Why are the leaders in the fuel industry considering orders in addition to allocations?
For decades, fuel buyers have been operating the same. They come and go with loads of allocated fuel from terminals all over the world, and that fuel is measured and billed out to the appropriate parties. Years ago, this was the best way to operate because the technology on location was lacking. It would take too much time and resources to communicate what was happening throughout the supply chain in order to give insights to all parties involved: the position holder, the terminal operator, the customer and the carrier.
Terminal Automation Systems have given the terminal operators the building blocks to create a better system for their position holders and even their position holder's customers. With the rise of IoT, Artificial Intelligence and Cloud technology combined with the Terminal Automations Systems that are already in place, companies across the fuel supply chain are now switching to order based sales over allocations in order to access full transparency when selling and distributing product in real time which leads to leaner supply chains, lower costs and better decision making.
Order based systems allow customers to place orders and gather information in real time prior to the carrier being dispatched through the pickup and delivery to the end user. The metrics captured are used to automatically generate reports and forecasts, manage load authorizations and create and send documents for the position holder, terminal operator, buyer and carrier. This empowers every party in the supply chain to have full insight into exactly what is happening exactly when it is happening without relying on anyone else.
What are the differences between allocations and order based systems?
Advanced allocations system with terminal automation:
Real Time Inventory
Automated Billing
Automated BOL’s
Projected Supply and Demand Forecasting
Load Authorization
Allocations
Advanced order based system with terminal automation:
Real Time Inventory
Automated Billing
Automated BOL’s
Real and Projected Supply and Demand Forecasting
Load Authorization
Real Time Order Statuses
Real Time and Projected Terminal Operations Traffic
Carrier Metrics
Orders or Allocations
Artificial Intelligence Capability
Customer Testimony:
"We had been selling fuel out of our terminal in Brownsville for decades through allocations. We switched to order based selling, and we will never go back. Our customers now input orders in seconds, and we can track those orders in real time throughout the process. We have been able to use that new data to make decisions that increase throughput, simplify pricing and credit, eliminate the need for order update calls and emails and give us forecasting which helps our teams make more profitable decisions as they now know what is coming in and what is set to leave at all times. Our customers love it because it helps them manage their side more effectively too and make better decisions on which carriers perform the best and other business decisions with the added data. They also save time by accessing order statuses in seconds, from anywhere." - Position Holder at Terminal in Brownsville, Texas.