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Truck and Track
Winter 2018
www.truckandtrack.com24
FUEL MANAGEMENT
Wincanton has upgraded its depot
refuelling facilities at the Screwfix
distribution centre in Stafford by
installing fuel monitoring on its bulk
fuelling equipment. This update enables
the implementation of Merridale’s web-
based fuel management reports service.
It also brings the Stafford facilities in
line with the fuelling point at the newly
commissioned
Screwfix
distribution
centre in Lichfield.
Merridale fuel management systems are
installed at both fuelling points. Drivers
use a fob device to obtain fuel on a self-
serve basis. The control unit automatically
records the details of the transaction for
upload to the administration computer. A
Merridale fuel management system has
been used at Stafford since these facilities
were originally installed in 2008.
“Based on this experience and its proven
reliability, it was decided to continue using
the Merridale system and harmonise both
sites under the Merridale FuelWorks web-
based reporting service,” explains transport
operations manager, Kevin Davies.
He continues: “Currently we are in a
transition period. As the new Lichfield
centre ramps up, our core fleet, which now
comprises 88 vehicles and 20 hire units,
will be split between both sites.
“It is important therefore that drivers
can fuel from either site. Screwfix has an
expanding retail presence – opening one
new store every week. The Lichfield RDC
has been designed to meet this growing
logistics requirement. The new site has a
larger 125K litres capacity bulk fuel storage
tank, compared to the 88K litres tank at
Stafford. Both tanks have been supplied by
Ledbury Welding & Engineering.
“Fuel usage is currently between 13K and
15K of white diesel per day. Both sites have
dual compartment tanks to provide red
diesel facilities required for the trailer tugs.
Deliveries of road diesel to Stafford are
currently every two or three days. Usually
these are made as 36K tanker loads.
Since Wincanton operates its own fuel
distribution service, we find that having
the real-time tank contents information is
very useful for accepting ad hoc deliveries,”
says Kevin Davies.
Commenting on the switch over to the
new Merridale FuelWorks service, Kevin
Davies is impressed with the improved
functionality.
“In particular when updating the fleet
database, which is a regular task, it’s much
easier now to add or remove vehicles from
the system. Information is now readily
available, whereas previously, there was
just one access point which had to be
shared with other departments, such as
finance, for example. Now anyone from
different disciplines can pull up a report
against specific requirements relative to
fuel usage and costing.
“I have four different reports every week,
scheduled to transport operations. These
include a bypass report, which shows me
all the transactions for the master key fob
rather than the fob allocated to the vehicle.
We can use this report to reallocate the fuel
to the correct vehicle.
“With the previous set up, the availability
of information was restricted to different
staff members. The finance people used to
run their own reports to get the distance
travelled and amount of fuel used. Tank
contents informationwas basedonmanual
dips and gauge readings which had to be
entered into the system. The information
is a crucial input to balance the records by
reconciling fuel purchased against stock
levels and fuel usage. This function is now
carried out automatically and I can set a
low-level alert for re-ordering.
Kevin’s opposite number at Lichfield,
transport operations manager Jamie
Hoole, is also a Merridale fan. Jamie had
been recruited specifically for the newly
opened distribution centre. Whilst all the
decisions had been taken re the fuelling
Wincanton Screwfix taps into
Merridale’s web-based fuel reports
Fuelling point at the newly commissioned Regional Distribution Centre near Lichfield
Refuelling controls used in conjunction withMerridale
FuelWorks web-based fuel management service