Shell Oil Company tracks
its oil cylinders nationwide

Oil Bank Inventory
Edmund Carroll Jenks
Published in "ID Systems"

Taking oil to the bank has an entirely new meaning in the context of Shell Oil Company's latest program, the Oil Bank System. Introduced at Shell's 1993 Lubricant National Sales Conference in Scottsdale, Arizona, to an audience of more than 800 distributors or "jobbers," the program offers an efficient sealed system for storing, dispensing, and disposing of new and used lubricants. Using sealed containers or cylinders that range in size from 22 gallons to more than 1000 gallons, the Oil Bank System, developed by Jim Clark of Clark Technology Systems, Inc., Santa Paula, California, eliminates the problems that can occur around open barrels of oil, such as dust contamination or spills. In these times of increasing environmental concerns, the program is also environmentally attractive, making oil spills on the side of the highway a thing of the past.

Banking on Bar Codes

The Oil Bank Inventory System, or OBIS, is a PC-based hardware/software inven-tory control system that uses portable bar code readers designed specifically for Oil Bank users by Systems Design Simplified, Inc. (SDS), of Los Angeles. It tracks deliveries and returns of containers by serial numbers, inventory of con- tainers, and deliveries of bulk and other products.

SDS selected Nippondenso's BHT 2061 series scanner for the system. "SDS evaluated many different bar code readers from many different man-manufacturers to fulfill the requirements of Oil Bank," says George Giaimo, who is in charge of marketing for-OBIS. "Important features were portability, programmability, and reliability." The scanner contains a custom program written by SDS for the special needs of Oil Bank users. It guides users, with menu options on its LCD screen.

Shell's jobbers rent specialized Oil Bank cylinders from Clark Technology Systems, Inc. Keeping track of the cylinders and the rest of inventory has always been essential to running a profitable distributorship. In a typical scenario, a delivery person/driver loads ordered containers and other inventory control system that uses portable bar code readers designed specifically for Oil Bank users by Systems Design Simplified, Inc. (SDS), of Los Angeles. It tracks deliveries and returns of containers by serial numbers, inventory of con- tainers, and deliveries of bulk and other products. SDS selected Nippondenso's BHT 2061 series scanner for the system. "SDS evaluated many different bar code readers from many different man-manufacturers to fulfill the requirements of Oil Bank," says George Giaimo, who is in charge of marketing for-OBIS. "Important features were portability, programmability, and reliability." The scanner contains a custom program written by SDS for the special needs of Oil Bank users. It guides users, with menu options on its LCD screen.

Shell's jobbers rent specialized Oil Bank cylinders from Clark Technology Systems, Inc. Keeping track of the cylinders and the rest of inventory has always been essential to running a profitable distributorship. In a typical scenario, a delivery person/driver loads ordered containers and other products, takes bar coded purchase orders/bills of lading, and begins his/her route. While containers and products are being unloaded at the customer site, the driver scans the bar coded purchase order and then scans the Code 39 bar codes on the containers and products. In a similar procedure, serial numbers are scanned from containers that are returned with used product. The bar code scanner is inserted into a communication device connected to an IBM-compatible PC; "upload" is selected from the program menu. All activities (delivery and/or return transactions) are extracted by the inventory control program, and inventory is updated accordingly, reducing human errors.

With an HP-compatible laser printer and label software developed in-house, OBIS prints Code 39 bar codes on purchase orders/bills of lading, and on specialized Avery #5160 labels for containers, bulk products, and all other products. It also prints a "Waste Control Report" (compliance with "Green Laws") and several other tracking reports, and provides xtensive inquiry capabilities. Built into the software is a simple report generator so that users can define their own reports. "We designed OBIS to be extremely user friendly," says Sam Jiwani, SDS president. "The idea was to design a total inventory solution for users of Oil Bank who may or may not have any idea how to use a computer or bar code reader." OBIS is user-installed and functions in a standalone or local area network environment. A Windows version is now in development.

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APPLICATION PROFILE Company Name: Shell Oil Company Business: Petroleum producer Hardware/Software: Nippondenso BHT 2061 scanners; IBM-compatible PC; HP-compatible laser printer Primary Application: Identifying and tracking oil cylinders Primary Benefit: Increases tracking and identification accuracy; eliminates problems of open barrels, spills Resouuces: Avery Dennison Corp. Soabar Systems Div. 7722 Dungan Rd. Philadelphia, PA 19111 (215) 725-4700 Nippondenso, ID Systems A Div. of Toyota Tsusho America 46540 Fremont Blvd., Ste. 514 Fremont, CA 94538 (510)226-8100