Times aren’t easy for distributors of bulk fuel oil and propane feeling the after-effects of COVID and two years of rising inflation. Downward pressure on prices, amid higher wages, insurance and last-mile delivery costs, has squeezed margins. 

Efficiencies from digital transformation are an obvious answer but making regular deliveries of fuel oil and propane to homes and businesses on fixed routes based on estimates of past usage patterns, is, let’s say, an inexact science. Few small or midsize homes or businesses have metered tanks, and instead rely on fixed delivery dates by a known, trusted driver they can call in an emergency as insurance against a runout.

Drivers typically map out their own routes based on orders, customer relationships and weather patterns, using manual processes. Distributors would rather not make the investment in, or surrender control to, software and analytics. Smaller customers like pre-scheduled stops on a fixed route; large commercial and industrial customers will get their fuel, no matter what; the added cost and planning headaches are shunted onto distributors and drivers.

But as older managers and planners with the necessary historical knowledge retire, the new, tech-savvy generation taking over for them sees the inefficiencies of “the way we’ve always done it” and is looking at mobile and software-enabled solutions that dynamically optimize routes to prioritize deliveries and customers. 

The key to efficient bulk gas delivery lies with real-time visibility into the entire network — truck assets, available fuel, known customer inventories — by region or locality, rather than by individual route. That in turn enables more flexible route planning to accommodate shifting demand, redirecting capacity to where the need is greatest for fewer miles traveled, better utilization, more predictable driver schedules and improved customer satisfaction. 

Join Descartes Systems for a closer look at dynamic route planning and its potential benefits in performance and cost savings.