Direct Delivery In 2006, American Pride became part of the automated fuel delivery system offered by CHS, which provides electronic tank monitoring and truck-dispatching technology to Cenex ® branded retailers like the Colorado co-op. American Pride delivers a dependable supply of Cenex fuel to Interstate Highway Construction and other commercial, residential and agricultural customers along Colorado’s Front Range. Count Interstate among those customers that can’t afford grounding of any piece of its fleet of a couple hundred trucks and other heavy equipment. Interstate’s two 10,000-gallon airport storage tanks are refueled regularly and reliably by a CHS-operated, monitor-directed delivery truck. “It seems to be working well,” says Rick Jones, foreman of the company’s airport operations. A couple of years ago, American Pride needed a better way to serve customers and to gain efficiencies in its bulk-fuels distribution business. By mid-2006, the co-op decided the answer could be found in the CHS automated fuel delivery system. The automated monitoring and delivery system makes inventory management nearly effortless for customers. Electronic sensors in bulk storage tanks record levels periodically during the day, sending radio signals to a controller. When tank volume drops below a predetermined level, the controller automatically generates a product order, which dispatches a truck to refill the tank. A CHS bulk transport delivers fuel to American Pride customers directly from a nearby terminal, bypassing intermediate storage and handling. “This system really sets CHS apart from other energy companies,” says Larry Ehrman, vice president of energy, American Pride. “This system can increase gallons delivered per mile driven.” 24 July/August 2008 WWW.CHSINC.COM