Bickford Truck Services of Wolverhampton didn’t have to go far to source a new fuelling point for its service base and headquarters in Featherstone, north of Wolverhampton. For Wolverhampton is also the location for Merridale, now widely recognised as one of the leading suppliers of depot fuel dispensing pumps and stock management equipment.
Describing the operational requirement, Merridale sales engineer, Paul Russell said: “This application is a classic entry-level solution for a single site, depot fuelling facility.
“The Merridale system automatically records all fuelling transactions together with authorisation ID details, amount drawn and date. We can view the current stock status at any time from an internet browser dashboard. This includes facilities to set a re-order level with email alert – so that we never drop below a pre-set minimum stock.”
Bickford Trucks is a specialist truck hire and engineering support business. The focus is on customer service performance and all hire vehicles are current models, meeting the latest requirements for operation in low emission zones. Fuelling is required simply to cover the customer delivery mileage.
“Whilst this is a relatively low fuel usage application, compared to most haulage fleet operators, it was none-the-less important that the equipment looked the part in terms of Bickford’s high quality standards,” says Paul.
Accordingly, Merridale supplied a 10,000 litres diesel tank as a complete service package, incorporating a pump dispenser, secure access devices and stock management instrumentation with a GPRS communications link. The latter supports online monitoring using the Merridale FuelWorks web-based fuel management service.
For operations director, Miles Bickford, the Merridale fuelling point not only looks the part but after 14 months’ operation, he says it has also proved to be highly cost efficient.
“Previously our fuel records were little more than a paper trail of meter readings. We had very little visibility of stock levels and usage. At busy times, with several vehicles requiring fuel for long distance deliveries, we could be chasing around to purchase fresh supplies at short notice. Not an ideal position for negotiating best prices.”
“The Merridale system automatically records all fuelling transactions together with authorisation ID details, amount drawn and date. We can view the current stock status at any time from an internet browser dashboard. This includes facilities to set a re-order level with email alert – so that we never drop below a pre-set minimum stock.
Miles Bickford concludes. “Since the new fuelling point was installed, we have only had a couple of data queries and these have been resolved by the Merridale telephone support desk. Overall, we are very pleased with the new facilities.”
