tomer interaction, and an operating style that felt sim- ilar to how the majority of UK and Irish yards operate. Again, a full tour allowed for lots of questions asked and answered, with plenty of information to digest at a later time.

Lacy Auto Parts, Inc. provided yet another perspective on the best that the U.S. has to offer – a three-genera- tion family business that started in 1940, and is now run by Matt, Graham, and Andrew Lacy, the grandsons of the founder. Most recently, the business moved to a large site near Charles City, Va. We were all amazed by the expanse of the site, the landscaping out front, and that the appearance from the road did not reflect an auto recy- cling facility at all. This state-of-the-art facility continues the legacy, and we were impressed how the team at Lacy Auto Parts was developing new strategies, raising quality, and utilizing new electronic methods to con- tinue their development to provide the highest quality service for all types of used vehicle parts. A quick switch of states found the group at an overnight stop in Goldsboro, North Carolina and a visit to Wayne Auto Salvage, Inc. Founded in August 1970, Wayne Auto Salvage is now located on a 25-acre site and they combine a full- service and self-service yard into one operation with a dismantling and crushing facility separating the two sides of the yard. The facility is operated by Dale Bevell, and founded by his father Gary Bevell. A full tour revealed vehicles entering, going through and exiting their process. Like the other yards we visited, Wayne Auto is a very efficient, clean, well-run facility. Each evening of the trip the whole group could be found in a restaurant going over each days’ events, the yards visited and what had been learnt.

Differences Defined Two of the major “take aways” that our group had

were regarding Cores and Warranties. All of the businesses visited in the U.S. were much more advanced in how they dealt with vehicle cores, especially adding core charges to the sale of used parts, and the up-sell of extended warranties. Neither of these are a strong focus for UK recyclers currently. We were also very impressed by the facilities available in the full-service yards for packaging and despatching of the parts. This reflects the very high standards that all yards have for customer experience, making certain that the parts arrive on-time, with no additional dam- age, and in a manner that gives customers confidence to return to that recycler for future purchases. The U.S. has a lot to teach the UK here. We did realize that our yard management software is

more advanced on the inte- gration with eBay when sell- ing parts, so I am sure that we can return a favor or two. One visiting auto recycler who brought along two of his staff said, “Over the course of the trip we are re-defining how the busi- ness should be run and updating all the processes we currently follow.” Another touring recycler said, “My staff will be hiding when I get back to work on Monday because they know what I have learned this week will mean changes.” However, this was just the beginning of the inspiration as we reached the 72nd Annual ARA Convention & Expo in Charlotte, North Carolina, to join the rest of the global auto recycling community gathered for the annual trek.

We Will Be Back We would like to thank our

hosts at M&M Auto Parts, Chesterfield Auto Parts, Lacy Auto Parts and Wayne Auto Salvage for their hos- pitality, kindness and openness to share during our visit. We offer an invitation to them all to come and visit our businesses the next time they are in the UK. One final quote from another member of the tour, “Visiting the yards along the way to Charlotte and the conference itself has given me a wealth of knowledge and ideas on how to take my business and yard forward, both in sell- ing quality recycled parts and offering a

better customer experience along with improving my workplace environmentally and for the good of my employees and customers.” Now, I call that Job Done!

Andy Latham is Managing Director of Salvage Wire, an auto recycling con- sultancy for safety, ethics, and profitability. He arranged this U.S. yard tour.

November-December 2015 | Automotive Recycling 53

Chesterfield Auto Parts

Wayne Auto Salvage

M&MStafford

Lacy Auto Parts