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28 JANUARY 2017 | FUEL OIL NEWS | www.fueloilnews.com ment and loading equipment that would play a major role in the new operation, Devereaux recommended installing integrated fuel management and loading equipment from OPW, headquartered in Hamilton, Ohio. "Part of the reason we went with OPW equipment was to ensure maximum compatibility and seamless integration," Devereaux said. "I wanted to present Simple Energy with systems that were not only easy to install, but easy to use, day in and day out. With these integrated systems from OPW, Simple Energy would be able to con- trol its fuel inventory in real time and streamline fueling operations overall." Simple Energy's first pri- ority with the new fuel site was to make the bulk storage facility operational in order to eliminate the company's depen- dence on third-party bulk storage and inventory monitoring services. As such, the company designed the bulk fueling operation's bottom-loading system to ensure that the transfer of fuel was quick and safe. To do so, Devereaux recom- mended rack-monitoring equipment from Civacon, an OPW Engineered Systems brand. Simple Energy chose C i v a c o n ' s T h e r m i s t o r O n l y R a c k Monitor, which ensures delivery trucks are properly grounded and monitored for overfilling. "Because we manage a sizeable port- folio in not only real-time, but just in time, our ability to operate safely and to do so quickly, is really, really important. The bottom-loading equipment we have from Civacon allows us to optimize our loading while ensuring the truck is safely grounded. It is also very user-friendly and dependable," Stenger said. In fact, the rack monitor's durability was put to the test within its first months of service. With one of the coldest winters on record in the area in 2014-2015, Simple Energy was prepared for the equipment to experience some service interruptions. But the Civacon rack monitoring system's performance was problem-free. "I cannot tell you how pleased we are with the per- formance of the equipment," Stenger said. "It did not fail a day, a second, a moment. It kept us in business, with product flow- ing, all winter long." In addition to an efficient and reliable on-loading operation, Simple Energy needed to be able to manage their fuel inventory with agility to remain com- petitive. To ensure the system attained maximum efficiency, Devereaux recom- mended several integrated fuel control and monitoring solutions from OPW Fuel Management Systems, a subsidiary of OPW based in Hodgkins, Ill. The ability to monitor tanks — 24 hours a day and seven days a week — was critical for Simple Energy. To achieve true 24-7 monitoring, the heating busi- ness selected a tank gauge that could be accessed remotely: the OPW SiteSentinel Integra 500 Console. Stenger said the gauge enables Simple Energy to see inventory levels at all times, in all tanks, in real time, 24-7. In addition to its precision inventory data, the gauge provides Simple Energy with automatic, instant email notifications for potential environmental compliance issues, not only in the tanks but in dispenser pans, tank sumps and intermediate sumps. The email alerts enable Simple Energy staff to quickly initiate corrective actions. "We have all of the systems' fail-safes and alarms programmed to be emailed out to our safety and compliance officer in addition to other key staff members. If something is wrong, we are notified and we can take immediate action," Stenger said. On the opposite side of the bulk storage area, Simple Energy constructed a fueling terminal that includes two dispensers. To optimize these dispensers, the company needed a way to control and monitor the fueling of its own fleet vehicles, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. To make this happen, Simple Energy installed OPW Fuel Management Systems' C/OPT Fuel Control System in conjunction with its FSC3000 Fuel Site Controller and Phoenix SQL Fuel Management Software. This setup allows Simple Energy to authorize transactions and automatically capture extensive fleet fueling data for maximum accountability. Prior to the installation of the tank gauge and fuel site controller, Simple Energy was relying on manual inventory Clockwise from top: OPW's C/OPT Fuel Control System, FSC3000 Fuel Site Controller, Phoenix SQL Fuel Management Software and SiteSentinel Integra 500 Console automate, streamline and simplify inventory management and compli- ance documentation.