Background
A regional marketer in Alaska operates a growing network of more than 30 gas stations and c-store locations, spread far and wide across the vast state, with its furthest location extending over 1,200 miles from the company’s headquarters. Given the vast and challenging Alaskan landscape, the ability to maintain continuous service is essential, as their locations provide critical access to fuel, food, and supplies in some of the most isolated areas of the state. Many of their locations are in remote communities where access is limited for service technicians and may require travel by plane or other costly means. The marketer needed a way to remotely monitor and control site operations to better support these isolated locations and ensure uninterrupted access to fuel.
Challenge
The extreme weather and vast distances in Alaska create significant hurdles for on-site maintenance. If a location experiences an issue that requires a simple reboot or power cycle of an asset, the lack of remote control can lead to prolonged downtime – sometimes lasting days or even an entire season – before a technician can reach the site. This downtime risks lost revenue and access to fuel and food for the community. The marketer needed a solution that would allow them to quickly troubleshoot and restore asset functionality remotely without waiting for manual intervention.
Implementation
The marketer implemented Franklin Electric’s Remote Control Solution (RCS) with OVERSITE™ to remotely monitor key assets, receive outage alerts, and reset downed equipment. By connecting RCS to assets like fuel pumps, dispensers, and temperature-controlled food equipment through the existing EVO™ Series fuel system monitor, they can now remotely detect outages, troubleshoot, and restore systems with a hard reboot of affected assets from their central office, avoiding the need to send technicians to support these isolated locations.
The RCS combines the site and personnel protection devices required by the National Electrical Code® (emergency disconnects, E-stops, dispenser hook isolation, low voltage dispenser disconnects) into a single panel while also leveraging these connections to provide advanced fuel system and C-store critical asset monitoring and control capabilities including:
Device power status monitoring with timely outage notifications
Remote E-stop initiation and monitoring
Remote asset power cycling and sequencing
Automated event response triggers when paired with EVO™ Series
Remote Control Solution with OVERSITE™
EVO™ Series Console
The deployment of the Remote Control Solutions with OVERSITE™ & EVO™ led to significant improvements:
Reduced Service Calls:
Remote power cycling and monitoring minimize the need for on-site technician visits, leading to significant cost savings and quicker service restoration.
Enhanced Food Monitoring:
Remote temperature monitoring removes the need for manual checks and gives early notification of equipment failure for a proactive response before food spoilage.
Increased Site Uptime:
By detecting and resolving outages remotely, the marketer improves operational reliability, ensuring continuous access to fuel and other essential services for customers.
Proactive Power Monitoring:
With OVERSITE™ the marketer can now monitor and manage power-related events in real time,
allowing for quicker response to site-specific issues and enhanced operational efficiency.
Conclusion
By adopting Franklin Electric’s Remote Control Solution with OVERSITE™, this Alaskan fuel marketer has optimized their response to maintenance issues, enhanced site uptime, and reduced operational costs. This powerful solution has proven essential in supporting continuous operations and enabling remote, proactive management across their widespread network, ensuring reliable service for remote communities.
