Petro-Logic, a division of Colvic Engineering, has partnered with Pragma Africa for the provision of call centre operation services. The contract sees Pragma Africa assuming responsibility for the maintenance management of fuel pumps at more than 1 300 retail service stations across South Africa. The deal follows on the heels of a similar deal between Pragma Africa and Shell for the maintenance of all Shell`s retail assets in southern Africa, including pumps.
Faced with declining margins within its pump manufacturing business, Petro-Logic had for some time been seeking to increase its pump servicing activity, where margins are better. While this area was potentially lucrative, it required a number of capabilities Petro-Logic did not have in-house. Petro-Logic is the largest supplier of pump equipment to fuel retailers in South Africa. The company was formed when Colvic acquired Tokheim SA in 2005.
Along with Tokheim SA, Petro-Logic acquired a contract with Engen, which operates more than 1 300 retail service stations across South Africa, for the maintenance of all its forecourt and commercial pumps (approximately 22 000 hoses). A similar contract exists with Masana, the commercial division of BP (approximately 990 hoses).
Shortly after the acquisition, Petro-Logic approached Pragma Africa about a partnership. Pragma Africa would contribute the software solution, call centre expertise, a rigorous asset management process, and data analysis capabilities. Petro-Logic would supply its pump maintenance skills.
"We investigated various systems available to our industry, and after due consideration decided on the Pragma system. The fact that it is a local company with a local development team, local support and knowledge, and experience in our industry, greatly contributed to our decision," says Chris Venter, National Technical Manager at Petro-Logic.
A call centre was established in Johannesburg in April. Shortly thereafter two smaller regional call centre functions were established in Durban and Cape Town. The call centres are responsible for logging work requests in Pragma`s On Key system, planning and allocating work to either contractors or client resources, and monitoring the execution process.
The primary value-add lies in the analysis of the maintenance data in order to identify issues of concern and improvement opportunities. This makes data accuracy critically important. Statutory, warranty and preventive maintenance work is also initiated from the call centre.
Within a few short months Pragma Africa, through rigorous data analysis, identified major infractions such as vehicle abuse. It was also determined that a habit of not closing job cards correctly was creating a false perception of service level attainment, undermining the entire effort. Major imbalances in technician workloads across different regions were also identified.
As a separate development, Shell recently expanded its contract with Pragma Africa to include all its fuel depots across Africa. As a precursor to the expansion, asset management assessments were conducted at sample sites is Mauritius, Ethiopia, Namibia, South Africa, Ghana, Togo, Morocco and Tunisia. An extensive asset identification and verification project is currently under way as part of the incorporation process. Additional call centre agents will be appointed, including French-speaking agents that can service western Africa. This multilingual capability will serve Pragma Africa well when tendering for future work across the continent.
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