Tank Level Monitoring Just Got a Whole Lot Easier
By Carolina Ruiz • Published February 13, 2023 • 4 minute read
Petroleum distributors can increase customer service and profits through a modern IoT interface for existing Automatic Tank Gauging (ATG) systems.
Every day, petroleum distributors manually create a batch of orders for a select group of customers whose tank-level data they do not receive electronically. This step must be completed before they can finalize plans to dispatch trucks with products to meet their customers’ needs for premium, unleaded, and diesel, and more.
To top it off, distributors must also plan routes that account for the delivery volumes at each stop. This step will require having accurate information to maximize service and profits.
By law, C-stores and other customers of petroleum distributors use monitoring systems for underground storage tanks (USTs). Yet there are challenges for distributors to automatically retrieve this data. Some customers are less sophisticated and lack a streamlined process to share the data electronically.
Calling or emailing customers to obtain tank-level data may be the exception, but it’s a time-consuming and labor-intensive part of the daily order routine. Customers don’t like it either, as it might distract them from more important work.
These activities can make the entire operation seem like playing a game of Tetris, where distributors are matching order volumes to truck capacity and creating routes at the last minute. This makes it virtually impossible to optimize.
Costs add up quickly for distributors when reporting errors or when delays occur for orders, especially when customers forget to call or rely on manual, homegrown processes to gather data. These disruptions take time to correct for an operation to get back on schedule. Worse yet, mistakes from manual data entry can result in overfilling a tank or deploying an emergency delivery. These are the kinds of mistakes that every distributor and customer wants to avoid.
It is now very easy to connect with ATG systems and automatically retrieve data from all customers’ tanks by using a new SkyBitz ST80 IoT solution.
How Does It Work?
Distributors historically lacked the infrastructure to connect with customers’ existing ATG systems on USTs and above-ground bulk storage tanks. This has changed with the SkyBitz intelligent IoT solution that comes with universal compatibility for ATG systems. Distributors can quickly install the SkyBitz IoT Solution hardware and configure it remotely.
Instead of a time-consuming, manual process for collecting tank level data, the SkyBitz IoT system gathers insights in real-time. Distributors can set up an interface within minutes to begin transmitting tank levels and other telemetry data to a web application. The interface allows them to monitor delivery efficiency, inventory, usage, alarms, and more through an easy-to-use dashboard. It’s really that simple.
Who Benefits?
Petroleum distributors and their customers both benefit from using the SkyBitz IoT solution. Distributors transporting and managing customer tanks will be able to automate their process, reduce cost and at the same time improve customer service and delivery efficiencies. Fuel consumers will benefit by reducing runouts and relying on manual work to communicate with their distributors.
The turnkey solution makes these concerns, challenges, and disruptions quickly dissipate. Distributors can access tank level data remotely in an easy and affordable way. This creates greater operational efficiencies and customer service advantages. More specifically, distributors can accurately forecast orders and eliminate unnecessary runouts, which ultimately maximizes delivery route density, volumes, and profits.
Adopting the SkyBitz IoT solution to remotely monitor tank levels and have accurate, reliable data is a win-win scenario for distributors and customers who want to see their businesses run smoother and faster.
Are you ready to make a switch and drastically improve your tank monitoring operation?
Discover how the SkyBitz ST80 IoT Solution gathers critical tank level data in a smarter, easier manner to accurately forecast orders, eliminate runouts, and maximize delivery efficiencies.
