Allan Stobart Fuels select Fuelstar EPOD solution

Allan Stobart have been supplying householders, farmers and businesses with heating oil for over three decades and pride themselves in their outstanding customer service and keen prices. The company is a proud member of the West Cumberland Farmers (WCF) group, one of the largest independent fuel oil distributors in the UK.

WCF is an employee-owned business that operates in niche retail and specialist distribution through a number of autonomous businesses. Each is run independently meaning they can react to local market conditions and competitive forces.  All of the businesses are connected by a common set of values and employee-owned status which delivers consistently excellent customer service through high levels of employee engagement.

Allan Stobart operates from its base near Carlisle and undertakes regular deliveries with both large and small tankers as far as Lockerbie in the North, Brough & Kirkby Stephen in the East, South to Tebay & the Northern Lakes and much of the West Cumbrian Coast.

As the business has continued to grow and become more diversified, they were looking to introduce a technology-based solution that would replace the ever-increasing amount of paperwork. Efficient and effective operations are fundamental to delivering a first-class service, so the company needed to significantly reduce or completely eradicate paperwork which was both time-consuming and prone to human error.

Any new technology introduced to their operation needed to reorganise and improve existing processes and enable the drivers and back office to communicate more effectively. Touchstar solutions are specifically designed for the oil distribution industry and Allan Stobart are confident Fuelstar will streamline and improve their end-to-end delivery processes.

To tackle the challenge of reducing paperwork and streamlining processes, TouchStar will be using their comprehensive API integration and working with the existing CODAS back office system to integrate processes seamlessly. As a result, the trucks and back-office systems will communicate with one other in real time, providing a greater level of automation and reducing paperwork.

Another significant benefit will be the GPS technology which supports the truck routing and scheduling team, giving them a live view of the fleet locations, progress against plan and Left-On-Board. This enables a consistent and high level of customer service and reduces unnecessary mileage for the drivers.  

Carl van Wyk - Transport Manager, Allan Stobart (left), Steve Hindmarsh – General Manager, Allan Stobart (centre), Gordon Hyland, Sales Director, Touchstar Technologies (right).