A bowser that empties faster than it should
Each of your sites has a fuel bowser, topped up by a fuel company every week or two. Operators fill their machines at the start of the day. The fuel invoice arrives against the site, not the machine or the job. One site seems to be using far more than another with similar work. Is it an old machine burning more, operators leaving engines idling, a leak, or fuel going into vans that should not be filling there?
Without a record per machine, you cannot tell, and fuel is one of your largest running costs.
Why fuel use is invisible
Filling a machine is a quick job done first thing, and nobody wants to stop and write it down. Bowsers without meters, or with meters nobody reads, leave only the delivery ticket as a record. Fuel cards for vans and small plant are reconciled monthly against a statement nobody checks in detail.
- Fills are not recorded per machine.
- Bowser meters are not read, or there is no meter.
- Deliveries to the bowser are the only record.
- Fuel is costed to the site, not the job or machine.
- Unusual consumption is noticed only when someone gets suspicious.
What invisible fuel costs
You cannot see which machines are thirsty, so you do not know when an old machine is costing more to run than to replace. Idling goes unchallenged. Fuel theft, if it happens, is hard to spot and harder to prove. Jobs are costed without their true fuel use, and the next price is based on a guess.
The fuel logging we build
- At each fill, the operator or ganger logs on a phone: machine from a list or by scanning a sticker, litres from the bowser meter, and a photo of the hour meter.
- Where bowsers have electronic metering, fills are read from the meter instead and the operator only confirms the machine.
- Deliveries to each bowser are logged from the fuel company's ticket, and matched to the fuel invoice.
- Bowser stock is worked out from deliveries less recorded fills, so gaps show up.
- Fuel per machine hour is calculated for each machine, and compared with its own history and similar machines.
- Unusual use, such as a machine using much more per hour than normal or fills with no hours added, is flagged to the plant manager.
- Fuel is costed to the job the machine is working on, in your job costing or accounts system.
| Machine | Fuel per hour | Compared with normal |
|---|---|---|
| 13t excavator A | Steady | In line |
| 13t excavator B | Rising over recent weeks | Check for fault or idling |
| 6t dumper | Steady | In line |
| Van fills at bowser | Not expected | Flagged |
Fuel you can account for
Every litre from the bowser has a machine and a job. Rising consumption on a machine is spotted early, which can point to a fault worth fixing. Idling and misuse become visible without accusations, because the numbers speak for themselves. Jobs carry their real fuel cost, and fuel invoices are matched to deliveries before payment.
Operators get something too: a quick log replaces the guesswork, and questions about fuel come with data rather than suspicion.
Is your fuel use a single site number?
- Fuel is recorded by bowser delivery, not by machine.
- You cannot say which machines use the most fuel.
- Bowser meters are not read.
- Fuel is not costed to jobs.
- You have wondered whether fuel is going missing.