With the support of Glintt Next’s innovative solutions, Companhia Logística de Combustíveis SA is closer to leading a more digital future.
The digitalization of digitalization has allowed organizations to make decisions with extensive information, updated almost instantaneously. Everything is automated, freeing people from repetitive tasks and giving them more time to plan and make the best decisions for their companies.
JE Lab spoke to José Eduardo Sequeira Nunes, Managing Director of Companhia Logística de Combustíveis (CLC), a fuel logistics company that supplies the whole of central Portugal, including the greater Lisbon area.
The Challenge of Digitization
CLC is responsible for transporting, storing, shipping and dispatching oil products between the Sines multiproduct pipeline and Aveiras de Cima. As a company with a strong technological component, there were a number of important processes that required specific knowledge of this industry, which were carried out using the experience of the workers and Excel formulas.
As José Eduardo Sequeira Nunes, Managing Director of CLC, explained, it was necessary to “optimize the entire process, from transport from Sines to storage and shipping activities in Aveiras”.
The challenge was clear: how to translate a complex and very specific operation, based on the empirical knowledge of the workers, into an automatic digital process, making it possible to eliminate redundancies, automate processes and speed up decision-making? In other words, “how to put into the machine what the person is thinking,” says Sequeira Nunes, for whom the aim was to “use innovative solutions to optimize the whole process”.
If you want to go far, go together…
Such a complex project, which in CLC’s case included, according to Sequeira Nunes, “using information generated by operational systems with workflows and automations wherever possible and, using operational movements, achieving greater connectivity between processes”.
In order to find technological solutions that respond to business challenges, CLC chose Glintt Next, a multi-sector technology consultancy whose mission is to help organizations respond to the challenges of Digital Transformation and help maximize the potential of their business using innovative solutions.
José Eduardo explains that “Glintt Next sought to protect the problems encountered, involved management and the permanent search for solutions”, a skill highly valued among the CLC management team. He also points out that, due to “the scarcity of specialized technological resources, we will be able to retain the necessary resources and manage the coordination with the various CLC managers well”, to obtain the best results and make the final project a success.
The project included a lot of math, a lot of algorithms, and a lot of back and forth until a solution was found that best suited CLC’s business. Also, according to the CLC manager, Glintt Next’s willingness to always look for the best solution for the project, despite being “more painful” than expected at first, “was something that stood out“.
Information that arrives on time is worth gold
According to Sequeira Nunes, it was, above all, a process of operational excellence. Duplicate work was eliminated, knowledge was incorporated based on people – more experienced people – “into algorithms and systems, eliminating critical dependencies.” Other areas that they feel have been improved relate to the agility of communication between areas – currently carried out using computerized processes – which requires “less administrative effort and [the possibility of retrieving] information earlier and of better quality, more detailed calculations and quick access“.
“We had information that wasn’t dealt with. It’s like having a bunch of gold on the table and not using it.” Today, after this revolution, it is now possible to get the information from the source, take advantage of all the data in good time, and thus make better decisions. “Information when it arrives on time is good, when it arrives late it’s not worth it.”
Looking from the front
The platform created by Glintt Next using OutSystems technology allowed CLC to install and use all the information about its operation in real time. As Sequeira Nunes put it, “it started to look forward and not in the rearview mirror.”
The ability to install and process large amounts of data in a timely manner is probably the most important step for companies looking to evolve their business. Finding the right partner to unravel technological complexity is therefore one of the major challenges that organizations must face to continue their constant digital transformation.
source: Jornal Económico
