Predictive Maintenance of Fuel Dispensing Unit with Huge Cost Savings

The ability to predict failures and take proactive solutions is an attractive option for customers as it shows evidence of a clear ROI. Across industries and applications, predictive maintenance is gaining approval and more traction.  L&T Technology Services was approached to develop a similar solution to control losses and preserve brand value. L&T Technology Services’ client had been facing issues with the constant breakdown of the fuel dispensers and the failures led to several serious issues:

1. Loss of revenue: There is a 55 percent probability that a client won’t use the dispenser facility again if it failed to work satisfactorily the first time. The client was losing recurring business as it continued losing customers.
2. Increased service maintenance cost: Client was not able to predict the breakdown of the dispenser and the maintenance team would reach the dispenser station post-breakdown. This caused delay in repairs, higher cost of product replacement and ad hoc requirement of dispenser mechanics, which made the service even more expensive.
3. Lower brand value: Word of mouth spread customers’ dissatisfaction and led to further reduction in business.
4. Increased product liability cost: Reduced filtration quality led to increased chance of inferior quality fuel and possibility of legal issues in case of vehicle breakdown.

With so much at stake, the client wanted to understand the top eight issues that were causing the breakdowns and resolve the two most frequently occurring breakdowns. The idea was to automate the entire process and use predictive and preventive maintenance without modifying the overall design of the dispenser.

LTTS’s Solution:

LTTS came up with eight major causes of dispenser failure and ways to resolve the causes and automate the maintenance process. They worked on metering module and filtration module as the client concurred that these were the most recurring issues. LTTS further worked on design and development of metering and filtration module, which included the following:

1. Sensors design and development: Module to house multiple sensors including differential pressure sensors to monitor the system condition and predict failures. This state-of-the-art work has been filed for a patent.
2. Increasing sensor uptime: Power was used from small turbine generator placed inside the sealed container to avoid electric wiring.
3. IoT enabled: Radio module was introduced to connect with cloud gateway.  
4. Predictive analytics: Data from differential pressure sensors were analyzed to determine filter clog state.
5. A solution for every dispenser device: The solution module sensors are retrofittable and fits between replaceable filter and associated manifolds.

 Future Potential:

Encouraged with their impressive work, the client has asked to further improve upon the existing solution. LTTS is working on the following two aspects of the solution:

1. Inclusion of neural networks and AI in dispenser predictive maintenance
2. Creation of console-based application: Gives the meter status just by looking into the meter on the spot, instead of analyzing the data stored in the cloud.

Business Benefits:

The benefits both tangible and intangible were evident:  

• The client saved over $2.5 million in service and maintenance cost
• Improved product quality: The overall quality of fuel dispensed has become more consistent
• Improved customer satisfaction
• Reduced downtime
• Eliminated need for ad hoc service repair.

Keywords: Brand Value, Predictive Maintenance, ROI, Sensors, L&T Technology Services, ARC Advisory Group