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EQUIPMENT
minutes,” says Kay-Uwe Lietz, site manager at Brenntag’s Britz terminal. “Now, all system postings are made automatically and we just need to monitor the transactions.” Avoiding potential errors caused by manual input is just one benefit; another is that month-end accounts for the terminal as a whole, involving both diesel and heating oil shipments, are now both easier and faster to prepare. Time savings in relation to Excise
BRITZ AND PIECES
AUTOMATION • FULLY FUNCTIONAL TERMINAL MANAGEMENT IS NOT JUST FOR LARGER FACILITIES. IMPLICO HAS HELPED BRENNTAG OPTIMISE ONE DISTRIBUTION TERMINAL
BRENNTAG, ONE OF the world’s leading specialist chemical distributors, has one small fuels distribution operation in its home market in Germany. The Britz terminal in Berlin handles heating oil and diesel for the local market, receiving product by railcar and shipping out by road tanker. Until recently, the Britz terminal had two
separate management systems based on different software systems, since Brenntag had
BRENNTAG HAS STREAMLINED OPERATIONS AT ITS BERLIN DEPOT THROUGH IMPLEMENTATION OF IMPLICO’S MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
deployed hardware from two manufacturers on the loading platforms and was therefore using the solution from each provider. This made day-to-day operations cumbersome and some processes had to be completed manually. The company therefore decided to
introduce a hardware-neutral software solution capable of communicating with any piece of equipment in the field. To do so, Brenntag turned to Implico and its OpenTAS terminal management and automation system. As a first step, Implico’s engineers set
up inventory account management using OpenTAS in June this year. Following this, the system was applied to tank truck automation. “Processes such as EMCS reporting or the creating of shipping documents for truck drivers are now fully automated, taking just seconds to complete,” says Implico.
OBVIOUS AND HIDDEN BENEFITS Having applied OpenTAS, Brenntag is now using a centralised and standard system for inventory accounting and loading automation. Almost all processes run in the background and take just seconds to complete. “Earlier, each shipping document cost us a few
Movement and Control Systems (EMCS) reporting are even more obvious. Some shipments made from the Britz terminal involve the suspension of excise duty and therefore need to be approved via EMCS. OpenTAS is certified for this procedure and offers built-in customs declaration: the system sends the loading data to the customs office automatically and feedback is received just a few seconds later. Before OpenTAS, some shipping documents
had to be sent to a partner company, which performed the customs declaration online and then sent the confirmation back via email. This procedure sometimes took up to an hour – with the truck driver stuck at the terminal the entire time. “Today, a standard shipment with all of its particulars takes just 20 minutes to process,” says Lietz. Automation via a centralised system has
also further improved Brenntag’s existing system of stringent checks. Master data for the tank trucks and their drivers – including TÜV certification, registration papers, drivers’ licences and ADR licences – is now stored in OpenTAS. When drivers log on by entering the terminal, the relevant checks are made automatically in the background. During loading of the shipment, OpenTAS manages the loading checks and warns if the truck’s gross vehicle weight is exceeded. The bulk of the data communication workload is handled by Implico’s data centre in Hamburg. OpenTAS is one of a number of software
systems designed by Implico to optimise the value chain, particularly in the downstream hydrocarbons sector. Implico is a Microsoft Gold Partner, a Software Development Partner of SAP and a member of the Oracle PartnerNetwork. HCB
www.implico.com
HCB MONTHLY | SEPTEMBER 2016
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