Brainum Case Study of Vesta Michiel Flier, Managing Director at Vesta Terminals Antwerp, has two main business drivers: to ensure all employees return to their homes safely at the end of the day, and to offer the best service to customers. About five years ago Vesta started a major automation project at their Antwerp tank terminal, and selected QINO as best fit-for-purpose software to automate their operations from order-to-cash. With the control and insight QINO offers, it helped improve both safety and customer satisfaction. Michiel Flier shares his experience with QINO, supplied by Brainum.

1. Michiel Flier, Managing Director at
Vesta Terminals Antwerp, has two
main business drivers: to ensure all
employees return to their homes safely
at the end of the day, and to offer
the best service to customers. About
five years ago Vesta started a major
automation project at their Antwerp tank
terminal, and selected QINO as best
fit-for-purpose software to automate
their operations from order-to-cash.
With the control and insight QINO
offers, it helped improve both safety
and customer satisfaction. Michiel
Flier shares his experience with QINO,
supplied by Brainum.
How QINO helps improve our
tank terminal performance
CASESTUDY
Michiel Flier - Managing Director at Vesta Terminal Antwerp
Start of terminal improvement and automation
Five years ago Vesta started a major terminal automation
project, in which the tank farm’s process control and order-
to-cash process were automated.
Brainum won the tender, with QINO selected as the
best fit to streamline the order-to-cash process for Vesta
Terminals. Vesta found Brainum to be a supplier with sound
knowledge of liquid bulk management, and QINO the best
IT solution to improve the order-to-cash process. This was
also because QINO completely integrates with the SCADA
terminal control system. Now there is full control of the core
process: from the moment of order intake (nominations),
through operations, until invoice generation.
In control of a new way of working
For the automation project, Vesta set up a project team.
For the QINO implementation, Brainum tailored the software
to the terminal. Vesta entered data into the system. And last
but not least, people had to start working with QINO. “When
implementing new systems, people usually have to change
their way of working,” says Flier. “The terminal started with a
no-nonsense just-do-it approach. What I would recommend
to others, based on experience with automation projects,
is to involve several people that will work with the system,
in this case QINO, from the start of the project. And it is also
important to pay attention to the culture change required.”
In the end Vesta Terminal Antwerp achieved the goals set for
this project and found the order-to-cash process automation
a good improvement, providing greater insight and control
over the operations.
Vesta Terminals B.V.
Vesta Terminals is an independently operated bulk liquid storage company offering its customers safe and reliable logistics services
in the form of storage and transshipment, primarily for crude oil, refined petroleum products, bio fuels and petrochemicals.
Vesta currently wholly owns and operates three storage terminals in Antwerp (Belgium), Flushing (The Netherlands) and Tallinn (Estonia)
with a total capacity over 1.6 million cubic meters.
Our diverse customer portfolio includes international oil traders, major oil companies, petrochemical producers, local fuel distributors
and bunker suppliers. Vesta Terminals is a joint venture of Mercuria Energy Asset Management B.V. (MEAM) and Sinomart KTS
Development Ltd.
www.vestaterminals.com

2. Improved safety and customer service
The main concern of Michiel Flier is to run the terminal safely.
On a daily basis numerous people carry out work with
hazardous products at the tank terminal. It is his greatest
concern to keep everybody safe. QINO helps. The program
structured the process of assessing nominations, including
product specifications, and through the link with the SCADA
control system a line-up for operations can be proposed.
It supports the control room in making the right choices.
The reduction of human errors also minimises delays,
contamination risk, and related cost of errors.
The Managing Director of the Vesta Terminal Antwerp
explains that his other key business driver is customer
service. Vesta focuses on long term customer relations,
with a healthy mix of major oil companies, international oil
traders, and petrochemical companies. Vesta pro-actively
aims to support their customers in completing the storage
and handling needs of the various products efficiently and
hassle-free. QINO provides the customer service team
with instant insight into all customer data, such as order
status and stock levels. It saves time on administration and
reporting. Valuable time is now spent on actually servicing
the customer. Customers can also log in and check their
key parameters, such as their actual volumes, at any time.
“Whereas in the old days all information surrounding
the operations used to be sent by fax and e-mail, now
customers can find the information they need in real time
online at their convenience,” says Michiel.
Brainum
Find peace of mind in tank terminal management.
Experience the feeling of complete control. Enjoy your
processes being in top shape, using QINO as your
dedicated IT solution for liquid bulk management. Benefit
from the improvements in profitability, compliance and
customer satisfaction, while you focus on further growth.
Brainum knows how, with over 10 years of experience in
applying advanced IT for liquid bulk storage and trading
businesses. Brainum’s IT solution, QINO, sets the industry
standard with full focus on delivering real time insight in tank
terminals performance. The agile team of experts takes
care, fulfilling your operational and commercial needs.
QINO automates 40 terminals globally, offering over 1500
users 24x7 online access to real-time information.
Brainum currently automates 55 terminals globally, offering
over 1750 users 24/7 online access to real-time information.
Moving forward
On the wish list of Flier is integration of QINO with the nomination
systems of customers as well as a further development of QINO’s
functionalities enabling a fully paperless automation of order
to cash. Flier is “very happy with the expansion of the Brainum
team”. There will be more room for innovation, and quick
response to questions and required updates.
Improve your tank terminal performance. Contact Brainum.
Call: +31 30 267 10 30 • Email: info@brainum.com • www.brainum.com
The customer services team saves valuable time using QINO. Time that used to be spent on
administration is now devoted to proactively servicing our customers, which improves satisfaction.
The control and insight we get from QINO was a great
improvement to our operational management, ensuring
24/7 availability of all operational key performance
indicators; a great starting point for me to work on
further improvements.