Oil and gas companies have a number of parts and products moving to active oil well locations throughout the United States at any given time, and keeping up-to-date information is invaluable for staying on budget and deadline
Wildcat Minerals, based in Lakewood, Colo., centralizes detailed information on product tracking, its delivery status and the amount of supplies left in the warehouse into one easily accessible customer portal.
Wildcat Minerals operates 18 facilities in 10 states and its core product offerings are inventory management and transporting and distributing frac sands. “The business has grown to become the nation’s largest independent materials handler for the oil and gas industry,” President Steve Herron says. “We are the only national materials handler operating in every major, unconventional basin in the United States.”
Wildcat’s facilities are strategically located close to railroads and each has its own rail infrastructure. “From our perspective, the market has validated our model,” Herron says. “When you look at our competitor, you will only find local providers; none offer the services we offer. Customers have been responsive in a positive way for us.”
Moving Pieces
Wildcat Minerals offers transloading services and ensures smooth, safe and on-time loading, unloading and delivery to a well site. The company’s proprietary Pipeline™ Inventory Management allows its customers to remain in constant connection with their supplies. “Our real-time inventory management tools are not only best-in-class, but we are the only company who offers those services,” Herron says.
As soon as supplies leave the manufacturer, Wildcat Minerals takes possession of the tracking. “Customers have 24/7/365 access to their inventory in real-time,” Herron adds. “They can look online and see how much material is in our facilities and as their inventory depletes from silos and railcars, they can see that. It takes two seconds for the inventory system to update.”
To continue providing excellent service and being where the customer demands, Wildcat Minerals is looking to increase its storage footprint and build additional tracks for transporting materials. “We are building infrastructure that allows customers to get materials in and out of railcars, which are expensive, and into storage or out to the well sites,” Herron explains. “We are finding customers are responsive to our desire to help them lower their overall cost and that’s what we focus on.”
Quality Assistance
A major concern among employers in the oil and gas industry is finding skilled employees, Herron says. Wildcat Minerals has 176 dedicated employees today and offers extensive training programs. “That is another differentiating aspect to us,” he adds. “We invest heavily in our associates and have training centers in Texas.”
Training programs are held 24/7/365 to train employees in a variety of different work settings. “We make sure our employees know how to do things safely because nights are different than the days,” Herron says. It also provides inventory module training. “We view ourselves as an extended shadow of our customers,” he says. “There needs to be trust and a tremendous amount of time spent on ensuring what we are doing is consistent with their vision.”
Wildcat plans to expand its operation in North Dakota and Texas’ Permian Basin. “The market has responded very positively to our business model,” Herron says. “We will continue to focus our attention to our customers, service quality and where customers need us.”