You may already be aware that Merridale Ltd manufacture, install, repair and maintain fuel pumps and associated equipment used for refuelling commercial vehicles at around five thousand sites throughout the UK. Most of these sites, and the vehicles that refuel at them, are operated by freight haulage companies, food and drink distribution companies, emergency services, health services, local authorities, and other vital transport operators that are key to keeping the country running.

For this reason, and under the transport category of the UK Government’s Coronavirus Guidelines, Merridale remained open throughout this time to ensure these essential services could remain on the road and active.

Merridale is currently operating its nationwide service and repair business as usual, with customer support and field engineers remaining unaffected throughout. Many aspects of the Merridale business have been operating remotely too, with only a nominal amount of staff needing to be furloughed through the government scheme.

Sales Director, Stephan Hannan, said “We are pleased that we have been able to continue the service and repairs aspect of our business. We have also started the process of bringing furloughed staff back to work, either remotely for the time being or by keeping to safe working regulations as advised by the government. This means we can now safely bring production back to the same levels they were at before lockdown.” 

The office staff who can continue their roles by remotely accessing their work computers will continue to do so. For those working in production and servicing, social distancing measures have been put in place and PPE provided, such as gloves, masks, and hand sanitiser, to achieve a safe working environment. Engineers have also been fully equipped with all spare parts they may require for various jobs. This is to reduce the likelihood of them having to visit the main base unless it is necessary. 

Stephen continued “Merridale have reassured their customers throughout that we are ever-present and here for them with continued support. We are keen to ensure that transport operators have the tools they need to get through these times and bounce back to their previous levels.”

According to Fleet Maintenance Manager, Rob Clarke, the programme has achieved immediate benefits by enabling the Service to take advantage of favourable discounts for bulk purchasing. The fuel has two purposes, he explains.

“Primarily it is for day to day operational use. Since fuel is essential to our operations it also has a strategic resilience value. Should there be any threat to fuel supplies, we would top up all our fuel tanks and then hold that stock as a reserve and draw fuel from alternative providers.”

The Merridale system has transformed fuel management procurement from a painstaking clerical effort, into a more effective management facility which has freed up staff to do other tasks.

“We are also saving time by centralising fuel administration. This information is needed to reconcile fuel deliveries against usage. Previously the stations would maintain daily logs. Weekly reports were then submitted to the transport department who would key the details into a computer spread-sheet for central records and accounts. With people involved, queries were inevitable and as a result valuable time was taken up in trying to balance the books.

“By automating the process we have taken out the possibilities for human error and streamlined our administration. Details of fuel drawn are now keyed directly into the system whenever a vehicle is filled up. Tank contents are also monitored electronically. The information is immediately available to managers giving them a clear overview of status on which to make better informed fuel procurement decisions.”

Merridale software was selected following evaluation under a competitive tender process. According to Rob Clarke, the deciding factor for Merridale was “its flexibility to cover different operational requirements.”

“Rather than committing to fixed installations, all the new tanks are self-bunded moveable units, allowing more flexibility and in effect, future proofing the stations,” he says.

The Nottinghamshire FRS territory stretches from south of Doncaster down to the borders of Leicestershire. This area is served by 24 fire stations plus a number of auxiliary depots. Each of these has two or three appliances, service vans and specialist 4 x 4 vehicles.

Currently the total fleet size is around 150 vehicles. All NFRS vehicles are allocated keys to access fuelling points at all the stations. Additionally as a backup measure, each vehicle has a corporate fuel card, enabling crews to draw fuel from retail forecourts if necessary.

Details of external fuelling are imported directly into the Merridale database which ensures that managers have a total overview of all fuelling transactions by date, value and individual vehicle.
Training was provided during the commissioning and technical assistance was provided by Merridale for setting up the vehicle database.

“The training went smoothly and we found Merridale an easy system to use,” says NFRS Transport Co-ordinator, Karen Hollis.

“Building the vehicle database and other set up tasks such as getting the keys coded provided the opportunity to become familiar with the way it worked.”

“We did have had some issues with individuals getting locked out after inputting the incorrect odometer reading but these have stopped now that the crews are more familiar with how the system works.

“On a day to day basis, I run the low stock report to monitor stock levels, but more importantly the Merridale system also enables us to analyse fuel usage. We can look at individual vehicles and drill down into the detail of exactly how many litres a vehicle is using and how this compares within our fleet and across other Services.

“Since we are an emergency service, we are still focussed on fuel economy, but our priorities are availability and the efficiencies we can achieve by bulk purchasing, and the need to be fully transparent with our fuel audit was one of the cardinal points for the operational user requirement.

“The Merridale system has enabled transport department staff to take on responsibility for fuel ordering which we didn’t do previously. We now have a continuous readout of stock and can see the broad picture across all the stations. This visibility is an advantage, as it allows us to plan more effectively. I can look at stock levels and make a decision on when to order.”

Rob Clarke concludes by saying. “The Merridale system has transformed fuel management procurement from a painstaking clerical effort, into a more effective management facility which has freed up staff to do other tasks.

“As a manager and as a Service, we have had no regrets in moving across to the Merridale system and I am sure that it is paying for itself on a daily basis.”

Fuel management is based on Merridale FuelFX software, supplied by MIS Fuel Monitoring of Wolverhampton. This provides security, stock control and allows allocation of fuel against specific vehicles and user accounts. Under a recent upgrade, the functionality of the system has been enhanced further by the installation of electronic tank content gauging units.

Fully integrated with the Merridale FuelFX, the gauges provide a continuous read-out of current stock status. Fuel usage is fully reconciled with deliveries and headquarters staff can check the stock level before re-ordering.

“Merridale software was installed during the late Nineties as the basis for holding bunkered diesel supplies,” explains Derbyshire’s transport manager, John Millett, adding, “whilst the Merridale software gave us effective control of fuel usage, we still had to rely on station personnel for checking the tank and keeping a record of deliveries, to update the system database.”

“Even with the best intentions, this update might be delayed or even overlooked in the event of a call-out. The introduction of automatic tank gauging has eliminated this risk by updating automatically, whenever a delivery is made.”

Vehicles are allocated keys, wherever practical, enabling them to access fuel 24 hours a day, from any of the county’s ten fuelling points. To authorise the transaction, the driver must enter the vehicle fleet number and mileage. Details of the fuel drawn are recorded for subsequent downloading to the central management system.

Merridale fuel management systems are in service with a number of emergency services, including the police, ambulance and the national blood service. Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service was one of the first to implement Merridale as its core IT solution for managing bunkered stocks.

Derbyshire covers a wide area, both rural and urban with three major towns, Buxton, Chesterfield and Long Eaton as well as the city of Derby. These are served by nine whole-time, fire stations, three others day staffed and 19 are manned by retained part time personnel. Bunkered fuel is held at ten locations. The other stations use fuel cards enabling personnel to draw fuel from garage forecourts.

Currently the service operates 44 fire appliances across the county, along with 13 other special appliances, aerial ladder platforms, emergency tenders and a special environmental unit. The total fleet of 140 vehicles also includes vans and specialist 4x4 vehicles.

John Millett continues: “Vehicles are allocated keys, wherever practical, enabling them to access fuel 24 hours a day, from any of the county’s ten fuelling points. To authorise the transaction, the driver must enter the vehicle fleet number and mileage. Details of the fuel drawn are recorded for subsequent downloading to the central management system.”

Each station has a master key to allow fuel to be drawn on account for external organisations. Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service work with a number of partnership organisations, such as maintenance support and fire prevention specialists. By capturing details of these transactions, the headquarters staff are able to keep track of the costs associated with these third party arrangements.

As an alternative to bunker facilities, fuel cards are used in the more remote stations which have access to local garage facilities. In these cases the priority is on availability of the appliances and crew on watch. Fuel cards are also required to purchase canned-stock of petrol which is required for running auxiliary equipment onboard the appliances.”

“If necessary the cards also provide a back-up solution for obtaining additional diesel supplies while deployed at a major incident,” says John Millett. Details from all these external transactions are imported onto the central Merridale database, enabling us to keep track of all fuel costs. Future plans include the integration of this information into the higher level fleet management system.”

Summarising the benefits, John Millett concludes: “The Merridale fuel management software gives us the visibility and flexibility we need to allocate fuel to different users and manage stocks centrally. We can look at the tanks and order fuel accordingly. This has proved to be a real asset during fuel crisis situations. If there is any possibility of a shortage we can ensure that we keep our tanks topped-up, which is important to an emergency service.”

In addition to the implementation of Merridale FuelFX management and reporting software, the programme includes the installation and maintenance of Merridale Auditor FX control units at nine depot fuelling points. These are located at the headquarters in Aylesbury and eight other principle stations within the county’s operational network.

So for us it was critical to have something that was reliable and robust. And we wanted a system that would be supported properly and not compromised by future demands to pay for upgrades.

Each of the Merridale Auditor units is linked to the central administration computer. Currently four are wired directly into the BFRS corporate network, via data ports where these are accessible; while the remainder use BT landline telephone modems. It is intended to replace the latter in due course in order to achieve a totally independent communications infrastructure.

The challenge

BFRS operates a fleet of 57 fire appliances from 22 strategically placed stations. The availability of depot fuelling is an important aspect of operational planning. Mobility is crucial. In addition to the traditional appliances, BFRS has 120 cars and general purpose vehicles. Key personnel are also given access to depot fuelling facilities and the facilities are also used by third party public sector organisations.

“So for us it was critical to have something that was reliable and robust. And we wanted a system that would be supported properly and not compromised by future demands to pay for upgrades,” said Gordon Wylie, BFRS Group Manager for Property.