ESG & Industry Updates

Need a Fill Up? There's an App for That

Posted by Ed Burke on Apr 27, 2017 11:56:39 AM

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A number of start ups are seeking to replace your trip to the gas station with the tap of an app. Much in the same fashion you would use a ride share service, or a mobile glass replacement service, these apps would allow you to request a fill up via smartphone from your home, office, or wherever is convenient.

Two models in play currently are a weekly service based on a monthly membership, or essentially "touch fueling" cars (instead of 18 wheelers or equipment) on larger business campuses.

These types of start ups are still in the early stages, despite initial success. There are a lot of questions on how successful these types of apps would be nationally, as local regulations and variances could vary widely, as would requirements for drivers  - getting approval in Dallas TX may be different than doing so in Cambridge MA, for example.

I did an article for Oil & Energy Magazine this month running through the basics of these new apps, two of the successful early companies running them, and what types of integration with vehicles we may see in the future. If you'd like to read the article you can do so here:  "Fill Your Car's Gas Tank by Smartphone"

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Topics: Oil & Energy Magazine, Technology

The Struggle is Real for Regulating Autonomous Vehicle Safety

Posted by Ed Burke on Mar 23, 2017 3:00:00 PM

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Self-Driving vehicles (or AV's - autonomous vehicles) are the undisputed next frontier in consumer transport technology. Automakers, it appears, are anxious for Federal Guidelines to be put in place in order to tailor their roll outs, and be assured that they are in compliance with safety expectations, as well as in order to circumvent the mess of State's adopting their own patchwork regulations in leiu of uniform federal regulations. 

There is a difficult cost-benefit analysis in play on timing rollouts, especially as pertains to Safety. 

AVs have the potential to have a life changing positive impact on people who are disabled or otherwise not physically able to drive a standard vehicle. Additionally, AVs remove human error from traffic incidents - and human error is estimated to be responsible for 94% of all traffic fatalities. 

The problem is, how safe is safe enough for AVs to rollout?

It's somewhat of a "catch 22" - autonomous vehicles "learn" to adapt by reacting to real world driving situations to improve their own safety, essentially, but what is the threshold at which we allow them out onto the roadways to improve in the first place? How much of a risk will early adopters be taking? 

I wrote an article for this month's issue of Oil & Energy Magazine on the topic of making Autonomous Vehicles safe enough - what that means, and what the next steps are for the industry and the federal government. You can read that article here: "Making Driverless Vehicles Safe"

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Topics: Safety, Technology, AVs

Control Costs By Embracing Technology

Posted by Ed Burke on Sep 21, 2016 3:00:00 PM

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Let's face it - innovation is often driven by either a desire to control costs, or a refusal to accept inefficiency. Often, it is both. Its hard to beat smart solutions that both control costs and allow for greater efficiency and productivity at the same time. In our unending quest to make things as efficient as possible, we've tried out and expanded tons of different systems for everything from financial data, to e-logs, to payroll, to website visits.

One of the biggest "bang for the buck" tools we've integrated into our daily business:

Tablets.

I can not say enough great things about our decision to move our drivers and dispatching to a tablet based system. Our tablet apps integrate mapping with GPS, so drivers can automatically track and then e-file their daily logs, and vehicle inspections. This saves mutiple hours per week, not even counting the time (and frustration) it saves in the office not having to sort, cross reference, and store stacks of paper.

The GPS tracking also enables us to easily file miles-per-state reports per IFTA regulations - instead of a driver writing out miles per state every day we simply run a report and file.

Integration allows dispatch to more efficiently assign loads, and automatically ensures that they have up to the minute information on the drivers hours of service so we can easily ensure compliance. 

Drivers also use their tablets to punch in and out, so payroll flows seamlessly from the app to HR. No more calling in hours, missed punches or snafus with vacation scheduling, its all handled within the apps. 

I wrote an article discussing tablets as well as a few other cost saving technologies we've employed that had additional time savings, insurance savings, etc (such as our phone apps). You can read the article here: "Controlling Costs and Staying Competitive" - you can read more about our cell phone app system here as well: "Want Safer Drivers? There's an App for That"

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Topics: Cell Phone Policy, Oil & Energy Magazine, Technology, tablets

Technology Offers Fuel Dealers a Competitive Edge

Posted by Ed Burke on Feb 1, 2012 10:32:00 AM

A lot has changed in the world over the past 50 years and in no area is this more apparent than technology. Its amazing to look back and think "how did we do this 25 years ago?"  - how did we adapt to computers, ipads, tweeting our every move.. Keeping up on technology is such a constant process its tempting to think of it as automatic. But is it really? Are we really optimizing our results and efficiency through technology?

We recently launched a new financial & accounting system and its really amazing to think that all the automated data feeds, customer tracking, alerts, and resource planning we now tend to view as standard were really akin to the flying car even just a decade ago.

I wrote a short article for Oil & Energy Magazine recently reflecting on these issues and how we've specifically addressed them at Dennis K Burke.  

You can read it at http://www.nefi.com/oilandenergy/archive/OE_0112_web/#/30/  As a bonus, the companion page has a great article on biodiesel at Weaver Energy

Or, its in PDF form here: Technology Offers Fuel Dealers a Competitive Edge 

 

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Topics: Oil & Energy Magazine, Technology

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