Refuel, a technology company, has introduced its latest innovation – an IoT (Internet of Things) end-to-end system for real-time fuel management.
Ricky Luntz, the founder and CEO of the business that enables companies to control one of their biggest overheads – fuel.
Since it was established in 2020, it has seen consistent month-on-month growth and innovative product development, aligned to customer needs. The latest IoT offering provides full visibility of the fuel’s journey through the company in all types of vehicles, plants, and generators.
Luntz said they added an additional functionality to their initial product to give customers a greater level of control and knowledge around their assets’ fuel consumption.
“The new version consists of a specialised fuel probe on to which software is written and which is installed in every single asset. The probe and our app perform a ‘handshake’ which acknowledges having received a certain volume of litres pumped into the tank. It thereafter tracks fuel – every single litre as it’s consumed, whether on the road, at a construction site, a mine or in a generator.”
The fuel management software update allows logistics companies, mines, and construction companies (among others) complete visibility of their entire fuel consumption, together with data analytics to scrutinise utilisation patterns as an end-to-end solution.
Refuel retrofits its technology on to clients’ on-site bowsers, inserts the probes into each asset’s fuel tank, links them to Refuel’s app and web-based ordering system, giving clients a digitally controlled real-time end-to-end fuel management solution tracking every litre of fuel pumped and consumed.
The company said its system was developed as a response to feedback from the market about rampant theft that exists in decentralised fuel-consuming locations.
It said that for instance, when an asset was switched off, but the fuel level drops, the owner was immediately alerted via the app that fuel was being drained from the tank, what time it happened and where the asset was located.
Refuel’s technology is focused on addressing fuel theft and misuse. “With fuel consumption being one of the biggest operational expenses for any company with a fleet, criminal activity and abuse has to be minimised.”
Luntz explained that theft remained a serious issue. He said this typically happened in one of two ways, that is, misuse of fuel cards as fleet managers often have no visibility of what happens in retail forecourts and activity was completely uncontrolled from the business perspective or drainage of fuel out of fuel tanks.
“On implementing our system, we have seen drops in consumption by as much as 20%, on top of a saving on the fuel price our clients often pay. This represents a large amount for a logistics, construction, or mining business, on what can be their largest operating cost. It can be even higher among companies that haven’t been tracking the cost,” he said.
Luntz said in an environment where fuel expenses were a significant line item, management of that cost and mitigating misuse thanks to real-time reporting, gave a deeper and more detailed view of fuel costs and consumption than ever before.”
Since it came to market in late 2020, Refuel said it has focused on minimising and ultimately eradicating fuel theft.
It said this journey has seen Refuel expand from a business initially focused on conveniently refuelling vehicles and fleets via mobile fuel trucks to a far more sophisticated one which utilised its technology to provide a reliable and cost-effective mobile fuelling solution for fleet and generator companies, with a significant added benefit of helping to eradicate fuel card theft in the process.
According to an article titled “Fuel theft is a growing concern” for South African fleets, published by Landmark Tracking, a comprehensive fleet management solution-provider in February this year, fuel theft is a considerable threat and criminal act that affects a multitude of industries such as mining, agriculture, construction, logistics and general transport throughout South Africa, and the world.
The company said with fuel consumption being one of the biggest and most important operational costs for any vehicle fleet company, the impact could be worsened when coupled with the rising petrol and diesel costs.
It said some of the often-overlooked causes of exorbitant annual petrol or diesel costs may simply be a result of irresponsible driving habits, poor vehicle maintenance, bad road conditions and quality, or ineffective fuel management.
It added that for a business owner or fleet manager, gaining a clear understanding when, why and how fuel was going missing was key to preventing further losses and creating a more secure and effective fuel management system.
BUSINESS REPORT