You Are Invited

These past few weeks, OARA, ISRI, and URG have been a whirlwind of acronyms. People often ask me if I tire of traveling the auto recycling trade show circuit. My answer: NO. Having come from the Tech world before I fell into the Auto Recycling Industry, developing relationships has been one of the great joys … Read more

This Might Be My First And Last Converter Article

Musings on Converters, Inventory, and Money I’m a buy it now, sell it now kind of guy. When it came to crushed auto hulks, converters, aluminum wheels, cores, and any other commodity, we never had the money or space to hold material and play the market waiting for prices to rise again, nor did I … Read more

Is It Okay To Make A Profit On Earth Day?

Doing the right thing is not mutually exclusive from making a profit. Several events are coming up that remind us of our obligation to improve the quality of life and reduce the impacts of modernization and industrialization on our planet: REMAN Day (Friday, April 14), Earth Day (Saturday, April 22), and World Environment Day (Monday, … Read more

Core Is Not A Four Letter Word

There is no question that COVID has reshaped the labor pool in some not-so-business-friendly ways. Attracting and retaining qualified employees has become Job #1 for many recyclers, taking precious time away from acquiring quality vehicle inventory and running the business at peak efficiency. Somehow, through this timeframe, some recyclers have seen “cores” as an extra … Read more

Inventory — The Gift That Keeps On Giving

An employer advertises for an Inventory person, and the job description says, “For this Inventory position, we need someone responsible”. An applicant replies, “I am the right person for this position. In my last inventory job, every time parts were missing or in the wrong place, they said I was responsible”. Many people might argue … Read more

Cores Are A Contact Sport

Recovering Cores – Five Contact Points Let’s go back to the basics of Cores: Identification, Recovery, QC, Packing. To delve further into the recovery of cores, let’s identify the five contact points for optimal core recovery within your existing workflow. Vehicle Inventory – Unlike in the past when your parts puller or dismantler was the … Read more

It Makes No Never Mind

I found the phrase “It Makes No Never Mind” in an article printed in “Discover MAINE,” a monthly magazine highlighting the Midcoast Region of the state we lovingly refer to as Vacationland. While not the official state motto, Maine is called Vacationland due to its natural beauty that has lured vacationers for decades as a … Read more

April Is A Month of Celebrations

So Much To Celebrate! Let’s all take a moment this month to celebrate these two monumental days in our industry. Earth Day and Reman Day represent the best of what our Industry stands for; companies who don’t just talk the talk of environmental action, but recyclers who by definition “walk the walk” in a profit … Read more

“Yankin” Takata Airbags In 2022 The Takata Airbag Recall Mission Continues

Did You Think The Takata Recall Was Over? I’ve talked with Recyclers recently about whether the Takata Recall was over. With recalled auto parts, the more parts that are repaired and/or destroyed, the fewer VIN’s available for repair/destruction. While 2019 was the pinnacle for the Auto Recycling Industry for recovered airbags, we are still recovering … Read more

Sloppy Core Packing Results in Lower Profits

Create an area that is well lit and install some racking to stage your cores. Do You “Pull and Pack” Your Cores There is an inherent issue with packing your core box as parts are being pulled. It may not be obvious as you have probably “always done it this way,” but light-duty cores often … Read more

Professionalize Your Core Team

Thinking Like The Big Boys I have had the good fortune to work for large billion dollar companies and small family-owned enterprises, including my own and RAS. One thing that sticks out to me is the need for Professionalizing people and functions. From the old days, small, family-run businesses didn’t like titles because they felt … Read more

Core Packing 101

Life Lesson. My wife and I recently moved from Massachusetts to New Hampshire. After 34 years in the same house, you accumulate a wealth of personal belongings. Priority #1 was to eliminate non-essentials so as not to bog down the moving process. Priority #2 was to ensure that the good stuff gets there in one … Read more

Who is Your Marie Kondo of Cores?

Organization and Process are the keys to an Effective Core Program Introducing Marie Kondo Have you heard of Marie Kondo, founder of konmari.com? Take some time this month and google search personal organizing. I think you will be impressed at the empire she has built, helping regular folks organize their lives. Why? When we organize, … Read more

Boost Your Core and Catalytic Converter Profitability

NEW “QC Counts” Seminar Debuts at URG 2021 What does Quality Control (QC) have to do with Cores and Catalytic Converters? QC has everything to do with Cores and Catalytic Converters as these are substantial revenue streams. Our #1 priority of this Seminar is to change the way you think of these products. Without a … Read more

Awesome Job! Your Business has a Three Star Google Rating!!

Who Doesn’t Look At Google Reviews? Now that I have your attention, let’s talk about Google Reviews this month. I travel for RAS, so I use Google Maps to look for different services; hotels, restaurants, etc., and, yes, Auto Recycling facilities. I can’t help myself. I love this industry and want all businesses to prosper … Read more

Another Dead Due To Exploding Takata Airbag

A lot of things have taken a back seat due to COVID-19. In some cases, Recyclers have pushed the removal of Takata Airbags to the back burner as they work through staffing issues. We are trying to communicate this month because these lethal airbags are still in circulation, as witnessed by the news of another … Read more

Back to Basics — Defective Takata Airbags 101

It looks like we are turning the corner from Winter and the Pandemic. How do I know? Airbag shipments have been increasing. However, I have been getting calls from Recyclers saying that someone new has taken over the airbag program. In many cases, the new folks are not getting the full training experience. Our Software … Read more

Who Says Money Doesn’t Grow on Trees…

Many quotes make you think about the value of money. This is especially true when Auto Recyclers pay exorbitant prices for inventory and associated fees. Naturally, if the cost of goods continues to escalate, you must strive to extract more value from inventory. Money may not grow on trees, but in the auto recycling world, … Read more

GM Recalls 5.9M Vehicles to Replace Takata Airbags

Why are these Takata Airbags being recalled now? It seems ironic that we were just alerted to a Volvo Airbag Recall. NHTSA has concluded that the GM inflators are subject to the same issues; moisture, temperature, and age making them vulnerable as a safety hazard. GM had petitioned NHTSA over the last four years to … Read more

Airbag Recalls Continue to Make News

Is the New Volvo Recall part of the Recall Bounty Program? You have probably seen the recent headlines regarding the new Volvo airbag recall. The Volvo recall announced in November pertains to airbags that could rupture, spewing metal fragments into the passenger compartment. As with Takata airbags, the propellent degrades over time when exposed to … Read more

Summer 2020 Takata Airbag Round Up

FAQ – Are you still paying a bounty on Honda airbags? I’m not getting as many hits on my Honda’s. Since the RAS Airbag Recovery program began, the Automakers have frequently added and redacted VIN’s from our database. The primary reason for redactions is that the vehicle has been repaired so the automaker is able … Read more

Heard About the 21/90 Rule?

CREATING NEW HABITS WHILE SHEDDING OLD HABITS IS CRITICAL TO BUSINESS AND TAKATA AIRBAGS Creatures of Habit We all know about Bad Habits because we tell ourselves that we will change some of them in our New Year Resolutions. Some of us are successful at stopping bad habits but it usually doesn’t happen without starting … Read more

Bye Bye Guest Login — Hello CorePro for Recalls

History When the Takata Airbag Recovery Program launched in 2015, our IT Department swung into action to create software for recyclers to process airbags. However, they recognized that there were customers enrolled in CorePro submitting cores and airbags, and recyclers who only wanted to process their airbags. So two logins were put on the same … Read more

Productive Communication Skills for Virtual Meetings

With the surge of online-virtual meetings comes a need to review our communication skills. When the novelty of the first live virtual meeting is over, most of us would agree that while helpful, it might not have been the most productive time spent. This technology is not going away anytime soon, so it is best … Read more

Be a Lifesaver

The good news for our Auto Scrap and Shredder customers is that they are not encumbered with “parts inventory” issues. Vehicles arrive at your facility and trigger a very systematic process to minimize labor while maximizing profit on the vehicles journey to the baler or shredder. Our Takata Airbag Recovery Program fits best at the … Read more

Maximizing Bounty for Full Service Recyclers

NEW “RECALL CART” SIMILAR TO COREPRO WITHOUT CORES Our Technology Department here at RAS deserves a lot of credit for the success of the Recall Program. Kudos to Dave, Don, Tom, Deb, and Michael for all that they do. You don’t see their faces at the trade shows, but their knowledge and expertise are visible … Read more

VIN Expansion

The Takata Airbag Recall has presented challenges and opportunities to Auto Recyclers. In the beginning, most Recyclers were not eager to jump in. Anytime you introduce a new concept, it takes time to formulate procedures, educate people, and identify the “Why” of the program. The “Why” is different for everyone. Many Recyclers see the opportunity … Read more

2019 Air Bag Recall Wrap-Up

Holidays are indeed a time of reflection and gratitude. Here at RAS, we are humbled by the efforts of the industry to rally behind #YANKTHATBAG and produce our best results ever! We are all blessed to be part of such a great industry where our competitors are also partners. Relationships stand the test of time, … Read more

Don’t Yank These Bags

After 22 months of saying #yankthatbag, we finally have a reason to say, “Don’t Yank These Bags”. Of course, we are referring to Deployed Airbags. Maybe you haven’t heard?? Shortly after we released our YAPP (Yard Airbag App) for removing Takata airbags from vehicles, we pursued the idea of using our YAPP to process Deployed … Read more

Auto Recyclers Save Lives

We have reached a milestone in the recovery of Defective Takata Airbags; The successful recovery and destruction of 500K airbags. We don’t know how many of that amount could have resulted in death or serious injury. More importantly, it recognizes the efforts our industry has put forth to ensure the driving public that Auto Recyclers … Read more

Boost Airbag Bounty Revenue with External Labor

Throughout Paul’s amazing 29 years in the automotive recycling industry, he has never seen issues concerning labor become as prominent as today. During our travels, we are constantly hearing the same mantra “It’s hard to attract and retain good employees.” This shortage of labor not only affects larger recyclers, but also the Mom & Pop … Read more

Announcement: Non-Bounty NHTSA Alerts

YMM System based on Year, Make Model — Focus on BMW, Dodge/Chrysler, VW/Audi The RAS Bounty program for defective Takata Airbags is based on VIN verification of vehicles by the Recycler. We provide the tools and software to verify those VIN’s against our recall buyback database. The industry is to be applauded for a significant … Read more

Ain’t no Cure for the Summertime Blues

In the 1960’s song “Summertime Blues”, a son laments about all the things he wants to do over the Summer like going on a date, taking out the family car for a Sunday ride, or taking a fun vacation. Each time he is chastised for either not working hard enough, being too young to vote, … Read more