BOTTOM LINE BOOSTER

Is It a CoreOr a J

One part, two views.

The difference can be bottom-line changing. BY MICHELLE KEADLE-TAYLOR

ust as spring brings a new look to an old landscape, taking a fresh look at our business can be inspiring, invigorating and innovative and put more money in our pockets as well. Benny Cunningham, co-owner of Cunningham Brothers Auto Parts and co-founder of Automotive Commodity Exchange (ACE) says that a change in the way auto recyclers see their cores can add significant amounts of money to their bottom lines.

“The biggest hurdle that auto recyclers have to over- come is to change the culture of their existing opera- tions and the way they handle cores,” said Cunning- ham. “They have to change their perception from see- ing cores with a negative connotation, such as some- thing dirty or junk, etc. to seeing them as one of their prized parts. When they change their perceptions to view cores as a commodity, they will automatically change the way they handle and store cores.”

There are several differences that determine if a part is seen as a core or a commodity to a recycler. They are then treated accordingly.

For example, cores are sold by family (i.e. 4L60, 4 R100, 6L90) whereas commodities are sold by part number. (i.e., part number 4L2P-7000-BC). Cores are sold on the lowest dollar average vs. commodities which are sold with the highest return. The typical core is thrown in a pile, dirty, rusted because they were left out in the rain and can take four hours or so to unload from the truck. They aren’t identified by Interchange number and often have broken pieces due to rough han- dling. On the other hand, commodi- ties are clean, organized neatly in boxes, can be unloaded off the truck in 30 minutes, arrive without broken pieces, and have interchange num- bers.

Cunningham Brothers started a core program in 2010 that forever changed the way they treated cores and, as such, they became commodi- ties. Their computer system auto- matically adds a core charge to the invoice. The core charge works like returning glass coke bottles used to at stores. When the buyer returns the core, he or she gets their core charge

46 Automotive Recycling | May-June 2015