TankScan Saves Jiffy Lube Franchise Thousands of Dollars and Makes Inventory Management Easier
Aug, 15 2025
Case Studies
Griffin Fast Lube
Griffin Fast Lube Family of Companies operates 57 Jiffy Lube stores throughout Colorado, Utah and Nevada. Griffin Fast Lube sees hundreds of customers daily across its locations, which means there is a large inventory of new and used motor oil to keep track of. That proved challenging when Griffin Fast Lube relied on manual measurements to record inventory levels on eight to ten tanks at each location.
Applications: Lubricant Tank Monitoring
Market: Quick Lube
Challenge
Griffin Fast Lube required a monthly inventory check on its bulk tanks. In order to determine the amount of product in the tank, employees would calculate the gallons per inch in each tank. This method became complicated for anyone unfamiliar with the process. Employees would drop a tape measure to the bottom of the bulk tank and pull it up to see where the oil level was, and often it was difficult to determine exactly where the line was.
“The process was difficult and clunky,” said DJ Griffin, CEO of Griffin Fast Lube Family of Companies. “If you didn’t know the equation or how to do it, mistakes were easily made.”
Some of Griffin Fast Lube’s tanks contained support beams. If an employee was unfamiliar with which tanks had support beams, they could hit the beam with the tape measure and assume it was the bottom of the tank. This often resulted in inaccurate inventory reports.
“If you have errors on an inventory report, it can cause accounting and supply-related issues, resulting in thousands of dollars in errors,” explained Griffin.
Solution
Griffin Fast Lube wanted an easier, more streamlined way to manage its inventory across its Denver locations, so the company sought out the TankScan TSM8000 monitor from TankScan.
Using industry-leading micro-impulse radar (MIR) technology, the TSM8000 series of monitors provides tank level measurements accurate to +/- 0.5% of probe length for above-ground liquid storage tanks. TankScan TSM8000 allows organizations to accurately monitor fluid levels in multiple tanks, across multiple sites, from the convenience of any computer. Griffin installed more than 90 TankScan monitors on tanks in its Denver locations. TankScan TSM8000 collects data about the fluid level in Griffin’s tanks at its Denver locations and automatically sends it to Griffin’s inventory reporting system.
“The process is simple now,” said Griffin. “Employees aren’t required to mess with the TankScan units. They just pull up the inventory report and make sure it’s okay.”
Results
TankScan TSM8000 helps Griffin Fast Lube maintain its most valuable inventory – bulk oil.
“With TankScan, our bulk oil inventory is exact,” added Griffin. “The TankScan reports make it easier for our store managers to manage that piece of inventory. We have precise clarity on what’s in each tank and how long it’s estimated to last. When we see the trend from the reports, we no longer feel the need to hoard inventory just in case.”
If multiple stores reserve inventory, it becomes a huge drain on Griffin’s cash flow because they have to wait to sell that inventory. Thanks to the TankScan monitoring system, Griffin can recoup dollars into cash flow by adjusting the amount of product delivered from vendors.
“Now we’re able to hold our vendors accountable,” added Griffin. “We’re able to set up customized alert levels, which allow us to notify the vendor if we need to reschedule product delivery or pick up.”
In the future, Griffin hopes to provide used and new oil vendors with a level of credentials so they have a live view of the product by tank and by store to help them know how much product Griffin needs. This will also help the vendor know how much product it needs in its own pipeline.
“The TankScan system facilitates communication better,” added Griffin. “There are already enough things to communicate about, it’s nice to have one less thing to worry about.”
Additionally, TankScan TSM8000 saves Griffin Fast Lube additional labor costs if an overflow alarm battery dies, resulting in a tank that has overflowed. Griffin Fast Lube plans to install TankScan TSM8000 on tanks at its other locations by the end of 2019.