For more than 25 years, Matt Webster has led the charge to market Rotary Lift and other Vehicle Service Group (VSG) brand products. As vice president of global business development and marketing, Webster has traveled the world researching global vehicle service markets and setting up sales organizations for VSG’s eight vehicle lifting and collision repair brands, including Rotary Lift, Revolution Lift, Forward Lift and Chief Automotive Technologies. He also manages the company’s new product development activities. Most recently, his team has introduced the new Rotary Lift SmartLift Trio inground lift superstructure and the innovative Y-Lift alignment and general service lifts. Webster joined Rotary Lift in 1984. He was promoted to his current position from vice president of sales and marketing in 2008.
In this executive interview, Webster discusses how changes in vehicle design are impacting vehicle service equipment in North America and abroad. He also gives a sneak peek into new technology Rotary Lift will introduce this fall at the Automotive Aftermarket Products Expo (AAPEX) in Las Vegas.
How have vehicle lifts changed through the years?
The vehicles themselves have changed dramatically. Today’s vehicles are more reliable and higher quality than the cars and trucks of the past. As a result, the work that shops are doing has shifted. Although mechanical repairs to engines and other moving parts of the car were once common, now technicians spend more of their time on diagnostic work and electronic repairs. Routine maintenance is becoming a larger driver of service than mechanical repair. The move toward hybrid and electric vehicle also comes with its own set of service requirements.
Manufacturers of lifts and other vehicle service equipment are charged with finding ways to help shops meet these new challenges in efficient, productive ways. For example, car manufacturers have done some really cool things with aerodynamics to improve fuel economy. But the resulting cars tend to be low-profile, with ground effects and other features that can make picking them up with traditional lifts challenging or impossible.
In response, we’ve developed lifts that offer rubber adapters, low-profile arms and expanded drive-through clearance, while providing more undercar access for removing undercarriage shields. Similarly, the trend toward mini cars with short wheelbases and narrower tread widths led us to design a new alignment lift that can be used to perform four-wheel alignments on the smallest of vehicles.
The best-selling lift model in the world is the two-post lift. Why would shop owners need anything else?
The two-post lift is the most common lift sold around the world because it is the most economical way to get a vehicle in the air and it is universally available. However, in North America we are seeing a trend back toward installing inground lifts because of their considerable productivity, efficiency and “green” advantages. Inground lifts have a smaller footprint than surface lifts, so you can fit 12 inground lifts in the same amount of space as 11 surface two-post lifts.
Alternatively, you can fit 11 inground lifts in a smaller overall shop, for significant upfront savings in construction costs and ongoing utility savings. Inground lifts like our SmartLift increase technician productivity because they’re easier to work around and provide better access to the entire vehicle being serviced. Of course, for quick service and specialty applications, like alignments, shops may want to install a drive-on lift or two, like the Y-Lift or a four-post lift.
You’re responsible for expanding Rotary Lift’s presence in new and emerging markets. What challenges do shop owners in other countries face and how do they address those challenges?
The low labor rates in many emerging markets mean that shops are balancing the need for investing in new equipment against the relatively low investment in additional labor. For example, in some markets labor is just $1 per hour. Shops in those countries are unlikely to invest in labor-saving equipment like automatic car washes, because they can easily afford to pay employees to hand wash the vehicles.
Shop productivity is important in these countries, but for different reasons than in the U.S. Here, shops are focused on attracting and retaining as many customers as possible. In many emerging markets, new car sales far exceed existing service capacity. Shops in those countries are searching for ways to handle the enormous increase in service growth. For them, servicing more cars per hour is critical just to keep up.
What is your team working on now?
The new product development team has spent countless hours over the last two years in the field, talking with shop owners and technicians to find out what they need to help them do their jobs better. As a result, we think we have found the solutions to some of the most difficult “pain points” technicians deal with every day when using vehicle lifts — regardless of the equipment manufacturer.
We’ve developed new technology that addresses many unmet needs that will enable technicians to be more productive when working with and around vehicle lifts. We will introduce this game-changing technology at AAPEX in November. Be sure to come to Booth 2457 to see it for yourself.
What does the future hold for vehicle lifts?
I believe lift manufacturers are going to have to focus on a new set of criteria to effectively compete. Current lift features, like capacity, column orientation, adapter styles and paint finish are tired attributes that no longer truly address customer needs. Successful equipment manufacturers are going to focus on things that are important to technicians and can substantially increase technician productivity around the world, such as speed, simplicity, versatility and ergonomics.
For more information about Rotary Lift, visit www.rotarylift.com or call (800) 640-5438.
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