We will be exhibiting and discussing equipment for all fleet operators that will secure and manage their road fuel usage.

Special focus will be on equipment specific to the recycling and waste industry and local authority sectors.

Operating initially from a garage workshop near Banbury, the partners were kept busy providing quick fix repairs for road transport and haulage firms. This led to some new installs and the opportunity to trade up to preventative maintenance. The business continued to evolve by developing a solid customer base for regular contract servicing which formed the basis for the respected national company that we see today.

Still located near to Banbury, the company moved in 1991 into its current office – workshop premises in West Street, Shutford. The workshop provides space for the storage of spares and bench facilities used mainly for pipework, fittings and pump re-builds. Although most installation work is done on site, some assembly and checking of key components is carried in-house to save time and ensure that the mobile teams are fully prepared for each new project.

Ted Etty continues his involvement as joint managing director and chairman. The original office manager, Anne Rodda became joint managing director. Board members Alison Newport, Sales Director and James Rodda, Engineering Director are responsible for day-to-day operations.

Currently the main workforce comprises six engineers on the road. Dan Gillbanks leads business development and there are four admin staff dealing with enquiries and scheduling work.

“Since we are providing a support role it is important to maintain a good working relationship with the key equipment vendors,” explains Alison Newport.”

“By definition our commercial interests depend on sound engineering standards. Margins do not allow for return visits to fix faulty equipment. We have never compromised on build quality and we stake our reputation on the performance of the equipment we install.”

Alison continues: “We have earned a good reputation because we always recommend the finest possible specifications. To achieve this we must have close relationships with all the key equipment suppliers.”

“Our relationship with MIS Fuel Monitoring goes back to the early Nineties with commercial pumps. After 2000, the emphasis shifted to data recording as the transport industry became more aware of rising fuel costs and the need for better stock management and security. This heralded a new generation of electronic dispensers and for about seven years business was brisk as the major fleet operators equipped or updated their existing depot fuelling facilities.”

“The current outlook looks promising and we can see some signs of confidence returning as enquiries for new installations are on the increase. The major difference is the time taken before enquiries convert to orders. Currently this is around 18 months or so, whereas in former times a new customer would call for a price for a tank and this would be acknowledged by an order placed and within four weeks the job would be installed – done and dusted.”

“Most new installations now involve a formal tender process which takes up more time. We are also putting extra effort into providing technical proposals and meeting tender requirements for information and credentials.”

“Over the last four to five months there has been a shift towards health and safety. There is more concern about details on how to improve on hoses and things that would protect them as a business. Cost saving practices is also important as these pressures are being channelled down from above. Basically our customers are looking at all areas in order to make improvements, wherever possible.”

“Security has become a major concern, especially for smaller operators with fuelling points exposed to public spaces. We are being asked to provide additional security by adding tank bolts and sockets and physical measures to protect the tanks.”

Relationship with Merridale

Alison continues: “Our first major project with Merridale came about because one of our service customers, a national express parcels group, purchased 14 second hand systems. These were refurbished and together with some new equipment, these were installed together with Merridale Fuel FX software at a number of their depots during 2003.

“The trial went well for Merridale and in view of our good relationship as the existing provider of maintenance services, we were invited to form a partnership for this client, which we did and that led to a satisfactory relationship which is on-going,” said Alison Newport.

This was underlined by Merridale sales director Stephen Hannan, who was involved from the start of this project. “There was always a clear distinction in roles between Merridale as the equipment vendor and County Pumps as the Service support provider – and I am pleased to say that this has forged a good relationship over the following years,” he said.

County Pumps sales manager, Dan Gillbanks joined the discussion saying: “It was a milestone event in our history because previously we hadn’t got involved with the stock control and management reports side of things. Merridale respected our position as a partner and provided the training we needed to support their products and it worked well right from the start.”

“We are happy to continue our relationship with Merridale because this endorses our commitment to providing quality and reliability in everything we do.”

“We are not springing any ‘new’ generation concepts or repackaged existing products. We are simply reaffirming our commitment to providing sustainable solutions for fuel storage, security and stock management, says sales director Stephen Hannan.

We have four points to get across: Firstly, Merridale systems are approved for resale; second; the equipment is designed to last; third, our build quality is paramount; and last but not least is the use of quality approved software with free updates for registered users.

1. For operators who are selling fuel on to third parties, the equipment must be certified as accurate by trading standards officials.
2. Proof of the durability of Merridale equipment can be found in the considerable number of installations still operational with the large fleet operators.
3. Merridale only use genuine parts. And there are no compromises on build quality.
4. Merridale offers practical solutions that can be easily integrated with their existing IT infrastructure.

In the south west area, Enterprise Mouchel  is responsible for the Area 1 network, which includes the A30 and the A38, the main trunk roads for Devon and Cornwall. Depot facilities are co-located with Highways Agency at the Devon County Council’s Sowton depot, near Exeter.

“The contract includes day-to-day network management, investment planning and budgeting, programming and the provision of strategic advice to the Highways Agency,” explains Clive Stears, Area Operations Manager.

“Apart from proactive measures our role is to deal with emergency reaction. With some 24 vehicles, the core fleet comprises the gritter trucks for winter maintenance duties. We also deploy traffic management equipment in order to implement lane closures etc with the ubiquitous cones. Other specialist vehicles include a truck with Hiab crane for the repair of crash barriers and we also operate a Mobile Elevated Work Platform.

The challenge
On taking over at this contract, we inherited an ageing fuelling point based on underground tanks and a couple of Merridale pumps. Fuelling information was recorded by hand and transferred to an Excel spreadsheet.

Whilst this was never intended to be particularly accurate, we are now more focussed as attitudes have changed markedly with the increasing costs of fuel. Today we have strict rules about accountability and that requires more accurate measurement.

Clive Stears continues: “ Initially we intended to upgrade the original installation simply by adding a monitoring system. But this then led to a discussion about state of the underground tanks. These had been in place for over 30 years and were not compliant with current specifications.

It soon became clear that we needed to start again. This gave us the opportunity to rethink the fuelling point and invest in an installation that would meet our foreseeable operational requirements. The specification was drawn up in conjunction with Devon County Council with the view to sharing the facility for fueling the winter maintenance fleet.

The solution
MIS Fuel Monitoring (Merridale) were consulted because they were already an approved supplier for the depot. The operational requirement was developed in conjunction the Highways Agency. A representative from the supplier was then invited to a question and answer session.

“We drew up a requirement for an ‘all singing and dancing system’. This was put out tender and the final selection was an integrated tank filling station supplied by MIS Fuel Monitoring. Basically it ticked all the boxes,” says Clive Stears.

Results.
At the time of writing this report the installation had been in service for less than twelve months. This initial period has allowed the fleet drivers to familiarise themselves with the procedure for drawing fuel, using a smart key to turn on the pump and the vehicle mileage reading entered onto the keyboard to authorise the transaction.

Clive Stears continues: “Our fuel supplies are secure and we are capturing data so in that respect, we have already benefitted by taking out the manual effort. The next step will be to engage the commercial team who will be using the reports for target costing jobs and doing their profit & loss analysis,”

Conclusion
“Since I am at the operational end of things, my main concern is availability of fuel to ensure that we can fulfil our work programme commitments sufficiently. At the end of the day I have got a job to do and that is to deliver road maintenance services.

“When it comes to renewing our service contract – the commercial team will require good information and fuel costs are a major factor. Indeed if fuel prices continue to escalate we shall require sound data to underwrite any future negotiations.”

The equipment
The fuelling point at Sowton is based on a dual compartment tank with 20K litres capacity for gas oil and 15K litres for white road diesel. Since gritters are dedicated to winter maintenance, they are excluded from duty and allowed to run on standard (red) gas oil. Other more general purpose, road going vehicles, such as the elevated platforms etc have to use white diesel.

Fuel is dispensed by a Merridale twin pump dispenser with integral monitoring, enabling all transactions to be recorded automatically for the production of fuel usage reports.

Electronic interface to vehicle engine management system to transfer relevant information such as the odometer (distance travelled) data. Trials are in progress with launch scheduled mid 2012.

For operators with mixed fleets of HGVs, small vans and cars, Merridale can provide an option for selectable delivery rates. Selection of the appropriate rate is made automatically by choice of delivery nozzle.

Tank management facilities have been enhanced with the introduction of optional bund and overfill alarms. This complements the Merridale electronic gauging to provide a comprehensive tank management capability to support reconciliation reporting via the fuel management system and software.

Merridale software has been integrated with GPRS communications to provide secure data transfer over an internet connection. This allows greater flexibility for remote and geographically dispersed fuelling stations.