Remote Monitoring
IN THE ICY COLD REGIONS OF NORTHERN
Minnesota and Wisconsin, where 9,000
degree days is a typical seasonal load, a fuel
runout can turn hazardous quickly, and a
delivery company will do almost anything
to keep customers with fuel.
Como Oil & Propane, which has 22,000
accounts for heating oil, propane, diesel and
gasoline, was doing a great job of keeping
its customers warm in 2005, but delivery
efficiency was another matter, according to
Chief Operating Officer Will Norman.
“Runouts are the worst thing that can
happen in a cold region like this for many
reasons. What delivery companies typically
do, and what we had done, was develop a
system that was based entirely on not run-
ning customers out of fuel. That’s a great
way to approach the business, but it’s not
efficient,” he said with a chuckle. Como
made too many deliveries with undersized
drops just to prevent runouts. “We were
going to locations way more often than
necessary, just to be safe.”
Como has nine offices with 100
employees and 32 fuel delivery trucks.
The company also runs a fuel transport
business, Twin Ports Transport.
FINDING THE TOOLS
Management figured there had to be
solutions to help reduce drop frequency
and mileage, so they went looking for new
tools in 2005. “We made a decision to
explore new technology for our industry,”
Norman explained. “We went to the largest
propane convention in the country, the
NPGA Southeastern Conference in Atlanta,
to explore technology. We had made a
decision to look into vehicle routing and
tank monitoring.”
The Pursuit of Efficiency
Como Oil & Propane Uses Remote
Monitoring to Tighten Routes
By John MacKenna
After the convention, Como jumped into
remote monitoring immediately, installing
100 sample tank monitors from two vendors
to gain familiarity with the technology.
“WESROC won out easily,” Norman said.
“They are specifically catering to our industry,
and their equipment is designed to work with
oil and propane. They also went above and
beyond in terms of customer service.”
He added, “We have tried other
providers, and there are some different
applications out there that may be satisfac-
tory for other parts of the country and other
customer bases, but WESROC continues to
be the standard bearer for us.”
Norman hoped that remote monitoring
would help Como update its approach
to delivery. “When it comes to efficient
delivery, we define that as safely delivering
the maximum gallons in the fewest stops,
in the least time, in the fewest miles, at the
lowest cost, while eliminating out-of-fuel
incidents,” Norman said (admitting that he
borrowed the quote). “Remote monitoring
allows us to deliver the fuel only when it’s
needed, therefore saving us a lot on the cost
of delivering fuel.”
EARLY TARGETS
Como’s first targets for remote moni-
toring were the tanks in the company’s
own 17 bulk plants, which are spread
across northeast Minnesota and northwest
Wisconsin. “Our people had to go out in
the morning and read the gauges on 30,000-
gallon tanks,” he said. “With the monitors,
the dispatcher receives an email every
morning with all the tank information. That
immediately made life a lot easier.”
The WESROC tank monitors that
Como uses consist of a gauge reader and a
transmitter that uses radio frequency (RF)
to transmit to a base unit that is hooked up
to a landline or a wireless phone.
In planning the deployment of moni-
tors, Como also targeted customers who
had the most stops, for whatever reason.
“We were able to print a report that showed,
in descending order, which customers
had how many stops, and we attacked the
highest ones first,” because the opportunity
for reducing stops was great, Norman said.
Monitors have been very effective in the
company’s most rural delivery areas. “On the
outskirts of our service area, there is some
incredible land in northeast Minnesota,”
Norman said. “One of our divisions has
just two roads, and one goes 85 miles to
the Canada border. We have deliveries all
the way up that road, and before we were
making that trip two to three days a week,”
Norman said. “Now with monitoring, we can
drop that to just one or maybe two days.”
The vast majority of Como’s monitors
transmit data by telephone landlines, with
about 300 cell phone units added in recent
years. Most of the monitors are only a local
phone call away from a Como office, and
they transmit to the company once per
hour. When the call is long-distance, Como
programs the monitor to transmit just once
per day.
August 2013 • 19
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