ORLANDO and OCOEE, Fla. -

On a hot, sunny September afternoon in central Florida, Daniel Zendano of BMW Financial Services and Manheim Orlando account coordinator Edna Mack are out on the auction’s expansive lot.

Zendano is making sure his company’s consignment is ready to run in an upcoming sale at the auction, taking care of any final touches before the cars run down the lane the next day.

And these days, he’s got time to do this and not be in a rush about it.

There’s no log-jam on the lot and no waiting in a long line to get the cars photographed.

The auction’s Enhanced Vehicle Imaging Suite is making a big difference when it comes to efficiency.

“It was a well-oiled machine before the EVIS building,” Zendano said. “It’s even better now.”

Walk in to the imaging suite to which Zendano is referring, and one might even mistake the white background and elevated lights for a Hollywood commercial studio.

While that sort of magic may be more akin to the nearby theme parks, what’s happening at Manheim Orlando — and, arguably, all over the auction business — is all about efficiency and exposure, plus providing buyers with more photos and fostering greater confidence.

Manheim’s Enhanced Vehicle Imaging is now available at 22 of the company’s locations, with Orlando most recently getting the largest state-of-the-art system, the company said.

According to a fact sheet provided by the auction, the double-bay booth can accommodate split imaging, meaning two photographers can split the 15 to 18 pictures for each car, thus doubling the capacity. It takes only six-and-a-half minutes to photograph the exteriors and interiors of four vehicles, and it’s designed so that it has room to fit a vehicle of any size.

The booth includes computer-controlled LED lights, sealed rooms to prevent bleed from outside sources, plus remote-control, high-speed doors and curtains as well as Android-controlled cameras.

The Orlando location launched the EVIS building on Aug. 3, and since then, has seen the speed in which it is able to get cars photographed has increased.

Previously, said Manheim Orlando assistant general manager John Eriksen, the auction was operating a photo booth within its lanes and might have gotten somewhere in the neighborhood of 70 or 80 vehicles photographed on a good day.

With the dedicated EVIS facility — located just outside the detail shop, which helps drive a quicker work flow — the number is now in the triple-figures. For example, there was one day when Manheim Orlando had several hours of training in the photo facility but still managed to photograph 120 vehicles (with 1,752 pictures, by the way). And that was early on.

In the week-and-a-half leading up to Auto Remarketing’s Sept. 21 interview with the auction’s management, Manheim Orlando has ramped up the booth’s productivity “to where we’ve been waiting on cars to come to the photo booth because of how much more efficient we’ve gotten,” Eriksen said.

This is just one of several examples of the remarketing industry blending technology with the in-lane and online worlds.

There’s a company emerging out of southern California called ConditionReports.com that offers software-as-a-service cloud technology to produce, publish and host online condition reports.

Those reports include everything from high-definition photos and damage information to paint-meter readings and OEM-specific details, the company said on its website.

Brian Schear, the president of ConditionReports.com, said the company can license the software to auctions or to OEMs for upstream sales. The company will also license it to rental car companies for things like managing inventory and remarketing.

Additionally, it can provide “boots on the ground” to physically conduct the reports. The company is currently working with four Manheim facilities in California, Schear said.

And a technology-heavy approach is not limited to the corporate auction companies. Independents, like the team at Dealers Auto Auction of the Southwest, have made it a big focus, as well.

In a column written this spring that was recently posted on Auto Remarketing’s website, DAASW vice president Jim DesRochers emphasized that all lanes at his auction include simulcast sales, and there is a condition report and multiple images with each vehicle, plus video presentations on some cars.

The auction also went completely paperless this spring, plus released a mobile app that, among other features, includes 100-percent simulcast capabilities, paperless gate releases and automatic bidder badge assignment to a smartphone when entering the auction.

And there’s even been collaboration between the corporate and independent entities.

For example, it was announced in September that KAR Auction Services subsidiary Openlane has agreed to build a private label website for Auction Edge, utilizing Openlane’s proprietary technology platform.

The EDGE Marketplace, the name of the private-label website created for Auction Edge, has been in the works since early last year. Auction Edge plans to offer it to independent auctions early next year.

“We are honored that Auction Edge has chosen Openlane to create this online selling tool for its almost 200 member auctions,” Peter Kelly — president of KAR’s Digital Services Group, which includes Openlane — said in a news release.

“These auctions will now be able to sell their vehicles on the industry’s premier private label platform,” Kelly continued.

Auction Edge president Scott Finkle added: “A private label platform has been in our plans for some time. Utilizing Openlane’s technology is a win-win-win for the Auction Edge auctions, their selling consignors and their buying dealers.”

This story appears in the Oct. 15 issue of Auto Remarketing as part of a special section on Digital Trends, Tools & Strategies in the wholesale market.