City Carbonic Lays the Groundwork For the Next 100 Years

Amy Morgan Bruecks
Managing Partner, City Carbonic

Few companies in the gas distribution sector can lay claim to a century’s worth of business insights, but City Carbonic in Oklahoma City is already looking forward to its next 100 years of growth. Now in its third generation of family ownership, the company is led by Managing Partner Amy Morgan Bruecks, who oversees strategy, operations and opportunities in the beverage, medical and cannabis markets, among others. City Carbonic has been deeply immersed in telemetry technology since the 1990s and today relies on Pulsa technology to provide the most efficient customer service and drive company profitability. We sat down with Amy to talk with her about the business, technology, and how they're serving customers. 

How did you start off with telemetry?

Back in the late 90s, telemetry was starting to be a thing, but we didn't embrace it back then. Cell phones weren't really that common, technology just wasn't there and it was cost-prohibitive. When we decided to approach it again seriously, we looked at telemetry as a means to provide better customer service, more reliable gas service, and improve the efficiency of our route trucks.

What made you decide on Pulsa?

We ultimately went through three other telemetry providers before we went full-scale on Pulsa. It had gotten to be complicated because with some of the telemetry providers we needed to have tanks set up a specific way in order for them to work. It started to be a bit chaotic when it came to making sure we had the right telemetry to go with the right tank. Over time, Pulsa introduced enough products so that we could streamline our telemetry to just Pulsa and be able to add telemetry to any tank we needed.

Was it difficult to get Pulsa installed?

What we like about Pulsa is that it was more straightforward and easier to install than previous providers. Some of the other devices that we used were more complicated to set up, and required calibration and some we had to call into their office to set them up or take them offline, which was time-consuming and frustrating to our service techs. Some of the other providers that we had just didn't offer the full scale of what we needed simplified.

How do you see Pulsa helping your business grow?

Our goal is for CO2 to be a utility to our clients. It is there when you need it. We can troubleshoot when there are issues with leaks, see trends and peak usage times. The customers love it when you can help prevent them from running out by identifying potential problems. Overnight leaks can be identified and customers filled before they ever knew there was a problem.

Where are you seeing new opportunities?

Many of our assets are installed in cannabis applications. Pulsa has allowed us to learn the usage requirements of this new industry because it's been so different than our beverage customers. Our “before” business model based on milk runs would be very difficult to do in this new market space. Pulsa gives us the opportunity to see what our customer patterns are without having to stop there every two or four weeks, because we have some customers who need at least weekly delivery. Having real-time tank levels has also helped us during periods of CO2 shortages to better strategize our limited gas supply to customers who are critical.

How does Pulsa help that end customer?

Cannabis can be a cyclical crop, and for most of our customers, the gas needs might also be cyclical. They may go through a period of time where they may not use any CO2 at all. Pulsa gives us the capability to see that without having to physically go there and determine if they need gas. Otherwise, we’d have to guess or have to have the customer call in, or we'd be making a bunch of dead stops dropping no gas at all. That’s just time and money wasted.

Why choose Pulsa?

Pulsa is our preferred telemetry business partner, and every asset will eventually be on Pulsa. That's because we see continuous improvement in the sensors, the website, and the app. The amount of data visible on the website and app is incredible. Pulsa helps us do what we do better..

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