Increasing Cost of Stainless Steel and Other Components
| INDIANAPOLIS — Due to rapidly increasing costs of stainless steel, we are working to contain our costs by introducing Powdercoat Painted Faceplates on all rear load changes machines. Beginning with orders placed on January 1, 2022 – we will provide a powdercoat painted finish on 11-gauge cold-rolled steel faceplates supplied on all rear load change machines. The new painted faceplates will have both a primer coat and an enamel powdercoat painted finish coat in TCI Silver. This powdercoat finish is cost-effective, durable and long-lasting – it’s double coat will withstand being outside in all climates. We understand, and agree, that there are some applications where stainless steel has obvious benefits and there are customers that prefer the stainless steel faceplate. Either for certain environmental factors or purely aesthetics, stainless steel faceplates will still be available as an optional feature, but at a significant price increase. We introduced this new painted faceplate at The Car Wash Show in Las Vegas last month. A lot of people familiar with our machines didn’t notice the difference until we pointed it out. |
Coming Soon… Three-Point Locking System
Another change coming during 2022, will be the incorporation of the Three-point Locking System in all cabinets. We have utilized the T-Handle and Crank screw locks in our machines for many years. In recent comments from customers, we have heard that the T-handles are hard to open, especially in our two-lock doors, like the MC700, MC900 and BX series machines.
The steel locking system will be T-Handle based, and will have the handle “pop out” when unlocked as our current locking system does. But inside we will have two robust, steel bars that latch into brackets welded at the top and bottom of the cabinet, and the third lock point will be level with the T-handle and will assist in self adjusting the tightness of the door fit.
The Three-point Locks will roll out in each model over the course of the year; as we work the design changes into the cabinets.
Currently, the design change will only affect a few models in terms of changing their dimensions. The MC700 Series (MC700, MC720, MC720-DA, MC720-CC) cabinet will change by adding about 4 inches of additional width in order to accommodate all the components we use in the various models. All other models have not required changes in dimensions for the new locking system – but we still have a few models to modify.
We anticipate changing the width of the BX-FRONT LOAD-Glory machines as well.
We will keep customers informed by notifying them at the time of order that their rear load machine is now supplied with a powdercoat painted faceplate, and they can still opt for the stainless steel option, if preferred. This change will not affect any orders accepted by Dec 31, 2021 – which will still get the stainless steel faceplate.
The same will be advised about machines that have significant dimensional changes from the 3-point locking system. In order to make sure that our new design will fit within any wall/floor constraints they might have on site. Otherwise, the 3-point locking system will be the standard feature in machines where the dimensions are unaffected without prior notice.
