I have been involved with maintaining company gas cylinder rental accounts for over 8 years.
When I started with one company as their Store Supervisor, I asked the manager if there were any specific areas that needed attention. The manager's reply was "get the gas cylinder rentals under control". That was the start of 4 years of developement, implementation and modification that has delivered Gas Cylinder Tracker as it is today. As changes to the suppliers' system were made, the program was modified to accommodate the changes.
I now concentrate, full time, on developing systems that assist businesses to increase efficiencies and cost savings. I consult with customers on implementation and training of my systems and customise solutions to meet their specific needs.
How often do the suppliers do an audit of your cylinder holdings?
If you’re lucky it may be 6 monthly or annually? What happens if you lose a cylinder in the first month after they’ve completed an audit?
It’s not picked up until the next audit and in the mean time you have been paying daily rental for a cylinder you don’t have. You are charged for the lost cylinder plus the rental for the last 6 or 12 months.
If you’re lucky it may be 6 monthly or annually? What happens if you lose a cylinder in the first month after they’ve completed an audit?
It’s not picked up until the next audit and in the mean time you have been paying daily rental for a cylinder you don’t have. You are charged for the lost cylinder plus the rental for the last 6 or 12 months.
What happens if in fact you returned the cylinder and the supplier somehow missed returning it off your account? Do you have records to show the cylinder was returned on a specific date with their drivers’ signature on the return docket? If you don’t, there’s no argument, just pay the bill!
Some suppliers have introduced a bar-coding system to try to overcome cylinder losses. This certainly goes a long way towards doing this, but it doesn’t totally solve the problem.
What if a contractor borrows one of your cylinders and then moves on to another job and leaves it? The cylinder might not be returned to the depot for several months.
In theory, the cylinder should eventually be returned to your account when it is returned to the supplier, but in the mean time, you’ve been paying rental on that cylinder.
Do you really want to be paying rental on a cylinder you don’t have? No of course not. What happens if it isn’t scanned into the system for some reason? The rent goes on!
Routine quarterly gas cylinder audits are an essential tool you must use to reduce added rental charges for any lost cylinders.