Pellet logisticswith a system.
In the wood fuel trade a cold snap brings in one week the volume that otherwise fills a month – while order intake hangs on the telephone and the routes are put together by hand the evening before. At the same time the moisture content decides what a load is actually worth. fabular joins ordering, production, stock and route planning into one process.
fabular. process chain
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- Digital customer portal
- Dynamic prices
- Route optimisation
- 100 %
- order automation
- Real time
- stock and order status
- 25+
- years of experience
- 1
- process from order to invoice
Three problems in the pellet business
Orders arrive by telephone
Orders are taken by phone or by email and entered by hand. In the heating season that becomes the bottleneck.
A digital customer portal with automatic order capture.
Prices follow the market too late
Pellet prices are adjusted manually. Market changes reach your customers with a delay, and the costings no longer hold.
Dynamic pricing from market price, raw material cost and customer terms.
Routes are planned by hand
Delivery routes are put together manually. Empty runs are frequent, and vehicle capacity is not used up.
Automatic route optimisation by volume and capacity.
This page is for businesses that produce and deliver pellets, wood chips, briquettes or split logs – and whose order intake, drying, storage and route planning reach their limits in the heating season.
What is genuinely difficult in the wood fuel trade
Volume is traded, energy is paid for, and delivery follows the weather. These three figures rarely run in step – and the errors arise exactly in between, along with the need for a quick one-off report that you can simply describe to fabAI rather than commission.
- Wood chips are traded in loose cubic metres, but energy is what gets burnt. Moisture content and calorific value decide what a load is actually worth.
- The same delivery has to be expressible in several units: loose cubic metres in the contract, oven-dry tonnes in the valuation, kilowatt hours in the invoice.
- The material keeps drying in store. Quantity and quality on the day of sale are not those of the day of purchase, and the two have to add up.
- Pellets are blown in loose. What was ordered and what actually fits into the storage room are two different quantities – and the invoice may only contain one of them.
- Demand follows the weather. A cold snap brings in one week the volume that otherwise fills a month.
- Bulk goods, bagged goods and big bags come from the same raw material, but run through separate production, storage and delivery routes.
No reliable price without moisture content
Anyone who bills by volume alone sells water in autumn and energy in spring at the same price. The difference goes unnoticed because it is spread across many small deliveries.
The route decides the margin
Small delivery quantities, narrow farmyard entrances and residual quantities left in the vehicle determine the cost per delivery. If you only schedule the evening before, you drive empty kilometres that appear in no costing.
The season can only be produced in advance
In winter the production capacity is capped and drying takes its time. Whatever does not reach the store in summer is missing at the peak – and can then only be bought in.
How fabular handles it
Order & price
- 1.A customer portal for ordering and status enquiries.
- 2.Pricing rules from market quotation and customer terms.
- 3.Scales by quantity and season.
- 4.Quotation and order without re-entry.
Production & stock
- 1.Production planning based on the sales forecast.
- 2.Silo and bagged goods stock in real time.
- 3.Quality parameters per batch.
- 4.Replenishment planned before the seasonal peak.
If you produce in summer, you do not have to improvise in winter.
Route & invoicing
- 1.Routes by volume, capacity and region.
- 2.A driver app with feedback and delivered quantity.
- 3.The invoice from the delivered quantity.
- 4.Payment reconciliation and dunning in the system.
From raw material to invoice
Between forest wood chips and the invoice to the end customer lie five steps in which quantity and quality change. In fabular every change stays traceable.
- Step 01
Raw material intake and valuation
at the weighbridge
The incoming load is weighed and valued. Moisture content, assortment and origin are recorded against the delivery and form the basis for purchase settlement and stock valuation.
- Step 02
Drying and storage
store management, seasonal
The lot goes into drying or open-air storage. Stock transfers and the change in moisture content are posted, so that the stock stays reliable not only as a volume but also in energy terms.
- Step 03
Production and filling
plant
The raw material becomes pellets, briquettes or screened fractions for bulk, bagged and big bag goods. Production quantities and quality parameters per batch are recorded as production runs.
- Step 04
Ordering and route building
scheduling, daily
Orders come in through the customer portal or the office team. The next day's routes are built from open orders, region, vehicle volume and capacity.
- Step 05
Delivery and invoicing
driver, at the delivery point
The quantity actually delivered is reported back on site. The invoice is created from that quantity and the customer terms, and payment reconciliation and dunning run in the same system.
What energy wood businesses ask us
How is moisture content taken into account in valuation and invoicing?
The moisture content is recorded against the delivery at intake and stays attached to the lot. It determines how the quantity is valued and which surcharges or deductions apply. Because the value sits on the transaction and not in a side list, you can show later which parameters a purchase or sales price was derived from.
Can loose cubic metres, oven-dry tonnes and kilowatt hours be kept side by side?
Yes, that is the usual set-up in this sector. An article can carry several units of measure with stored conversions, so that contract, delivery note and invoice each speak in the unit expected there. Which conversions and reference figures apply to your assortment is something we define together – they differ considerably by assortment and customer group.
Can customers enter their orders themselves?
Yes. Through the customer portal orders can be placed and their status checked without anyone in the office typing. In the heating season in particular that takes a noticeable load off telephone intake, because many calls are pure status questions. Prices and terms come from the system, not from a separately maintained shop price list.
How are the delivery routes created?
Routes are built from the open orders by region, vehicle volume and capacity. The aim is to send the vehicle out full and to plan residual quantities sensibly rather than drive them back. Drivers receive the route on the app and report arrival and delivered quantity back, so that scheduling sees the position during the day.
What happens if less fits into the storage room than was ordered?
The quantity actually delivered is invoiced, not the quantity ordered. Drivers report it back at the delivery point, and the invoice is created from that feedback. The residual quantity stays available in the vehicle and can be assigned to the same route. That removes the after-the-fact corrections which otherwise account for a substantial share of complaints.
Does the EU Deforestation Regulation affect us as an wood fuel trader?
Wood is one of the raw materials covered by the EUDR, together with the products made from it. For trade in energy wood it is therefore relevant as a rule. fabular has its own module for this: reference numbers are recorded on the document and travel automatically through to the batch, across stock transfers and blends as well. To classify your assortment we look at your article structure.
Companies working with fab4minds
A selection from our customer base – businesses with comparable requirements for traceability, batch management and reporting obligations.
- RWA
- BayWa
- Waldland
Before the next heating season begins
A consulting engagement clarifies in advance which bottlenecks actually limit the season. The result is a document you can work with internally – regardless of whether you carry on with fab4minds afterwards.
Digitalisation consulting for energy wood businesses
For businesses where everything jams at once at the peak: telephone, production, stock and route. We record the processes and show which bottleneck causes the others.
- Check order intake by telephone, email and portal for capacity at the seasonal peak
- Set pre-production, drying and store occupancy against the expected sales
- Examine route building, delivered quantities and residual quantity handling for cost per delivery
- Work through pricing from market quotation, moisture content and customer terms
Let us talk about your heating season
Take the strongest week of last winter. On that we show you where order capture and route planning slow you down today. For our consulting engagements the same applies: if the result does not help you, we refund the fee.