This fireside chat recap is from the FreightWaves Fuel Buyers Summit on Wednesday.
FIRESIDE CHAT TOPIC: Technology that can help buy fuel smarter
DETAILS: As fuel-pricing mechanisms become more complicated, technology is playing a bigger-than-ever role in helping manage the traditional process of fuel buying.
SPEAKERS: Don Thibodeaux is co-founder and CEO of Houston-based FuelHub, and Scott Berhang is the director of FreightWaves Academy.
BIOS: Thibodeaux has more than 15 years working in fuel operations, consulting and sales. FuelHub is a fourth-party logistics provider for bulk fuel buyers. Berhang is the director of FreightWaves Academy and the host of FreightWaves Fuel Buyers Summit.
KEY QUOTES FROM THIBODEAUX
“Fuel pricing over the next several months into the next couple of years is expected to go up. First, the price of crude will go up, which then ultimately has a downstream impact on the price at the pump, or the wholesale price of fuel, so the trajectory is up. The volatility, it’s not going anywhere. It’s here to stay.”
“When you reallocate resources as a result of automating processes, that in and of itself has a tremendous impact on the bottom line. You’re able to move resources away from low-value tasks to tasks with more meaningful responsibility and impact within the organization. You’ve got lower operating costs that are a result of being able to streamline processes and make decisions from data at a faster rate.”
“You want to determine how much of your operation you want to automate. From the back office, you want to independently verify your fuel and freight payments. Some of the things specifically that warrant automation are tax determination, [tax] rates and rules change with regularity all the time.”
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