Digital transformation optimises operations

20 years’ advancement in two years

“We were still using somewhat of a 1987 solution,” says CEO Leon Sloth Skovbo, showing us a copy of the company’s legendary ‘blue form’. For decades, this form was the backbone of AVISTA OIL Danmark’s waste oil collection across the country. Six months ago, the form was retired and the company’s processes were digitised into a Microsoft Field Service-based solution integrated with Dynamics NAV and Power BI. It marked the beginning of a whole new way of working for most of the company’s employees.

As Chief Financial Officer Martin Jack Mattison puts it: “In just two years, I believe we have achieved 20 years of technological advances ...”

The blue form actually worked quite well. All data on the oil collection order were recorded with a carbon copy for the customer. However, if a single form was delayed or lost, it was impossible to make up the monthly accounts.

“It was a huge problem,” says Logistics and Human Resources Manager Claus Cebulla, who is responsible for the approximately 11,000 annual oil collections from auto mechanics, recycling stations, farms, businesses, etc.

Immensely improved utilisation of our fleet

Claus Cebulla’s daily work at AVISTA OIL Danmark has changed a lot after the implementation of the Field Service solution at the end of 2019.

We encountered him and his colleague at the large computer screens that provide them with an overview of the entire operation: Drivers on duty, geographical location of tankers, time and place of scheduled waste oil collections.

One of the great advantages is that the system makes it extremely easy to schedule and reschedule collections. Any changes made centrally are immediately visible in the 16 tankers that are equipped with iPads provided with the system app.

“If a customer calls from Aalborg, and there’s a tanker in the area with enough time and the required spare capacity, I can immediately direct the tanker to the customer. It means that we may be able to collect the waste oil within an hour,” says Claus Cebulla.

This new and structured way of working has improved customer service and optimised utilisation of resources.  

“Our workdays here in the office and out in the tankers has improved immensely,” says Claus Cebulla.

“We’re utilising our fleet much better now. It’s difficult to say exactly how much we’ve gained. But I can tell you that we’ve seen a period with increased illness among our drivers, and still we managed to break our collection record.”

“We now have surplus capacity. This means that our overtime pay costs have decreased. We’ve optimised the time consumption for oil collection,” concludes Claus Cebulla.

Easy recording of working hours and super fast billing

Recording of working hours has completely transformed as well:

“Drivers enter their hours in the app and they are then transferred to the solution. Every Monday, I record my hours for the last week, saving myself 7-8 hours a week,” says Claus Cebulla.

And then there’s the time it takes from oil collection to invoice:

“We receive some orders by phone at about 10 in the morning. If there’s a tanker in the area, we may be able to collect the oil within an hour – and using the Field Service system, we’re able to issue the invoice later that day. It’s really clever!”

The drivers are VERY happy with the solution

We walk out in front of the office at Port of Kalundborg where driver Bo Joergensen is preparing to leave in his tanker.

The iPad, which is mounted next to the coffee maker in the well-appointed cab, is an important part of his work now. It holds EVERYTHING he needs: The list of collections, navigation all the way to the individual oil tank, a picture of the tank showing where to position the tanker, the report to the customer and the possibility to fully complete the visit with billing basis and customer signature.

“It’s MUCH easier,” says Bo Joergensen before heading out on the first collection run of the day.

“In the past, each driver received the collection orders for the next day from customer service by email at four in the afternoon, after which point it was very difficult to change anything. Now, I can change it in a minute. I can add and remove orders, and the driver, who is online on his tablet, is notified immediately,” says Claus Cebulla.

The driver no longer spends time on paperwork:

“The system generates a report to the Environmental Protection Agency, documenting that the company has disposed of the oil, and that we have collected it. The system is set up for each company with the right collection interval. We only need to check a box and then the system takes care of the rest,” says Claus Cebulla.

NORRIQ is great at challenging us

“Our cooperation with NORRIQ has worked very well,” says Leon Sloth Skovbo.

“Our old factory burned down mid-process, which led to quite a few replacements and some turmoil in the project on our part. NORRIQ has been very good at keeping their nose to the grindstone as we put it out here in West Zealand. Staying focused and driving things forward – maintaining an overview.”

“NORRIQ is especially apt at coming up with ideas for solutions and providing different alternatives. That has been very productive for us. We want to be challenged, to develop and become better at what we do.”

“If adding digital support to our processes means that we can do more work with the same people, then it’s definitely the way to go for us,” says Leon Sloth Skovbo

AVISTA OIL goes the extra mile with IoT

The implementation of Microsoft Field Service allows for the use of Internet of Things technology, which the solution is made ready for.

IoT can optimise waste oil collection, save fuel for the tankers and improve customer service even more:

“We install IoT sensors in the customers’ oil tanks, enabling online monitoring of the tank level. This allows us to check the tank level from our offices. It means that we’re able to collect the oil when the tank is almost 100 per cent full. The system can also be set to create a collection order at a specific tank level,” says Claus Cebulla.

“It means that we can reduce our number of visits to the customers as much as possible: Saving miles, saving costs, saving time. And providing the customer with high-level service

Power BI: Revolutionising reporting

The digital transformation at AVISTA OIL Danmark has also revolutionised reporting:

“We’ve gained a much more detailed overview of our business activities and a much clearer picture of where to concentrate our efforts. It has become significantly easier for us to handle environmental reporting to the authorities, and reporting back to the parent company has also become easier,” says CFO Martin Jack Mattison before he concludes:

“We’re now able to divide the company’s activities into additional dimensions, and we’ve gone from having a general income statement to being able to differentiate between our various business activities. This has given us deeper insight into our activities, providing management with a significantly improved basis for deciding how to manage the company.”