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Ford Fuels optimises delivery with tech investment
The South West based fuel and lubricants distributor began its relationship with TouchStar after the company’s software provider, Fuelsoft, recommended the installation of TouchStar’s ‘Hawk’ units, which were then installed in six Ford Fuels vehicles.
As with any business operation, time is a critical resource. For Ford Fuels, the basing of several vehicles at terminals became problematic as employees needed to manually run paperwork between sites every day, including between two remote sites that were one-and-a-half hours away in opposite directions and this slow submission of paperwork throughout the operation soon became a key business challenge.
“Rather than being a mere inconvenience, it ended up being a real business problem. We felt that the TouchStar solution could make things slicker,” explained John Ford, director at Ford Fuels.
The TouchStar handheld solution negated the need to use valuable time and resource to travel to sites, offering a far superior streamlined solution which allows fleet drivers to print delivery notes on the spot. A customer’s signature is captured on screen for proof of delivery purposes, and a proof of delivery document is printed instantly.
Following the first roll out, the benefits and capabilities of the TouchStar system were evident. This led to Ford Fuels expanding handhelds into their fleet of vehicles based at terminals, which subsequently led to a further roll out of the technology in 45 – 50 vehicles based at their own offices.
The TouchStar technology has enabled Ford Fuels to be able to focus on customer service and continue to provide the seamless delivery of fuel within this service-based industry. Given this significant benefit, Ford Fuels is aiming to have TouchStar technology within its entire fuel fleet, comprising of 65 oil tankers by the end of 2021.
John Ford remarks: “We differentiate ourselves by moving vehicles to places where other people can’t. If someone needs fuel, they need fuel, and we’ll move heaven and earth to get it, and this just makes that process more efficient.
“I don’t get involved with TouchStar day-to-day, which shows that it works. It streamlines the office operation with the drivers and delivers them up-to-date information.”
The technical awareness and competency of staff, together with the quality and performance of the system is highly rated by Ford Fuels.
“TouchStar have always been a pleasure to deal with – the system works, the technology is what we need, and it has been tried and tested. We look forward to rolling out the technology to the rest of our fleet.”