The Skinny On Fuel Networks
Fuel networks work best for those fleets that operate along specific lanes, and whose drivers frequent the same truckstops on a regular basis. Unfortunately, that's a small portion of all fleets. Many more fleets must be prepared to go anywhere the freight takes them. That means different routes at different times. Along any given route, you may or may not find truckstops within your network.
Drivers have a lot to do with the efficiency of a fuel network. Most can simply bypass a network truckstop for a non-network place they prefer. That can be a matter of available parking, a Wi-Fi hotspot, better food or even a favorite arcade game. Without driver cooperation, fuel networks can fall short of potential savings and fleets can burn additional fuel on out-of-route miles.
A number of companies have addressed this problem with software that routes trucks for the best fuel prices. Fuel prices at the pump can vary as much as 16 cents per gallon even within a fuel network. That's where fuel optimization routing can have a significant impact.
Properly used, fuel optimization software creates a plan for a driver, telling exactly where to stop along a given route and exactly how much fuel to buy there. A plan that takes the best advantage of price differentials can yield fuel savings of up to 10 cents per gallon, according to software vendors.
Integrated Decision Support Corp., the software company known as IDSC, claims its optimization product saves $800 to $1,000 a year per truck. Prophesy Transportation software claims its product saves up to $8,000 per year per truck.
Fuel optimization is not a simple job. Good fuel optimization programs require lots of information, including daily fuel prices at pumps across the country. Any optimization program needs a dial-up connection or access to the Internet to collect the data at least on a daily basis.
An optimization program also needs as much information as possible on the individual truck. It should know the unit's average fuel consumption per mile, the capacity of its tanks and the beginning amount of fuel in them.
Typically, an optimization program generates the most cost-effective route, then finds the best fuel buys along that route. Better programs also offer parameters beyond fuel price in generating a plan - driver amenities available at specific truckstops, for example.
Here are some of fuel routing optimization solutions on the market:
Expert Fuel
Expert Fuel was the first fuel optimization program when it was introduced in 1994 by Integrated Decision Support Corp. of Richardson, Texas, known as IDSC. It is a licensed software product that runs on the carrier's own computer system, frequently on an IBM AS/400. Expert Fuel integrates with routing software from both Rand McNally and ALK Technologies and is used at some of the largest fleets in the country. Customers can select their choice of daily fuel price data supplier. The choices are OPIS - which stands for Oil Petroleum Information Services - or T-Chek Systems.
Expert Fuel can be run as a freestanding program. It also integrates with popular truckload enterprise software from Tom McLeod Software, TMW Systems, Innovative Computing Co. and Maddocks Systems, among others.
More recently, IDSC introduced Trip Alert, a module that monitors driver compliance with assigned routes among other things.
Fuel Advice
Essentially, Fuel Advice is the ISP (Internet Service Provider) version of IDSC's Expert Fuel. It is available over the Internet on a pay-as-you-go basis. Carriers can subscribe for a certain number of routings without buying software or even committing to monthly subscription fees. You access the service through web browser software and pay only for what you use.
ProMiles Mileage Guide
The Fuel Opt module comes with ProMiles Mileage Guide software. ProMiles is based in Bridge City, Texas. Like other optimization software, Fuel Opt works with your tank capacity, minimum fuel allowed, average miles-per-gallon, starting fuel, etc., to compute where and when to purchase fuel. Fuel Opt can also provide a complete list of truckstops on a route so you can plan to use those you prefer. Data includes daily prices at more than 6,500 truckstops.
Users can create and remove fuel networks or use existing fuel networks and negotiated discounts. ProMiles runs on a PC in a Windows environment. Users can currently update the fuel price data online at no charge.
ProMiles also offers a more advanced Fuel Management program for fleets of 50 trucks or more. That package includes rack prices for fuel, updated hourly.
Fuel & Route
Manhattan Associates, Atlanta, Ga., markets a line of trucking optimization products called the OptiYield Suite. One product in the suite is Fuel & Route, which can be licensed as a freestanding product.
According to Manhattan Associates, Fuel & Route differs from other products in one essential way. Rather than define a route, then pick fueling points along that route, it considers fuel prices, tolls and mileage at the same time to come up with optimized instructions. However, the program can be configured to pick the route first, then the fuel stops.
Fuel & Route runs on a Windows NT or Unix server and integrates with most major truckload enterprise software and communications products.
FleetNav Fuel
Maptuit provides turn-by-turn directions to drivers over a fleet's mobile communications system. Late in 2003, Maptuit introduced what it calls the FleetNav Suite, which includes turn-by-turn directions, but adds two fuel-related modules.
FleetNav Fuel extends Maptuit's FleetNav Directions to automatically calculate an optimal fuel plan integrated into the directions. Utilizing realtime pricing information that can be built around a fleet's fuel network.
A second module, FleetNav Alert issues real-time alerts when trucks leave assigned routes enabling fleets to better control driver adherence to specified routes.< Maptuit is based in Burlington, Mass.
Fuel Logic
Prophesy makes some bold claims for Fuel Logic, its fuel optimization product. For example, Prophesy claims it will save 7 to 10 cents per gallon even with a 2-cent-per-gallon contract price. The company claims that even with half-hearted driver compliance, an average fleet can improve its annual profit significantly.
Routing is based on the company's own Prophesy Mileage software and includes other truckstop parameters, including driver amenities. Daily fuel price data is provided by T-Chek Systems Inc. Fuel Logic runs on a PC in Microsoft Windows. Prophesy Transportation Software Inc., is based in Bloomfield, Conn.
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