The study coincides with the 15-year anniversary of the launch of IDSC ExpertFuel. It was first developed by the former Integrated Decision Support Corporation (IDSC), which was purchased by TMW Systems in 2007. TMW is North America's leading provider of enterprise transportation, fleet maintenance and carrier profitability software.
'The fuel purchase savings were measured net of IFTA taxes and were based on actual purchases made by carriers in comparison to the average cost per gallon of diesel along traveled routes,' TMW Vice President Michael August said. 'The average cost included each customer's pre-negotiated fuel purchase discounts with vendors. In real terms, this study demonstrates that our customers are saving an average of seven to nine cents per gallon over and above their existing fuel discounts, no matter where the current price of diesel stands.'
The customer study aggregates results from more than 100 trucking companies, current IDSC ExpertFuel customers who have agreed to participate in the benchmarking and savings analysis project. August is General Manager for the TMW Optimization product line, which includes IDSC ExpertFuel, IDSC Netwise, IDSC SupplyChain and IDSC TripAlert, among other tools for carrier profitability.
'Even at today's prices, IDSC ExpertFuel provides us with more opportunities for savings because the retail pricing spread in the marketplace is much wider than during price spikes,' said DJ Kirby, business analyst for customer Bay & Bay Transportation. The company's Fuel Manager Doug Martinson added, 'For the first quarter of the year, we've been able to document a $70,000 savings.' Bay & Bay of Rosemount, MN, operates 450 power units and 150 reefers.
In 2000, Florilli Transportation CEO Murray Fitzer and his team implemented IDSC ExpertFuel from TMW Systems. The product is still in constant use driving fuel planning and purchasing efficiencies and generating significant cost savings for the West Liberty, Iowa-based truckload carrier.
"Some of this savings can be attributed to the discounts that our fuel vendors offer, but IDSC ExpertFuel is ultimately the tool that leverages that savings and produces the plans that our drivers can follow," Fitzer said. "We are realizing as much as 11 cents per gallon savings compared to the average cost of fuel along the route lines we travel, saving thousands of dollars in fuel costs each and every week.'
TMW Systems plans to continue the fuel savings study through the end of 2009 and publish the results as a best practices guide for carrier fuel expense reduction in 2010.
