The Remarketing Industry Goes Green

By Jennifer Reed, Auto Group Editor
September 10, 2008

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SAN DIEGO — The impact of green initiatives, globalization and gas prices on wholesale markets in North America and throughout the world is far-reaching.

Top executives from Manheim, ADESA and OPENLANE will gather at the National Remarketing and Used-Car Expo in San Diego for a panel called Green, Globalization & Gas to address this growing awareness and the technology and more that go hand-in-hand with it.

The conference will be held Oct. 22 to 24 at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego.

More specifically, the panel will feature David Munnikhuysen, vice president of best practices at Manheim; Warren Byrd, executive vice president of corporate development at ADESA; and Nagi Palle, vice president of analytics at OPENLANE.

"Our industry has an opportunity to take a leadership role in driving awareness around the importance of ‘going green.' Together, we touch a vast variety of industries and suppliers, and with everyone involved, we can make significant contributions to our communities and our environment," explained David Munnikhuysen.

"At Manheim, we are committed to doing our part to use and waste less, deliver more and operate as a responsible employer, partner, provider and citizen," he continued.

Meanwhile, over at ADESA, Byrd took a more focused view, saying, "I'm responsible for the construction and renovation of our facilities, and one thing we do when we build new facilities is that we're very conscious of the environment in terms of the way we layout our facilities and preserve our environment. This includes the way we build our facilities with parking lots and all that."

For instance, the company reclaims wastewater and treats it before releasing, it also has the top equipment installed in its shops to meet and exceed air emission requirements and more.

"As a general statement, we're very environmentally conscious in our construction and operations. In Dallas, one of our new facilities, we'll be LEED certified. And I'll talk about that on the panel," he added.

Returning to a broad view, Palle indicated, "The current state of the economy and rising gas prices is having an impact on our industry and shifting the way remarketers are doing business. Regardless of what industry you are in, green is in. For the auto remarketing industry in particular, dealers, consignors and transporters can contribute to improving our environment and become more aware of green measures that can be taken.

"As an online auction company, we are fortunate that our business model is inherently ‘green.' By providing a resource that enables buyers and sellers to remain at their dealerships/offices and avoid the costs of gas, we are also avoiding the unnecessary amount of pollution that is emitted while traveling to physical auctions. Even by replacing a couple trips to a physical auction with an online auto auction transaction, you can make a difference," he continued.

Palle went on to say, "As our industry continues to become more informed about ways in which we can make a positive impact on the environment, I'm hoping that measures will be taken to do so. We all need to reduce our carbon footprint, and adopting an online remarketing strategy into a dealership is a great first step. I'm glad that the National Remarketing Conference is providing our industry with a forum to discuss these important issues, and I look forward to participating in the ‘Green, Globalization and Gas' panel. The more that the industry gets involved and attends important events like these, the more of a difference we can all make.

To register for NRC or view a full agenda, visit www.autoremarketingconferences.com.

Early registration is $795. Discounted rooms at Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego are available at $269 per night until Oct. 7. To reserve your room, call (800) 233-1234 and use the group code G-CPUN.

Auction/Wholesale