Sometimes it just takes seeing VEGA level sensors in action to realize what you’ve been missing out on. That’s the lesson a major fuel and lubricants supplier in the Rocky Mountains territory of the United States learned when one of their customers requested VEGA sensors at their copper mine. When the fuel supplier witnessed the precision and reliability of VEGA sensors, they saw an opportunity to better measure the level of fuel tanks at their own facilities.
To best understand how the fuel supplier came to the decision to use VEGA sensors at their facilities, it’s best to start at the beginning; in this case, their experience with their copper mine customer. Before going into business with the fuel supplier at the center of this story, the copper mine utilized a different supplier; a supplier that utilized VEGA sensors on their fuel tanks. When the mine’s contract with their old supplier expired, the VEGA sensors left along with the fuel tanks. The mine then switched to the fuel supplier featured in this story, but found that the instrumentation they were provided with was far less reliable than the VEGA sensors they used with their old supplier. After experiencing numerous difficulties in effectively managing their fuel, the mine went to the supplier and demanded a change: they wanted the reliability and precision of VEGA instrumentation.
In order to satisfy their customer, the fuel supplier obliged the copper mine’s request and made their first purchase of VEGA sensors. The mine’s insistence on using VEGA instrumentation piqued the fuel supplier’s interest, and so they monitored the sensors’ performance with great interest. What they discovered was that these sensors were critical to the mine’s ability to manage their fuel supply chain. This particular mine uses hundreds of gallons of fuel each day, so it was paramount for them to use precise sensors to ensure optimal processes. Noting the technological excellence that empowered their mining customer, the fuel supplier decided to take the next step and discover how VEGA could help streamline measurements in their own facilities.
Having seen firsthand how well VEGA sensors worked for fuel tank level measurements, the fuel supplier decided to procure instrumentation for their own tanks. The supplier maintains massive fuel tanks at five of their facilities, with an average of six tanks at each. Before working with VEGA, the supplier did not use any sort of instrumentation on these tanks, tying up operators to make manual measurements and making it difficult for stakeholders to make strategic inventory decisions.
Given the large size of each tank, the supplier would need to employ a sensor with a long measurement range. After consulting with the experts at VEGA, it was decided that the VEGAPULS 6X radar sensor would deliver the ideal capabilities. With a maximum measuring range of 120 meters, VEGAPULS 6X would be able to make reliable measurements with ease, and the precise signal focusing of 80 GHz radar technology would ensure accurate level data.
To complete the solution, VEGA provided the fuel supplier with VEGADIS 81 units for the sensor – which gave operators a way to easily view and make adjustments in an easily accessible location – and VEGA Inventory System (VIS), the web-based portal that allows operators and stakeholders to view level data on their vessels across multiple locations from any web-enabled mobile device.
Since outfitting their tanks with VEGA sensors connected to the VEGA Inventory System, the fuel supplier has made great strides in operational efficiency. Operators at the facilities now enjoy the benefits of level data delivered at a glance thanks to VEGAPULS 6X and VEGADIS 81, leaving them free to focus on more pressing matters across their plants. With VIS, management is able to view level data across all their connected facilities from their phone, allowing them to make more informed and strategic decisions about their inventory. Multiple personnel at one location even stated that their plant is now the premier example of operational excellence in their region. As this fuel supplier learned, sometimes becoming an industry leader is as simple as entrusting measurements to the precise and reliable solutions from VEGA.