SMOOTHING THE WAY TO SUSTAINABILITY AND FUEL EFFICIENCY WITH OMNICOMM TECNOLOGY
When SBI International Holdings AG wanted to achieve fuel savings for its construction and development projects in Africa, they turned to Omnicomm for a precise, reliable and comprehensive fuel management solution that exceeded their expectations.
Omnicomm’s integrated fuel-level sensor and online software system generated average savings of 26% of fuel consumption for the 10 vehicles involved in the trial.
SBI International Holdings AG is the global infrastructure arm of the Shikun & Binui Group, specializing in civil engineering, development and construction. Founded in 1924, today the company’s operations span the Middle East and Africa, South America and the USA.
SBI’s notable projects include the Lagos – Ibadan Highway road Section II in Nigeria, the Mbarara–Katuna road in Uganda, the Mughanli–Yevlakh highway in Azerbaijan, the Perimetral de Oriente de Cundinamarca road in Colombia, the Mau Summit– Kericho–Nyamasaria road in Kenya and the Transversal Del Norte in Guatemala.
Projects of this magnitude typically involve budgets running into hundreds of millions of US dollars, with a significant portion of these costs spent on fuel. So it’s no surprise that when SBI wanted to find ways to optimize efficiencies and cut costs, achieving fuel savings was identified as a primary goal.
To this end, the company initiated several pilot projects with various fuel system service providers. Due to the scope and importance of the undertaking, making the right decision was not going to be a rush job...
THE NUMBERS
THE CHALLENGE
THE SOLUTION
Denis Repushinski, Chief Sustainability Officer at SBI Kenya, explains that while the decision to seek cost-cutting solutions was made some time ago, the company appreciated that it wasn’t a decision that could be made in a hurry. “Various fuel control systems were piloted at different branches over the past decade”, he explains. “These included manned fuel controllers out in the field and at filling stations, overseeing processes to ensure that that fuel was being managed correctly).”
Effective fuel management and control in far flung parts of the world can be challenging enough, and even more so on a project of this scope and importance. SBI cites the example of a project they were involved with in Kenya in 2012. The operation included a fleet of more than 600 units, including 250 trucks, with an overall average fuel consumption of over $1,000,000 per month. SBI estimates that over 30% of these costs were down to fuel irregularities and inefficiencies.
Clearly, something needed to be done, and SBI forged ahead with trialling suitable solutions.
In Kenya, a group of top international fleet management and fuel gauging service providers were identified and pilot runs began.
It soon became apparent that one company stood out from the rest: Omnicomm. The reliability and extremely high accuracy levels of Omnicomm’s fuel sensors and fuel management solution gave SBI valuable, usable, accurate data around-the-clock. Even more impressively, Omnicomm’s integrated fuel-level sensor and online software system generated average savings of 26% of fuel consumption for the 10 vehicles involved in the trial.
With this level of performance and results like these, it wasn’t long before SBI approved the roll-out of Omnicomm technology on more vehicles and machines across a range of projects in the Kenya Branch.
THE RESULT
Today, SBI has Omnicomm’s fuel-level sensors (700 and 1000mm), Omnicomm Profi and Optim GPS Trackers and Omnicomm Online running in over 200 vehicles and 10 filling stations in Kenya – with more in the pipeline. SBI is considering extending the project to its other branches, too. In addition to reducing fuel costs, the Omnicomm solution has also become an indispensable management tool for SBI project managers and engineers who rely on it to live track units, identify unscheduled route changes and reassign units to further optimize overall efficiencies.
SBI is extremely satisfied with the system’s results, and Repushinski urges other fleet operators to try the technology themselves. “Especially those companies operating big fleets, where without a handle on fuel management, potential losses are significant”, he says.
CUSTOMER REFERENCE
“Doing a trial run with even just a few vehicles gives an excellent indication of how it all works and the efficiencies that can be achieved. And the initial cost of the Omnicomm fuel management solution is negligible when compared to the savings it delivers right from the outset. Increased efficiency, reduced mileage, reduced maintenance costs and reduced fuel consumption … it’s a manager’s dream come true!”, Denis Repushinski, Chief Sustainability Officer, SBI Kenya