Digitisation, automation and identification have rapidly changed the game for many industrial fleets around the globe, fast becoming an integral part of daily operations. Connected technologies are a 21st Century non-negotiable, and the truth is that if your business hasn’t already implemented them, you’re wasting money and being outperformed by competitors.
Modern technology is paramount when working with large quantities of lubricants and fuels. Tight deadlines, tens, hundreds, even thousands of machines, employee safety, production risk, reporting… these challenges are minimised or even eliminated with appropriately selected tech and processes. Here at Banlaw, we don’t want your business missing out, especially when it comes to your time, fluids, money, and the safety of your team.
There wasn’t always a time when digitisation caused things to be more straightforward.
Many remember a fuelling process that started with grabbing a logbook covered in greasy fingerprints, scribbling down the machine number, your name, and the engine hours (if you remembered to make a note of it). After refuelling and topping up fluids, the reason you pulled up in the first place, you then go back to the logbook again and document the quantity of fluids used. If all of that sounds a bit cumbersome, then you should try being the person who needs to use that logbook, and schedule fuel deliveries, coordinate machine maintenance, or reconcile the accounts!
Over and above complexity and wasted time, paper-based processes do not ensure that fluids being accessed, are authorised. Because fluid transfers are not authorised to the user and machine, mistakes can be made:
- Fluid cross-contamination is more likely (the wrong fluid type pumped into the wrong machine or compartment)
- Collected data is not accurate enough for reconciliation, reporting for fuel tax, calculating greenhouse emissions, or reducing consumption
- No analysis can be performed to optimise maintenance, asset deployment or fleet size
- Fluid wastage, leaks from equipment, and also fuel theft cannot be identified and controlled
Let’s break it down and look at the available methods of enabling user and equipment identification, digitisation, data completeness, and process automation.
Digitised Manual User & Equipment Identification
Manual technology-enabled identification methods made a significant impact on fleet and industrial operations. Pin numbers, employee swipe cards, and vehicle keyring fobs all went a long way towards closing the gap. If you didn’t have one of those identification methods, then you could not access fluids. This greatly improved fluid security and allowed fuel management systems to associate metered fluid transfer volumes with specific people and machines. On the downside, there is still the risk that those identification methods are not controlled. Still, at least paper-based processes could finally be retired.
Long Range RFID
Automated identification of machines plays a significant role in process simplification and data completeness. One of the early technologies used is Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). This technology works by a device on the vehicle transmitting a unique identification code. When within range of a receiver (e.g. at a maintenance bay), access to fluids can be enabled for the machine, and any liquids dispensed will be associated with the identified asset.
Long Range RFID is not a robust fluid security control because simply having a vehicle present might allow anybody to access fluids. That said, Long Range RFID is extremely useful for process simplification and automation. Suppose that maintenance staff need to access numerous fluid types whilst servicing a machine. With Long Range RFID, they will not have to authorise every single transfer or top-up manually. They can just get on with the job and be confident the system is tracking how much of each fluid has been used. Bulk loading and unloading of storage tanks is another common use case for Long Range RFID (an example would be service truck bulk storages being filled via API couplings).
Banlaw’s Long Range RFID solution can identify stationary assets and vehicles at a range of 40 metres (130 feet) and is perfect for process automation tasks like those described above.
Splash Fill Auto ID
One of the less fallible ways of implementing automation, digitisation, and identification into your business is via extreme-close-proximity Auto ID technologies. Or, in other words, ‘No ID, No fuel’.
Banlaw’s SecureFill, Splash Fill Auto ID solution will only give the green light for fluids to be dispensed when the fuel nozzle is fully inserted into the fuel tank filler neck. If the machine identification signal is lost, then the fluid transfer will cease.
Dry Break Auto ID
With fuel prices rising significantly, investing in connected technologies to increase fuel security and enable accurate, trustworthy data has never represented better value.
Auto ID Dry Break Refuelling equipment that requires a direct physical connection between the fuel nozzle and the receiver on the tank represents the pinnacle in diesel fuel security.
Uniquely Banlaw: Our patented Dry Break Auto ID solution puts the equipment identification chip inside the fuel receiver, and the components required to capture and transmit this machine ID inside the fuel nozzle and swivel. What that means is the Auto ID process is hidden inside the refuelling equipment where it cannot be tampered with, where it cannot be broken off, and where it cannot allow liquid to be dispensed until after the authorised asset has been identified and approved. It simply cannot be tricked into putting fluids into an unapproved vessel.
Banlaw Dry Break and Splash Fill Auto ID solutions have been designed to deliver industry-best fluid security and process automation, whilst remaining affordable and simple to retrofit into any industrial operation.
Deploying advanced user and equipment identification processes within your business uses unobtrusive technologies, and means more simplicity, not complexity:
- More security
- More visibility
- More control
- More savings
- More automation
- More seamless
Auto ID technologies
- Dramatically improve fuel security
- Eliminate human error
- Streamline machine identification processes
- Saving time or even wholly automating access such as in robotic refuelling applications
- Simplify data collection and fluid reconciliation
- You can be confident that all fluids will be accounted for!
- Are a cost-saving investment
- Because you only purchase the amount of fluids you need, when you require them on-site, and areas of wastage get identified and addressed
- Provide more trustworthy and actionable data for Fuel Management Systems:
- Schedule maintenance on a cyclic basis, based on automatically captured odometer and engine hours data (helping you schedule efficiently, with less administrative effort, and with less risk of breakdowns)
- Schedule maintenance on a pre-emptive basis for machines that begin consuming fluids at a different rate to fleet norms (avoiding expensive surprises from unscheduled downtime and associated productivity risk)
- Analyse productivity at an asset level (Is there an opportunity to re-deploy an underutilised truck to a location where it will improve production? Will adjusting the size or makeup of the fleet achieve significant savings?)
Contact us now to connect with a specialist.
Get more peace of mind, unlock more productivity, and save a fortune on the fluids you purchase with Banlaw.
Popular Content
Fuel Management Systems
A Fuel Management System is a combination of hardware and software products, that together enable security, access, and control of fuel stores, whilst monitoring delivery and consumption. Banlaw fuel management systems are for companies that need increased accuracy, accountability, security or productivity from their fluid assets. It is normal for...
