How would you like to complete a task that used to take about an hour in seven minutes instead? That’s the game-changing improvement that Watauga County Schools in North Carolina experienced thanks to the Wash Bot from Bitimec.
Transportation Director Jeff Lyons explained that, with four mechanics for about 100 school buses and fleet vehicles, his operation needs to discover all the efficiencies that it can.
Ideally, buses are washed when they are brought in for service. Before the Wash Bot, Lyons relayed, that was a manual process that could take up to one and a half hours.
“Anything we can do to maximize time management, we’ll do,” he declared.
The Bitimec Wash Bot offered a simple and user-friendly solution. The district purchased a mobile wash system, which offers operational flexibility by allowing bus washing to be carried out wherever convenient.
Kelly Rivera, assistant general manager of Carolina Thomas, the state’s Thomas Built Buses dealer, explained that North Carolina school bus operations are discovering new efficiencies with this product. Carolina Thomas has sold 14 Wash Bots to area districts over the last school year, and they continue to grow in popularity.
“The product really works,” Rivera declared.
She added that transportation staff generally would wash their buses more often if it wasn’t such a time- and labor-intensive job.
“If you can arm your employees with some technology, it makes them more efficient and it makes for happier employees,” she said.
The stellar job the Wash Bot performs results in a better-looking bus, which Rivera pointed out can also serve as a good example for students on responsibility and taking pride in one’s district. Lyons agreed that his department wants the quality of the buses to reflect well on the district, a task that his Wash Bot greatly assists with.
Both Lyons and Rivera confirmed that Wash Bots are very user-friendly and easy to operate, with Rivera even conducting demos at seven months pregnant.
Additionally, Carolina Thomas shares data on ROI and shows districts how the product pays for itself.
“Once people see and experience it in real life, it kind of sells itself from there,” Rivera said.
Each Wash Bot purchase comes with full installation, as well as training on operation and troubleshooting done by Carolina Thomas. The dealer sent a service manager to perform this service when Watauga County Schools purchased its unit, which Lyons confirmed was beneficial to his mechanics.
Bitimec staff is knowledgeable about the product and extremely responsive to any questions, Rivera confirmed – though various Wash Bots sold throughout the state have held up for five years with no issues and are still going strong.
Bitimec offers electric fixed bay vehicle washing systems as well as autonomous systems that are either diesel-powered or battery-powered. Learn more here.
