“The top benefit of introducing DreamTec Systems is the transparency of knowing where the vehicles are, what sort of stage they are through the day, as well as knowing stock levels. It’s the whole package really.” Howard Marriott, Group Transport Manager
Barton Petroleum is an independent, family-owned fuel supplier with over 50 years’ experience. Suppling a range of fuels, lubricants and oil products to customers right across the country, their success is anchored in strong customer relationships, delivering top-notch service and ensuring efficiency and reliability that their customers expect.
Distribution Network: England, UK
Fleet: 45 vehicles, 5 depots
Integration: Range of Alpeco Meters and Codas ERP
The challenge
As Barton Petroleum’s business grew, the company proactively explored strategies to maintain a constant headcount even as volumes increased year on year. They needed a solution which could streamline processes, whilst enhancing their performance and maintaining leading customer service levels.
“In our previous manual system, one depot with 10 vehicles and 10 drivers could produce in excess of 200 or 300 tickets each day to manually enter and process whereas, now, it’s done electronically.
This has cut our admin time from 4-5 hours to 1 hour on stock reconciliation, giving our office staff time for other tasks, including making sales calls.”
The solution
In 2011, Barton Petroleum introduced DreamTec’s Meter Tracking system, moving to the full Mobile Fleet Management system in 2022.
As a result Barton Petroleum has experienced many advantages, including improved route management, a significant reduction in administrative workload, and increased visibility of stock levels and operational activities across the business.
“We have much better visibility on stock levels now. Not only is stock reconciliation being done quicker, but it is also a lot more accurate.”
The results
In addition to streamlining the company’s day-to-day distribution activities and order management, Barton Petroleum has also benefitted from improved driver satisfaction and productivity. Drivers previously performed their daily 38-point vehicle check manually. With the introduction of DreamTec, daily vehicle inspections are performed electronically on the tablet and instantly submitted to the office, with defects being flagged directly to the applicable person in the office.
“Since introducing DreamTec Systems, 80% of paperwork has disappeared for our drivers.”
System highlights for Barton Petroleum
- Faster, more accurate stock reconciliation.
- Greater transparency across the business.
- Less paper, less admin time.
- Enhanced driver productivity and route optimisation.
In support of Barton Petroleum’s commitment towards delivering at an exceptionally high level, the new systems provided avenues for improved customer service and enhanced operational efficiency. This has been achieved by facilitating the seamless and immediate transmission of work assignments directly to drivers through the DreamTec tablet system.
“Even if we change a drivers’ load around during the day, we can do it in the background and resend straight away. With DreamTec we can prioritise run outs or we can squeeze drops onto an existing load.”
The experience
The DreamTec team collaborated closely with the client throughout the process. Once the system configuration was finalised, installation was carried out across the depots following a strategic rollout plan.
“DreamTec Systems has sped up almost every one of our processes, but maintained the complexity and quantity of information captured.”