Fuel theft prevention on road-building machinery
How a Philippine road-building contractor stopped fuel theft across 25 machines and recovered the whole investment in under three weeks.
25 machines across Negros island
Vic Florido's field of activity is road building and maintenance on the southeast of Negros island. Twenty-five machinery units are used for the work:
- excavators and front-end loaders for digging and ground-forming
- dump trucks for sand, soil and bulk cargo
- minibuses for transporting employees
The fleet runs JAC and Sinotruk dump trucks, Lonking loaders and excavators, and Hyundai minibuses.
Theft and idle time, far from oversight
Fuel theft is common in the Philippines, where draining and reselling diesel is a profitable side-line for drivers. Idle abuse — long breaks and late returns from lunch — added to the losses, and remote sites made personal supervision impossible.
The customer needed real-time information for every vehicle: location, fuel volume, fill and drain events, engine hours and idle time — from one universal device that needs no complex maintenance.
DUT-E GSM — two-in-one on every unit
DUT-E GSM fuel level sensors combine a fuel level sensor and a telematics unit in one body — faster to install and more interference-resistant than a separate “sensor + terminal”. Accuracy is within 1%, and fills and drains are reported in real time. Each unit sends to the fleet operator:
- fuel level (mm) and volume (litres)
- fill and drain events, with precise volume and location
- route and location of every vehicle
- engine-hours and idle-time reports
The ORF4 telematics service presents it all as easy-to-read reports and charts.
Fuel theft was eliminated and idle time reduced. Thanks to a 20% fuel economy, the equipment paid for itself in less than three weeks.
Task → Solution → Result
Fuel theft and uncontrolled idle time
Drivers regularly steal fuel for resale. Remote construction sites make personal supervision impossible, and long idle breaks go undetected.
DUT-E GSM on all 25 machines
Two-in-one sensors measuring fuel level, fill/drain events, location, route, engine hours and idle time — all sent to ORF4 in real time.
20% fuel economy, 3-week payback
Fuel theft eliminated, idle time reduced, and total equipment investment recovered in less than three weeks.
Wagencontrol offered a unique solution — one device that can both measure fuel and detect location. DUT-E GSM sensors are fast to install, so vehicle downtime was short, and they work reliably in dust, humidity and heat. Thanks to 20% fuel economy, it took less than three weeks to return the cost of the equipment.
Vic Florido · Entrepreneur
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