MACHINE CONNECTION
In the machine connection, all the heavy assets of the petrol station are to be connected. Those connected assets are the reservoir, vending machines, truck carriers, roof sheds, etc. The idea is to improve productivity and reduce costs through predictive maintenance and data insights. In all these, sensors are to be attached to provide real-time data for analysis. Sensors like – environment sensors are also to be attached to know weather conditions, temperature, pressure, etc. To monitor these assets satellite imagery may also be used. There shall be video streaming also to understand the environment.
Future asset problems may be predicted to reduce downtime and efficiency improvement. Dust is one of the important challenges that have to be monitored in a service station. The well-coordinated system has to be maintained among assets for maximum productivity. The only improvement in productively and cost reduction can contribute to a higher margin. The neglected part has to be pointed out and it has to be also managed through our software. All the assets are to be in synchronization for productivity improvement. Any anomaly or defect in machines is to be also pointed out or detected in real-time. Not only among machines or assets of the operator but other operator’s machines and assets may also be connected for a comparative perspective and to understand the competitive advantage.
In the machine connection, we will enable network devices to exchange information and perform actions without the manual assistance of people in the service station. It would be managed by technology with some of the parts of the machine be automated. There shall be a central point for analysis by integrating sensors, the internet, and computers. The asset connection has to be strategic to achieve the purpose of productivity improvement, cost reduction, operation speed, hyper-digital orientation, and to help large scale businesses with accurate prediction or output for decision making. Various new insights are to be drawn to take action for a profitable business. Machine connection will monitor the critical infrastructure of service stations with minimum people intervention. It will also monitor service station traffic in real-time. The sensors are to be of high quality. These sensors can send details about pressure, flow rate, temperature, moisture content, and even fuel levels and inventory. Traffic volume and speed have to be monitored by using control devices like lights and information signs. Using the incoming data, the software will maximize traffic speed and other vehicles operating in a service station.
Energy efficiency is another aspect in the service station and it has to be monitored through our software. Our central hub has to dispatch data to the owner or person in- charge’s mobile or wearable in real-time. It will consume less power and here both consumers and suppliers will be benefitted by getting the information.
For our central hub, to identify and to keep the data record, all the incoming vehicle to service station be identified with their vehicle number with an ID, and that may be of use for new business purposes. There shall be also automatic counting of how many two-wheelers, four-wheelers get fuel filled or any other. How many times at a time liquid did flow, that reading will be studied for business transformation and scale purpose. How many smart petrol cards users are there in your area are to be studied. There shall be monitoring and update of digital billboard about service station business activity and other, and on pricing, and events.
Our predictive e-maintenance should provide Optimization, prediction, clustering, classification, benchmarking and so on. The machine synchronization module will connect to other departments of operation speed, business transformation, and business scale.
For health management of service station, there shall be a) service station clustering with similar machines for sound comparison, and b) local cluster fault detection to evaluate the similarity of individual machines. Here, the global model may not work but there shall be information sharing among local clusters for better health of service station through our service hub. By leveraging data generated from other similar service stations, the problem or fault detection can be done in a service station and it may have a comparison to the other three departments in a broader sense. Critical model parameters like training samples, components, and alarming limits set are the same for all the units regardless of their different functionalities. But, sometimes false alert discourages the user. However, this peer to peer comparison methodology inside a machine network could improve the fault detection accuracy significantly.
Harvesting of values from machines/assets also needs a redesign of the service station. For example, the location may reach both sides of the road despite the facility is in one side.
OPERATION SPEED
Speed is understood as money for industries. Without speed in operation, a service station will lose competitiveness and money. The profit of the service station depends on speed. Operation speed in the service station can be achieved by well-integrated assets. The long queue in the service station has to be managed for speed operation. Any safety-related issue has to be attached to preventive and predictive maintenance and safety guidelines. For speed operation trend and patterns has to be studied. Video streaming and satellite imagery have to be given importance. Distance and time factors are to be attached to analysis for speed. Hyper awareness to market is important for speed in operation. Human and financial resources are to be also attached to speed. Hyper awareness of the environment also required for speed. Hour, week, fortnight, month, year calculation on different factors are to be attached beforehand to develop speed. Policy, guidelines, law have to be properly understood. All assets are to be attached to an operation speed. You should also attach to other vendors of your area and different area, for uncertainty management. You develop positive enthusiasm in your operation so that speed can be developed. Operation speed can be achieved through efficient use of the supply chain. Information management is another aspect of speed. You should have a good infrastructure with no potholes nearby.
The design speed of a service station related to its machine connection, business transformation and scale. The highest design speed of a service station is the design speed of its least favorite part. This speed also corresponds to strategic speed. The design speed is determined by the capability of the owner. This speed of operation changes with urban and local settings. The owner should have a targeted speed- how much he needs to sell per month, week, day and hour. When things are calculated in hour speed is higher than the design speed. The design speed may be influenced by – asset design of service station, planned operating speed, legislated speed limit caps, anticipated traffic volumes, the service station’s functional classification. The speed of safety is the main idea of a petrol pump.
Perception reaction time PRT and maneuver reaction time MRT applies to stop in operation and transform for new speed. A collision of any kind be avoided in speed operation. Reaction time is minimized for a quick decision. The yellow range is where the service station operates smoothly, next is the abrupt control movement, and the last is v line which is not to be exceeded.
How to deliver more services with less time without consuming the time of the customers is also important.
BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION
You want business transformation in the digital age. Let you digitize everything in operation and capture the new opportunities in your field and expand your business to a new area. What is the new business area that can be attached to your existing service station business? What is happening around the globe? What is the specialty of your area and what is the gap in your area in business? What new business value you can offer to the local community? You can attach your business to other businesses and brands of your area and outside your area. You attach to the gas business, you attach to an electric charging machine before anybody does it. You should have hyper-awareness to transformative market. Use technology to understand this transformation in real-time around another part of the country and the globe. Sustained delivery of goods and services to customers with low cost and big experience rather than the brand has become an important priority.
In a shifting market, there shall be a fundamental shift in the way business conducted in a service station. Technology has to be used for profit. Otherwise, the operator will be in loss and to fulfill this loss they may radically hamper the business environment. Business transformation is caused by external changes in the market such as changes in organization’s old product or services, funding or income streams being changed, new regulations coming into force or market competition become more intense. In the case of the service station, new GST would make a market impact, the further market is moving towards digitization. It is necessary for productivity improvement, customer satisfaction, and cost reduction. There shall be realigning in staff, structure, core product and service portfolio, through the introduction of digital technology. Is there any shift in the consumer base? What kind of business perspective projection available for a particular service station? All these can be provided on a real-time basis from our services hub.
BUSINESS SCALE
Only doing business does not yield a profit if you are not applying scale in quantitative terms. For that, you have to have speed in operation. How much you are selling and how much you should sell, so that you will have a higher margin. Where do you need to expand in business, and how and when. What are the new areas and in which area you can move faster to catch upscale? The business scale is also related to your quality services. Learn different quality services in different petrol pumps in the world. What is your peripheral area that should not collide with others? What type of service station you are and to whom you need to associate with is the idea behind the business scale.
What are the intangible/invisible assets of a petrol station? Can we derive wealth or value from it? Different locations have different invisible assets.
Long term sale contracts are important as well as multiple revenue streams. There shall be a high business return from all the strategic assets and high business margins from selling products. Identify intangible assets – patent, etc from partnering with a local institution, create a business that has the potential to be expanded, expand market by offering product or services to a wider section of an existing market or to a new demographic, psychographic or geographic market. Develop a brand of your services through company brand value, tagline or by new research. Give customers innovative experiences.
Create demand or desirability for your goods and services, create the ability of customers to pay for your goods and services, create uniqueness and competitiveness of your business model, control the quality of your products and services. Finally, you create public regard for your business as a member of the community.
