The international software and consulting company for the oil and gas industry, Implico, celebrates another milestone in its on-going digitalization journey. Its “Connected Truck and Connected Depot 1.0” apps are now SAP certified – Built on SAP Cloud Platform through the “Co-Innovated with SAP” program. The cloud-based micro services offer tank terminal operators and their business partners significant benefits, such as more efficient, secure and transparent truck handling from entrance to exit. The SAP certification underlines the added value that “Connected Truck” and “Connected Depot” grant their users.
The “Co-Innovated with SAP” program is designed to help partners through the development lifecycle that culminates in a SAP-certified and tested solution against SAP product standards. It is an end-to-end program of guided services offered by the SAP Partner Innovation Lifecycle Services organization that helps partners take their products to market in alignment with other SAP teams (product management, solution management, development and field), thereby providing the guidance and support to help ensure a competitive solution in the marketplace.
The apps “Connected Truck” and “Connected Depot” are part of the “Supply Chain United” (SCU), an across-the-board architecture of easy-to-use web services for all supply chain processes with multiple participants. Implico realized them through the co-innovation program with SAP. This initiative enabled the downstream IT solution provider to tap into a global expert network and use state-of-the-art technologies and platforms. The result are two best-of-breed solutions providing oil and gas companies – such as tank farms, refineries, fuel retail networks and logistics firms – with operational process excellence and further added value.
Linking truck drivers with dispatching and transport planning systems
The app “Connected Truck” directly links the truck driver with the dispatching and transport planning system. This enhances the trip planning and reconciliation for bulk deliveries significantly and raises a wealth of new possibilities. The result: The fetch and deliver process can become more efficient, transparent and safe for all parties involved.
Speeding up truck handling via the new “Online Check-in”
The app “Connected Depot” addresses two crucial issues at tank farms with truck connections, namely queuing at the gate and traffic on site. Via the cloud-based functionality “Online Check-in”, it streamlines product loading in oil, gas and chemical terminals. The key to success: “Connected Depot” links all partakers in the operation in real time. The app keeps them in the loop regarding the latest developments and lets them carry out key work steps before the truck has even arrived at the gate. This supports a seamless process from planning to execution – even in cases that involve several terminals and customers.
Taking an important step towards a fully digitalized downstream supply chain
Jean-Marc Delbos, Director, Oil & Gas Industry Business Unit at SAP, points out: “To boost the supply chain efficiency across complex business networks by increased collaboration based on standardized processes becomes an objective that companies are pursuing in the fuels secondary distribution domain. The ‘Connected Truck’ and ‘Connected Depot’ applications, by Implico, are prefiguring the evolution towards such business networks that will further develop in these times of fundamental transformation.”
Tim Hoffmeister, CEO of Implico Group, is excited about the latest developments and the things to come: “With the ’Connected Truck’ and ‘Connected Depot’ apps newly achieving SAP Certification through the ‘Co-Innovated with SAP’ program, we are taking an important step towards our vision of a fully digitalized, intelligent downstream supply chain. The increase in process optimization for tank farms and carriers is immense. We are looking forward to offer our new ‘Supply Chain United’ technologies to the industry soon. Here, the label ‘Co-Innovated with SAP’ will help us a lot. After all, a company that opts for an SAP-certified product can be certain to receive class-A technology and service to help boost its business.”
“Connected Truck” and “Connected Depot” are already implemented at pilot locations in Europe. For further information on the co-innovation apps in particular and the “Supply Chain United” in general, Implico invites interested parties to visit www.supply-chain-united.com and sign up for the SCU-specific mailing list.