How are propane industry leaders using AI to help their businesses?

Since the release of ChatGPT in 2022, artificial intelligence (AI) has made its way into the operations of many propane industry businesses.
Silicon Valley seems to be pushing AI more and more every day, trying to get more people to use its tools – and for good reason.
While the AI we have today is far from the Terminator robots of science fiction, it’s come a long way from generating pictures of people with too many fingers. People in all industries are using AI to enhance their businesses, including the propane industry.
At the 2024 LP Gas Growth Summit in Orlando, Florida, we asked propane industry leaders about how they use AI in their operations.
Replacing humans?
For Kyle Sheehan, owner of Rural Computer Consultants, AI largely comes down to “replacing human processes with computer processes.”
From this perspective, AI is about letting machines do more tasks in order to empower and free up humans to do more important activities.
But the goal is not to eliminate the human element entirely.
“I’m very excited to see where AI goes and what opportunities we can use to pull those into other parts of our package and really make some of those manual processes automated, and at the same time, being very careful that this is not a replacement of a human,” Sheehan elaborates. “There are still offerings in here that you have to have that require the human touch. And it will learn, and it will adapt with us, but if you’re not there to teach it exactly what you want it to do, it’s never going to evolve with you.”
Warm Thoughts Communications is another business that is working in the same balancing act of using AI while maintaining the human element of its work.
“Warm Thoughts Communications embraces artificial intelligence,” says Ashley Campbell, regional sales manager. “There’s always going to need to be a customer touch – the human touch is so important, and the empathetic side is so important. But we do use AI, and we definitely encourage our customers to do the same.”

Delivery driving
One place where the propane industry is embracing AI is on the road.
“AI is going to be a huge thing,” says David Dodd, senior sales director of the southern United States for Otodata. “Otodata is positioned – strategically positioned, I would say – to be at the forefront of the whole AI revolution.”
Driving is a good example of how many people may already use AI without realizing that it’s really AI. Not all AI applications look like ChatGPT or the Terminator. GPS is a form of AI.
For Otodata, expanding its use of AI in its GPS systems and its driving routes go hand in hand.
“All our [tank] monitors have GPS on them,” says Dodd. “AI will be able to grab the data off of the server, grab the GPS location of all your tanks with the physical address and be able to take that data, incorporate that into your routing and even update it so that as the day goes on, it can change your drivers’ routes so that you go to, let’s say, a customer four-tenths of a mile away. Maybe he’s not at 30 percent, or maybe you wouldn’t know that he needed a fill. But AI will be able to grab that data to tell you that, ‘Hey, there’s a guy over here with a really good value fill for you as a company, so let’s go ahead and add him to the route.’ And in that manner, your efficiencies will be able to be increased even more.”
With AI, Otodata is filling more customers’ tanks more efficiently.
Other companies are also enhancing their delivery schedules and routes with AI.
“We’re using AI in our delivery forecasting side of our business to better predict when to go out and deliver accounts to make it more efficient for retailers,” says Grant McCallister, a major account representative at ADD Systems.
Saul Cohen, manager at Cargas, explains that the company uses AI to optimize delivery routes.
“If you get a will-call delivery, and it needs to be delivered, we can do what we call a ‘find nearest,’” Cohen says.
With this “find nearest” system, AI helps Cargas see what driver is closest to the delivery point at any time. If one driver is close at the current time, but a different driver might be closer later in the day, the AI can determine which driver would be the best option to make the delivery. The AI also considers each driver’s product availability.
Industry organizations getting on board
Even industry organizations are starting to use AI, such as the Texas Propane Gas Association (TPGA).
TPGA started using AI over the past two years, including Fireflies.ai, a tool the organization adopted in 2023 to track meeting details and action items. TPGA also uses ChatGPT to “dissect regulatory issues to enhance understanding and streamline the decision-making process,” according to a report from the National Propane Gas Association (NPGA).
In these cases, ChatGPT gives TPGA members a better understanding of these regulatory issues at the federal and state levels.
According to TPGA’s Jackie Mason, using AI for these efforts frees up a great deal of time for the TPGA.
“Efficiency and productivity have seen significant improvements,” Mason says.
By using AI to do these tasks, the TPGA has more time to focus on issues its members care about.
The NPGA believes that AI’s role in the propane industry will continue to grow in the future, expanding into recruitment, inventory management, forecasting and analytics.
Marketing their messages
Propane industry companies are also embracing AI’s ability to assist them with marketing.
“We’re using it in some of our marketing and some of the development of some of our materials and informational pieces,” explains Jerry Schimmel of P3 Propane Safety. “But we see AI as a vehicle to advance our products, our services and, quite frankly, communicate as effectively as we can to the customer base.”
AI helps with all aspects of marketing.
“It helps me with social media,” says Ronny Martinez of Precise Alternative Fleet Solutions.
“AI is able to take that concept that I’m trying to explain, clean it up, and I’m like, ‘Oh, that sounds so much better,’” he says. “So, I use that aspect, but it’s just to help us in the social media posting. It’s a quick post for us, so it allows me to spend time in other things.”
Sometimes, propane professionals just need a mechanical touch to help them refine the message they want to send in their marketing and communication materials.
“The only AI that we use is helping me write customer letters, which I guess is a good way to do it, because I wasn’t real good at writing,” says Jeff Helle of Suhre’s Gas. “My sister, who is in the office also, we struggle at coming up with good phrases to use when we write those customer letters. So, to help communication with customers, I think it’s been beneficial.”
Who’s not using AI?
If it seems like everyone is using AI and you’re the only one who isn’t, don’t worry – lots of companies aren’t using AI.
For John Hutchison of Prism Propane, the decision not to use AI is about his clientele.
“Our customers are rural. They’re older,” Hutchison says. “They want to be face-to-face with our CSRs and our drivers.”
Not using AI … yet
For some companies, AI is still just too new and unexplored for them to use right now, but that doesn’t mean they’ll never use it in the future.
“We are not yet, but it is on the agenda a year or two from now,” says Brian Humphrey, CEO of One-Tank. “So, stay tuned.”
“Stay tuned” sums up many companies’ attitudes towards AI – they may not be using it yet, but they’re interested in using it and are exploring their options.
“There are so many different levels of it,” says Jonathan Krueger, service sales manager at Westmor Industries. “We’re looking at it in such a way just to see what kind of value it can bring.”
According to Krueger, Westmor is “on the forefront of better understanding how we can use it.”
“It’s new, and we’re kind of seeing where it might fit best,” says Jeff Vandemark, co-owner of IPS Equipment.
There are many people across the industry who are interested in using AI in their businesses but feel that they don’t know enough about it.
“I’m trying to figure out how AI would get implemented into propane,” Patrick Karadjian of LA Propane tells LP Gas. “If I find out, I’ll let you know.”
“We’re not opposed to it – just not familiar,” says Andy Stewart of Advanced Propane. “[We] just haven’t used it. Maybe in the future.”
“I’m interested to learn more about it and how it could help our business, but I’m not too familiar with it, so I’d like to learn more,” says Stephanie Ulam of Berkeley Propane.
With so many people wanting to learn more about AI, this is an opportunity for industry members to reach out to one another and explore their options together. Perhaps industry organizations can facilitate these conversations so propane professionals can explore AI as a team.
And there is lots of exploring to do.
Eric Duckworth, vice president of sales for Anova, emphasizes the yet-to-be-explored capabilities of AI.
“AI is an interesting environment in today’s day and age,” Duckworth says. “It’s kind of like the wild, wild west.”
The pioneers and cowboys who tamed the American west didn’t really know what to expect when they started their journey. But their success paved the way for a prosperous future.
Now, the propane industry is embarking on its own journey into the wild AI landscape in search of its own prosperity.
“It’s just at the start, and we’re excited about what that’s going to bring,” Duckworth says.
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