How Technology Helps Mirabito Keep Its Energy Units Lean and Efficient
This article is brought to you by Add Systems.
Mirabito Energy Products is one of those long-established East Coast energy providers that started delivering coal and heating oil in the early days of the industry and expanded over the years to provide a full range of energy solutions and a strong convivence retail presence throughout upstate New York, Pennsylvania and southern New England.
The company was founded by Italian immigrant James Mirabito in 1927 out of his Norwich, N.Y., facility, and today distributes heating oil, propane, natural gas, coal, gasoline, diesel fuels and kerosene in addition to operating over 100 convenience stores in New York and Pennsylvania.
How does a company with so many moving pieces keep operations efficient?
“Honestly, it’s a huge challenge,” said Eric Bunts, Mirabito’s chief information officer. “You do have some symmetry across these business units, but you have a lot of diversity, and you have a lot of varying priority scopes. It has complexities, and it’s something that is a constant conversation in our organization.”
Bunts noted that it’s an ongoing strategic development process and Mirabito focuses on efficiency, enhancement and customer engagement. Mirabito relies on technology to not only keep the operation manageable, but to achieve optimal performance.
On the home comfort side (heating fuels and HVAC service) served by the residential home and light commercial division, Mirabito has enhanced its delivery process which uses ADD Systems’ Raven mobile delivery solution for the fuel and energy industry, which is designed to improve driver efficiency and reduce mistakes by providing real-time data to drivers on a handheld device. In addition to the core functions Mirabito has found a way to use this and other technology to enhance operational capability.
Will-call customers are an important market segment for home heating fuel retailers, but one where calling in to place these unscheduled orders can increase administrative workload from the customer service representative to the dispatcher. Mirabito has automated the process to allow will-call customers to place their own orders using solutions from several vendors and ADD SmartConnect for linkage to the back-office system.
“We’re always looking to reduce customer service representatives’ administrative burden, but we don’t want to negatively impact the customer experience,” said Bunts. “This made for a more streamlined and efficient process with our customers, but it’s also an aspect that they really appreciate and come back to, again and again.”
The gains continue with the dispatching component, where these unexpected orders are injected into an already orderly delivery routing schedule.
“It’s February and your truck is across the street and a neighbor sees it and says I need fuel and makes an order,” Bunts said. “Having…
Read More: Tying Together a Diverse Energy and Retail Environment
