Sept. 11, 2000

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Petroleum Retailer Branches Out Into High-Tech Services

By Rich Levin

o the average highway passerby, Flying J Inc. is most visible as a chain of convenience stores, restaurants, and fuel stations at 135 truck stops nationwide. But behind the travel plazas lies a 10,000-employee, privately held petroleum company that has grown to be the largest diesel fuel retailer in North America, with sales approaching $3 billion and interests in oil exploration and production, banking, and insurance.

Now, Flying J is planning to branch out further. The company already provides communication kiosks in its travel plazas; truckers can subscribe to a service that lets them send and receive faxes, retrieve E-mail, and obtain transportation information.

Within the next few months, the company plans to provide similar facilities and more, right in truckers' cabs. Hewlett-Packard Unix systems at Flying J's Brigham City, Utah, headquarters will be capable of detecting, locking on to, identifying, and tracking an approaching 18-wheeler (or any fleet vehicle) as it barrels down the highway toward a Flying J travel plaza. Inside the truck: a wireless IP communications computer, designed and developed by Flying J's IT group. When the in-truck computer detects the availability of Flying J's wireless digital cellular IP network, it will log on the mobile rig.

The truck's location, driver, and other data will be uploaded to a radio receiver situated atop the oncoming Flying J plaza. The truck will be able to download E-mail from the trucker's central dispatch or other locales. The driver will even be able to thumb through Flying J's restaurant menu via an integrated Web browser and place an order.

With dinner on the grill, the driver pulls up to a cashless Flying J fuel pump. The pump logs the truck's arrival, dispenses no more than the number of gallons allocated to the vehicle by its fleet manager, and bills the services.

This scenario is the brainchild of Flying J CEO Phil Adams, implemented by CIO Chad Richards. It was the company's rapid growth, plus the CEO's enthusiasm for IT, that convinced Richards to accept the CIO position at Flying J three years ago. At the time, Flying J was mainly a legacy mainframe shop. "The didn't even have the basics, like E-mail," Richards says.

Richards, who has devised communications systems for the National Security Agency and AT&T Bell Laboratories Inc., set about designing and implementing Adams' vision: Build a state-of-the-art information network, integrate it with existing retail systems, and package excess capacity for resale to Flying J customers.

Richards is already contemplating his next big challenge: recruiting and retaining top people. "Recruits always ask, 'Aren't you guys the gas-station company?'" Richards says. "We're that and more--and just wait until they get in the door and see the technology."

Return to main story, "Retailers Find A Winning Mix"

Illustration by Jeffrey Fisher

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