Benegas is a leading supplier of various gas products. The company provides bulk deliveries of propane gas to approximately 12,000 customers in the industry, agriculture, and recreation sectors. It supplies about half of the LPG filling stations in the Netherlands. Benegas is also the market leader in the Netherlands for gas cylinders and supplies propellants to a wide range of industrial customers across Europe.
The challenge
Hedwig van den Berg (Manager Logistics):
“We operate in very different market segments, each with their own logistical characteristics and challenges. For LPG and bulk propane deliveries, we can often monitor stock levels using tank sensors and generate orders ourselves once a critical threshold is reached. However, for gas cylinders, we receive orders from resellers and face significant seasonal variations. We also need to manage a complex flow of tens of thousands of cylinders located at various sites. For propellants, each delivery is custom-assembled according to the unique recipe of each customer."
"There is no planning software that can handle all these challenges out of the box."
Why Bottomline?
"Bottomline previously handled the actual planning of our LPG transports. We decided to insource the planning, but using Bottomline’s software. We know Bottomline as a company that offers very high service levels. If necessary, we can even call them in the evening if an urgent question arises."
"We then extended our partnership to include delivery planning solutions for our other segments with them. Partly because it was cost-effective, but also because Bottomline offers an Oil & Gas software suite that can be customized to our specific business needs. We didn't want a system with as many functionalities as possible, but software built specifically around what we need in our particular business. That’s where Bottomline offers real added value. They understand our business very well and even thoroughly analyzed our logistical chain beforehand to identify challenges and potential efficiency improvements."
The results
"We now plan nearly all our products, except for refrigants using Bottomline software. This allows us to better manage various specific challenges in our logistical chains."
"For example, managing the entire flow of gas cylinders is extremely complex. We have a network of resellers, partners and our own depots to collect, inspect, store and refill cylinders. We work with twelve different types of cylinders. All need to be regularly inspected and in some cases up to 20% of cylinders are rejected and need to be replaced. With Bottomline software, we can exactly monitor where all cylinders are. We can also screen incoming orders from resellers, who during the peak season may want to order more than they actually need. We can then compare demand to the available cylinders at any given moment, and if necessary prioritize or adjust orders.”
"For propellants the challenge is different again. We have feedstock tanks with different gases, which we use to create custom products for each customer, to a specific recipe. We neither can nor want to maintain large supplies of feedstock. Typically, tanks are empty by the end of each day and are refilled according to next day’s requirements. With Bottomline software, we can optimally align purchases and sales every single day."
"In a third segment – bulk propane – we have successfully digitized the administrative processing of delivery notes using Bottomline. In this case the efficiency gains we have made are mostly in the financial department, where collecting and harmonizing delivery notes used to be quite a lot of work.”
“So across the board, we have been able to further streamline and optimize our entire logistics."