous, but without them we would not be able to get our cars repaired. I salute them every time I visit one of these establishments.

Tuesday

Following a regular chiropractor visit a few hours of admin before jumping in the car to Heathrow for a flight.

The parking experience at Heathrow got me wondering, so many cars all sat stationary for a number of days, what an opportunity for an enterprising business to offer complimentary services for these owners; car wash, detailing, smart repairs and more can all be offered whilst these vehicles are not being used; efficient use of the vehicle keeps everyone happy and productive.

Wednesday

Three car recycling yards in Poland, three diverse operations all working in the same marketplace, all showed the immense investment required for compliant and legal business operations, one yard very conventional, another very modern and the final one a lot of fun - not sure that a drift team is part of normal operations though.

Thursday

Krakow for the 4th annual recycling conference hosted by FORS, the Polish car recycling organisation; hosted in English and Polish with simultaneous translation, FORS attracts delegates from all over the world, plus a large number of senior policy makers and even a member of parliament to the conference and they are not frightened to attack a number of difficult and controversial subjects during the day. So different to what I have seen in the UK in the past 20 years that I have been involved in this industry; we seem to be afraid of confronting our MP’s, policy makers and legislators over issues that are fundamental to our industry and have a significant detrimental impact to our work.

Friday

Catalytic Converter recycler proudly showed the conference delegates around their facility - nothing was off limits including the laboratories and processing plant. Amazing insight into an often overlooked (by the media) process that returns significant value back into the end of life processing, creates no waste, and completes the recycling loop with everything that is removed from the catalyst going back into new products.

Finished off the week with a few hours touring Krakow.