The benefits of fuel distribution software go beyond capturing gallons dispensed

September 17, 2018 by admin Leave a Comment

The benefits of using fuel distribution software for fleet fuel deliveries go well beyond just accurate accounting for gallons delivered. Yes, using software allows the driver to capture correct gallons delivered which results in reduced billing errors. Additional benefits include:
– Less driver time on site – the driver does not have to return to the meter to record gallons dispensed into each vehicle or tank. The software captures the gallons dispensed automatically so the driver can remain at the end of the hose and quickly move from asset to asset.
– Better recording of gallons delivered to each asset – By barcode labeling the assets to be filled, the software automatically records the gallons dispensed into each asset. Rather than invoicing only for total gallons at a stop, you are able to provide an itemization of gallons dispensed into every asset.
– Electronically capture the customer’s signature – This allows printing the signature on the Proof of Delivery and server-side storage for later recall.
– Print a detailed receipt at the customer location – the detailed receipt will show the asset, totalizer values, gallons dispensed, and the product.
– Prevent dispensing incorrect product – If the product does not match the configuration for the asset, the driver will be notified and prevented from dispensing the incorrect product.

What benefits does fuel distribution software provide to me as a business owner?

The business owner will see efficiency and monetary benefits from reduced driver time to fill assets. The customer experience will be improved as fuel distribution software allows new ways to service the customer. The software can automatically send an email to the customer when the driver is on the way to their location, provide a detailed list of gallons dispensed by asset, and a host of other ways to improve the customer experience.
Using bulk fuel distribution software also shortens the order to cash cycle. Once an order is completed, the data is quickly sent back to the server, which allows invoices to be sent immediately. There is no need to transcribe gallons delivered from the drivers order sheets.
Contact us to learn more about the benefits of fuel distribution software.

Lubricants distribution software for iOS

September 5, 2018 by admin Leave a Comment

The goRoam Lubricants distribution software for iOS app for lubricants delivery has all the capabilities of our Android app for bulk and packaged lubes distribution, including barcode scanning, electronic signature capture, wireless dispatch and LCR-II meter integration.

goRoam iOS app – start trip for lubricants delivery

goRoam iOS app – list of orders and stops for lubricants distribution

goRoam iOS app – signature capture for lubes delivery

Lubricants distributors are looking to iOS for a few reasons. One of the top 3 lubes manufacturers released a contamination app that only runs on iOS. In addition, many distributors are providing drivers with company iPhones for phone, email and texting.

Whether you use the iOS or the Android version of goRoam, it makes a statement on customer service when drivers do everything electronically and then hand the iPhone to the customer for their electronic signature, printed and emailed delivery receipt for Proof of Delivery (POD).

Key capabilities of the goRoam iOS app include:

Barcode scanning of tanks to confirm the product compatibility, which eliminates the chance of contamination or cross-fills.
Wireless dispatch – drivers get and send realtime updates on orders, loads, GPS, inventory, etc.
Electronic dispatch and integration with route optimization services like Ortec’s ORD and OIR
Electronic signature capture – customers sign the iOS device
Realtime inventory tracking of the truck and/or trailer
Workflow specific to bulk and package product delivery.
Bulk delivery with LCR-II meter integration or mechanical mode without meter control, but still using barcode scanning and validation
Mobile iOS receipt printing to 4″ thermal printers like the Zebra ZQ520 or QL Series
Mapping and directions (including real time traffic) using the native mapping app. On iOS, we use Apple Maps. On Android, goRoam uses Google Maps.
Store and forward, so the app keeps working even if you are out of wifi or cellular range
Super fast and easy to use. Quick driver learning curve.

In addition to the features listed above, our Q3 2018 release will include:

Commercial truck routes with restrictions for height, length, max weight, weight per axle and HazMat (e.g. explosives, flammable, inhalants, caustic).
2-way driver messaging. Driver chat with dispatchers.

The Lubricants distribution software for iOS app has all the features of our Android app.

If you are trying to decide whether to use iOS or Android, you should consider the following factors:

Our Android device has wifi tuning specific to truck hotspots and metered delivery. We’ve worked with our device manufacturer to configure the device to not roam or search for different AP’s (Access Points), change the wifi drop threshold, reduce the channel search and times to aggressively reconnect to the truck network, manage the power settings to maintain high connectivity, etc. iOS devices do NOT support changing fine grained wifi setting like you may use in a warehouse or industrial setting.
Android has a built-in barcode scanner. If you scan a lot of assets (tanks, vehicles, equipment), the built-in barcode scanner is easier to use because we have a pistol grip that helps aim the scanner.
Android has a higher degree of ruggedness – designed to work in harsh conditions like rain or snow.
iOS is a great solution for lubricants distribution where you don’t scan a lot of assets. You may only scan 3-4 tanks per delivery with lubricants where with fleet fueling (wet hosing), you may scan 100 assets per customer.
iOS is great if you want to support manufacturer’s iOS apps for cross-filling or contamination tracking, and they only run on iOS.
iOS is great if you have a mixed fleet and want to do lubricants distribution software with iOS and fuels distribution with Android.

3 Tips for better fuels and lubes customer service

September 18, 2017 by admin Leave a Comment

Send a powerful message!

It seems simple, but a notification email that order #9987 will arrive between 8:15 am – 11:00 am tomorrow sends a powerful message about your company’s logistics.

It also says you care about customer service.

Here are three easy ways to improve customer service for fuels and lubes distributors while sending a powerful message about your company:

Send pre-delivery emails with the scheduled delivery window
Capture electronic signatures at point of delivery
Email POD (Proof of Delivery) receipts with detailed filling info

A further customer service differentiator is capturing an electronic signature on a mobile device for proof of delivery. When top logistics carriers make a delivery, customers expect a barcode scanner and signature capture. A key benefit when customers call your customer service is saying..“Tom signed @ 11:01 am, here is his signature, GPS of the delivery, the tank readings and list of filled assets”.

Emailing a delivery receipt with all of the delivery details makes an immediate and lasting impression within minutes of signing for the delivery.

Examples:

* Pre-delivery notification

* Signature capture

* Delivery receipt

POD delivery receipt with detailed unit/asset filling info

New video for Android mobile metered delivery

March 20, 2017 by admin Leave a Comment

It’s been a while since we’ve posted, but that doesn’t mean we havent been busy! We’ve been actively rolling out our Android app for metered delivery and wanted to post a quick video to show how fast and easy it is for fdrivers to make deliveries.

The app works the same for metered lubricants and supports electronic as well as mechanical meters. You can even use a truck that has a combination of electronic and mechanical meters.

The driver selects a product to deliver and picks the meter they are using. The driver scans a barcode and goRoam validates the product (to prevent cross pumping/contanimation). Once validated, we wirelessly open the LCR solenoid (valve) to allow the driver to pump. The driver sees the meter values in realtime on their Android device – no more going back and forth to the truck to record meter values.

The driver can take a picture of assets or BOL’s (Bill of Lading) to attach to the order. They can add products or services such as demurrage or splits, and get an electronic signature from the customer…just like FedEx or UPS.

Once complete, goRoam can print a receipt and/or email a PDF receipt so the customer has an electronic document of all assets fueled and their quantities within a couple of minutes of completing the delivery!

Customer Service Impressions – What your delivery system says to your customers

February 22, 2016 by admin Leave a Comment

“Quality in a service or product is not what you put into it. It is what the customer gets out of it.” – Peter Drucker

Do your competitors offer a better delivery service? Do you show appreciation of your customers’ business in all facets of customer interaction – from order entry to scheduling, dispatch, delivery and invoicing. For distributors, your delivery drivers are the face of your company. Your drivers are who your customers see each day.

The impression your drivers make is key to your customer service.

Paper-based deliveries involve manual processes that are time consuming, prone to errors and costly to manage. While many companies still use paper tickets, imagine going to Walmart or Target and getting a receipt with hand written quantities for thousands of dollars of products.

Compare that to a delivery where you sign a mobile device and get a receipt printed on the spot. The following are examples of what best in class distribution companies use:

A handheld device to sign for their delivery, just like UPS and FedEx.
A barcode scanner to quickly and accurately confirm what you deliver
A printed receipt with your logo, transaction details, the person’s name who signed and their signature
An email with a PDF copy of their delivery receipt
Advanced email notifications of a scheduled delivery with the estimated arrival time
A web portal that let’s them view and export deliveries to Excel. For metered customers, they can filter transactions by individual tank or truck.
Get invoiced immediately with orders sent electronically to your invoicing application

If you would like to learn how BizSpeed helps deliver best in class customer service, contact us!

Updates to barcode fleet fueling

January 27, 2015 by admin Leave a Comment

We released an update to goRoam for metered delivery to support fixed fueling dispensers such as Gilbarco, Wayne and Gasboy. The system is ideal for private fleet operators, rental car companies, auto dealers and vehicle manufacturers who need to scan a VIN and preset a quantity based on the vehicle being fueled. For instance, if you need to fuel a small passenger car to 2 gals to turn the ‘fuel light’ off, we will authorize the pump for that amount. However, a larger SUV may need the amount set to 3 or 4 gallons.

goRoam allows you to ‘request more’ if you hit the preset quantity and the vehicle still requires more fuel. An example would be when the 2 gals did not turn off the fuel light, so you want an extra .5 gallons to see if that will turn it off.

Alternatively, you may fuel fleets where you need to authorize the size of the fuel tank (e.g. 18.6 gals) and simply record the quantity fueled. You may fuel less than the authorized amount since there is already some product in the vehicle. When the driver hangs the hose on the dispenser, the transaction is closed and the quantity fueled is sent to our web based inventory system.

In all cases, the quantities are read directly from the fuel dispenser.

In all cases, the quantities are read directly from the fuel dispenser, and the fuel dispenser is locked until the barcode scanner validates the vehicle and driver.

goRoam can integrate with existing applications through our web service API. This allows you to provide your own logic and authorization for each vehicle/driver. Or, you can use goRoam with our web application to manage and track the quantities. As fueling transactions are processed, the inventory in the tank is updated as shown in the screen below.

The case for electronic versus handwritten (paper) delivery tickets

July 15, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

If you’re still using paper tickets for your fuel delivery system, you’re at risk of losing your competitive advantage to companies that have switched to paperless ticketing measures for on-site fueling.

The hidden costs of paper delivery tickets

Your employees are used to writing out paper tickets. Since they have come to view this as a routine part of the job, they may not think about the time it takes to write out the ticket or the likelihood of introducing errors into the system by writing the wrong information. Paperless tickets aren’t just a way to be eco-conscious, they save time and effort and are a critical part of streamlining operations.

Benefits of switching to electronic delivery tickets

While customers expect electronic tickets as a sign of professionalism, this is not the only benefit to switching from paper to an electronic ticketing system. Additional benefits include:

Electronic receipts are more accurate.
There is less labor for drivers, since they do not have to re-key the same data twice, once in the field and once on the invoice.
The average time saved is 1 minute per vehicle with on-site fleet fueling. This breaks to a time savings of over an hour a day per driver.
Since metered fuel and metered lubes delivery receipts are sent immediately, there is no lost paperwork and no delay in invoicing. Over time, this reduces DSO rates.
Dispatchers can review driver location and order status in real-time, to track driver progress throughout the day and alert customers to delays.
Metered fuel delivery drivers no longer have to make phone calls while driving to give dispatch trip and order updates, because this information is automatically in the system. This benefits efficiency and safety.
Paperless fuel ticketing increases transparency across operations.

How electronic ticketing systems work

If you’ve ever signed for a UPS package, you’ve used an electronic signature capturing system. We offer the same technology for onsite fueling systems. With a handheld unit, drivers can easily check fuel type, enter fuel price, bill tickets for refueling charges, and collect client signatures. Since all information is then entered into the system, central dispatch has at-a-glance operations oversight.

If you deliver fuels and lubes, you need paperless ticketing to improve efficiency, productivity, and on-the-job safety. Call us today to learn more about how your enterprise system can benefit your business.

Updated Customer Portal

November 12, 2013 by admin 2 Comments

We’ve updated the customer portal for the MobileHub web application. Your customers can easily:

Logon to see their order history
View delivery receipts with signature and save receipts as a PDF
View unit filling history, searching by asset or location
Export unit filling history to Excel

BizSpeed’s Proof of Delivery (POD) and unit filling customers (on-site mobile fueling, on-site fleet fueling, and metered lubricants and bulk products) can offer the portal to their customers. After logging in, your customers will see the default view to search for orders delivered in the previous week. They can search by customer order number or by date, and view your specific delivery receipt as a PDF.

Unit filling customers can search by customer location, asset or date range. The list filters to show all deliveries associated their account and search criteria. The application uses expanding controls so you can see by line item how many assets have been filled, and then can expand to see the individual asset list, time it was serviced and the reading. The reading is the odometer for vehicles.

Customers can ‘export to CSV’, to view all their data in Excel.

The customer portal is available as an option for our hosted customers as well as those installed on-site.

Load Builder for Dispatching

October 18, 2013 by admin Leave a Comment

At the request of our lubes distributor customers, we have added LoadBuilding into our dispatch capability for the MobileHub. LoadBuilding enables a dispatcher to create a trip and drag orders onto the trip. As orders are added to the trip, a window shows the total quantity on the trip for each product, across all orders. Multiple trips can be added to the view so orders can easily be dragged between trips to quickly see the impact of the load on each trip (route).

Loadbuilding is used by companies that do not have route optimization systems like Ortec OTD or RedPrairie’s TMS. Those systems take a set of orders and automatically build routes, with each route having a set of orders that are within the constraints of each vehicle.

Companies who have just a few vehicles at each depot have dispatchers who know what the vehicle capacity constraints are. For example, a lubes dispatcher may know their combo trucks can have 1 – 10 totes of 500 gallons each. They want to build a trip and as they drag orders onto the trip, see the total of each product. In this case, they have 3 orders with 200, 250 and 100 gallons of 5w-20 oil. The dispatcher would easily see the total is 550 gals, which is more than one tote. They could decide to add more orders to fill 2 totes, or see if they can add the 100 gal order to a different trip.

Load building can be used by package delivery companies as well, as they will see the total by product on each trip.

On-site Fleet Fueling Driver Metrics Reports

August 1, 2011 by admin Leave a Comment

Do you know who your best on-site fleet fueling drivers are? Do you know based on actual metrics, or based on gut feeling?

If you want hard facts on who your best drivers are, you need to automatically collect metrics such as:

Gallons delivered
Average Minutes/Vehicle
Average Gallons/Vehicle

BizSpeed’s goRoam for Metered Delivery automatically collects metrics such as when the driver started a delivery, when they stopped and gallons pumped through bulk meters. Our customers have access to metric reports and can schedule them to be emailed daily, weekly or monthly so you get direct visibility into your drivers.

The ability to operate your fleet fueling, bulk lubricants or wet hosing business based on facts and metrics is what enables you to drive operational efficiency. These metrics are available in real-time, without the need to ask someone to collect, input and analyze data.

As you can see from the report shown above, John Jones makes the most deliveries and is also the most efficient. He delivers more fuel than average but is a minute per vehicle more efficient. Steve Philips is also efficient. While his delivery times are longer, he delivers 80% more per vehicle than the average.

We can show average time and gallons including setup, customer signature, etc. as well as without the setup.

If you’d like to see how we can help you automate your metered and non-metered deliveries, please contact us.

Apps for last mile logistics | routing and dispatch

Apps for last mile logistics