Updated:
9/29/2008 3:00:00 PM
Demand for Fuel Optimization Product Gains as Pump Prices Increase, TMW Systems Says
By Thomas Strah, Editor, TT Magazines
This story appears in the Sept. 29 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.
ORLANDO, Fla. — A fuel-optimization module acquired 12 months ago has since become a leading growth product for software vendor TMW Systems, which held its annual user conference in the heart of this resort-rich peninsula last week.
By the end of 2008, TMW expects to nearly double the number of trucking and other transportation-related customers using a bundle of fuel pricing, best-route-finding and lane-picking software designed by Integrated Decision Support Corp., Richardson, Texas.
TMW purchased IDSC in September 2007 — not long before the national average cost of diesel started heading for uncharted heights.
“Obviously, $5-a-gallon diesel helped spur a lot of interest in the product,” Dave Wangler, TMW’s chief executive officer, said. “We came into the year with 60 customers using [IDSC’s] ExpertFuel, and we’ll exit with 110 to 115 on it.”
The Department of Energy fuel price leaped from a $3 plateau last October, and in February took off for $4 and higher.
Truckload carriers “are really going after out-of-route miles,” Wangler told Transport Topics Sept. 21, in explaining why demand is strong for all kinds of optimization tools in the highly competitive software field. “And they’re trying to find out who’s really the low-cost [fuel] provider,” using optimization as sort of a truth-in-advertising search engine.
Getting the best price has become even more important, as the fuel-price spread — the difference between highest and lowest truck-stop retail prices across the country — is now running well over a dollar, Wangler said.
TMW’s nationwide snapshot on Sept. 24 showed a range of $3.29 to $4.92 per gallon.
The algorithms of ExpertFuel and related programs are designed to examine fuel prices; vehicle consumption; the fleet’s fueling network; state tax implications; route and tank-fill policies; out-of-route miles; and amenities drivers want at truck stops in helping managers identify best fueling locations and negotiate price discounts with suppliers, according to TMW.
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