The birth of the Liquid Commodities Logistics Software Platform

All Your Movements, Stakeholders, and Data in One Place

It all started in 1988 in sunny Tucson, Arizona. Les Dearman began integrating software with measurement preset computers to allow for remote control of devices, load authorization, digital transactions, and central reporting. Many know Les as the “godfather of terminal automation” as folks often mention to me at the ILTA conference each year.

Fast forward to 2020, when the Houston-based investor group I work for acquired Dearman Systems from Les. We respected the software that Les had built and as he moved on to retirement, he knew we had the juice to take the platform to the next level.

Over the next 5 years, we invested heavily in software development – building the LYNX app for automated logistics and Version 5 of our terminal automation software. Both are now available on the market and are far more advanced than other potential options.

Les ingrained in the company a culture of excellent customer support and attempting to always solve customer feature requests while other vendors in the industry “added the features to the roadmap”. If the Dearman of yesteryear lacked anything, it was the ability to scale quickly across multiple terminals (scaling within an installed terminal was cake). Now, with the Version 5 platform, which is completely re-architected, we have a wide feature set AND the ability to install multiple terminal systems in one day, across multiple clients.

“Now, with the Version 5 platform, which is completely re-architected, we have a wide feature set AND the ability to install multiple terminal systems in one day, across multiple clients.”

All of your assets and products, one liquid logistics platform

To expand on the feature set breadth that Dearman uniquely has, most terminal management systems were designed for last mile refined products truck terminals. Dearman’s TAS not only handles truck movements for refined products terminals but also pipeline (including nomination intake), rail, and marine for:

• Crude and condensate terminals

• Tank farms

• Chemical plants and terminals

• Ethanol plants

• NGL (propane, butane, ethane, y-grade) terminals and pipelines

• LNG terminals

• Refineries

Eliminate software exhaustion and unify your data

Industry majors and independent players alike are realizing it is time to stop using legacy point truck rack automation systems and implement a platform, the Liquid Commodities Logistics Platform, that handles all their terminals and movements, regardless of product or point in the value chain. 

With Dearman, you only need the following software to operate:

• SCADA (Controls and monitoring)

• Dearman Platform (Contract enforcement, digital transactions, logistics, reporting)

  • This is in opposition to many point software products to track inventory and product movement and/or spreadsheets

• ETRM (Hedging if taking title)

• ERP (Accounting, HR)

Some Dearman V5 platform features:

• Integrations: Real-time API integration to any 3rd party system

• Automated invoicing: Contracts & invoicing module allows you to input contract settings and automatically generate invoices with transaction data

• Automated ExSTARS: ExSTARS EDI submission direct to the IRS

• Real-time inventory reporting for position holders: Real-time inventory and movement status for all movements available for position holders via portal

• Central data management: Central management of carriers, drivers, products keeping your data sets clean and your field operators happy

• Central BOL modification for all movements: Ability to change BOLs from one database across all your assets

• Comprehensive reporting and report distribution: Native reporting (including email distribution) of all data points across all terminals

• All transactions: Automated and manual transactions for truck, rail (unit and manifest), marine, pipeline, transloading

• All movements: Truck, rail, marine, pipeline nominations, ticketing, and movement tracking

• Railcar location: End to end railcar tracking from origin to terminal to destination

• Automated railcar spotting: Automated railcar spot plan creation

It’s time to transform your business

If you are a bulk liquids storage, logistics, or pipeline company, contact us today to learn how we can transform your business by enabling you to operate at a 15-20% lower back office cost structure while also improving the experience you give to your customers.

PS - The Dearman Platform is also the best way to use AI models because it delivers them a clean, normalized dataset via UNITY in real-time.