The initial increase is directly applicable with the installation of the telemetry unit. The second 5% are recognised over the first year by establishing an optimised, data-based logistic. Applying this to the average diesel drop-offs in Germany, the delivery interval will be stretched out by 3 days (to 17 days). To benefit on an even higher level and exploit the potential of AI-based dispatching with tank usage up to 70%, flexibility for the supplier is a key success factor. This is achieved through a contract model with vendor-managed inventory and automated deliveries.
Everything is fine. Until it is not The analogue handling of logistics is not a thing of the past, but still common practice at many suppliers. This leads to several business continuity challenges. Even if the dispatcher manages to deliver to regular customers in a well-organised pattern and understands the seasonal changes within the consumption, the difficulty begins if a single person with all the relevant knowledge is absent from work or leaves the company.
During these times when a deputy dispatcher has to step in, valuable money is lost due to a lack of knowledge of seasonal, regional or customer-specific characteristics. Also, other factors pose challenges to a company, such as the continuous growth of a business. As soon as the territory covered increases, the newly acquired customer patterns must be learned individually again. At the same time, one person can only handle a certain amount of information and deliveries if this is done in an analogue way.
To prevent loss of knowledge as well as enable a stable growth (acquisition or natural), a company- wide usable data source is becoming crucial.
Optimising logistics on a high-level starts at the very beginning
Existing logistics optimisation tools focus on truck/ order combination and route planning. However, the biggest potential lies much earlier in the process. The first step should be to determine which orders actually need to be processed. With that in mind, only a small part of optimisation potential is addressed with existing programmes.
Tools like the Dispatching Assistant are targeting logistics optimisation right in the beginning. Artificial intelligence offers a unique way of combining the
26 LUBE MAGAZINE NO.175 JUNE 2023
data point with its consumption, the product itself (which is simple in diesel but highly complex within lubricants) as well as analysis clusters such as location and the remaining range of tanks nearby. By doing so, proposals for tanks to be delivered to are created for each day – and this 7-10 days in advance! The Dispatching Assistant is enabling a databased delivery to all top-up customers and still leaves enough flexibility to deliver to spot buyers or emergency deliveries.
Figure 3: The Dispatching Assistant focuses on identifying tanks that are suitable for a refill. The goal of stepping in at this point of process is to gather an early understanding of the routes required. The data created can either be used within the stand-alone solution or in existing programs via API integration.
With AI-based dispatching, suppliers are able to exploit the optimisation potential, decreasing the costs per delivered litre, and thereby reducing overall operating costs.
Partnership in practice... Castrol, one of the world’s leading lubricant brands, has a proud heritage of innovation. Their passion for performance, combined with a philosophy of working in partnership, has enabled them to develop lubricants and greases that have been at the heart of numerous technological feats for over 100 years. Castrol is part of the BP group and serves customers and consumers in the automotive, industrial, and marine and energy sectors in over 120 countries.
Partnering with FoxInsights in 2021, enabled a customer solution introducing a Castrol-managed automated monitoring and stock replenishment service. The telemetry enables Castrol to monitor and forecast lubricant consumption online and detects when stocks are running low. Once a low stock fill level is reached, an alarm is triggered, and an automatic restocking process is initiated. In addition, workshop managers can track and forecast their real time lubricant stock levels and historical consumption patterns across multiple sites via the associated intuitive online app. Castrol is planning to roll out the solution in 10+ countries across Europe.
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