Jigsaw aids Asda in fuelling upgrade
Supermarket giant Asda has upgraded its existing fuel management system with assistance from fuelling solutions provider Jigsaw.
The biggest drivers for change included the need for precise fuel usage details, accurate reconciliation of fuel purchased with fuel used, upgraded hardware and replacement of infrastructure, and accuracy of fuel performance monitoring.
John Rogerson and his senior management team were given the task of first identifying a long-term partner to supply reliable hardware so the current system could be replaced with minimum disruption, to interface to the existing tank gauge systems, and to provide the latest, web based, real time stock and data management.
In addition, it was requested that the system use the Asda Colleague cards to identify drivers and to gather mileage data using a direct, real-time interface to the company’s Microlise Telematics system.
After reviewing all the usual contenders, Asda selected the Jigsaw Fuel Management System. Project leaders were assigned at both Asda and Jigsaw, and an action plan was agreed to update as many as four Asda sites a week, some sites with eight fuel management terminals. After some data cleansing, the vehicle and driver lists were auto imported directly into the Jigsaw server databases from the existing fuel management system.
The whole project, with more than 60 fuel island terminals across 30 sites, was completed in eight weeks, including the development of the driver card interface and the Microlise real time mileage gathering interface.
As the sites were brought online, the on-site management teams were trained over the Zoom network so that they were fully up to speed with how the system works and what they needed to do to maintain the system on a day-to-day basis. As the fleet is centrally managed, apart from generally reacting to any locally highlighted issues on the QuickView screen, the main requirement for the site staff is to input any stock deliveries in a timely manner.
Once the system was bedded in, and everyone had time to take a breath, the system was reviewed and a number of 
enhancements were requested by the Asda team. As a result, Jigsaw developed a reporting system that measured the time between the tank gauge detecting a stock rise, and the on-site staff inputting the details into the system. This report was used as one of the internal KPIs for managing the fuel system.
The interface to the Microlise vehicle tracking system used by Asda automatically requests the vehicle’s mileage as it is fuelled.
“This interface has proved very reliable with accurate mileages being automatically inserted into the fuelling data with no associated driver input required, but from time to time, issues did occur,” said Jigsaw.
“In servicing the vehicles, sometimes the interface between the vehicle and the telematics unit was disconnected so that mileages wouldn’t increment. Again, the Asda management team requested a report which would highlight any vehicles so afflicted.
“Once the main system was operating smoothly, and the enhancements requested were in place, Asda added LNG refuelling operations to some of their key sites. Even though the Jigsaw hardware was installed by the LNG system supplier, the fuelling data was fully integrated with the Asda liquid fuel sites so that a complete picture for all vehicles was visible through one system.”
