The Confederation of Indian Industry organized a conference on Logistics on 21.8.2019 at The Residency Towers. Several stakeholders of the Logistics Industry from the Coimbatore area took part in the conference. R.Varadharajan, Chairman-CII Coimbatore Zone welcomed the gathering.
The Conference’s theme was conveyed by R.Shankar, Conference Chairman and CEO TVS Supply Chain Solutions Ltd. He said that the quality of roads in India is good but the number of accidents is not coming down due to few factors. He said that in today’s scenario, a driver is not given the due respect he deserves whereas in many developed markets, a truck driver earns more than a BPO operator/financial services provider. In India, such a market should turn up. The culture to bring down truck accidents is the need of the hour in the field of Logistics, he wished.
He said there is a tremendous improvement in the field happening in the present. “Earlier, from Chennai to Delhi, the time to travel the 2100+ kms used to be 120 hours”. It came down to 80-84 hours after GST has come. Government has allowed a 20% increase of loading capacity of every single truck in the country. This came last year, as the roads’ and trucks’ quality has improved. These have enabled transportation to become much more efficient and much more effective.
“As far as Warehouses and Transport Network Planning are concerned, GST has helped the field”, he opined. One of the ways to increase the GDP of the country and give jobs to the people remains in manufacturing sector. To do these, Logistics would be a great enabler, he ended.
B.Vijay Kumar, Former Chairman, Total Marketing Service, South Asia delivered a Special Address on Transportation Safety. Taking his own field-Oil Industry as a case for discussion, he said Road Transportation is very important for the oil industry. Talking about how things are done at Total, he said that the company has contracted drivers but takes responsibility & feels responsible for them. He said Total has given greater considerations to zero the fatality truck drivers experience.
Implementing crash guards, big mirrors and a comfortable cushioned seats with 3-point seat belts, third party vetting of the vehicles, proper and timely checking of tire tread with tire gauge, avoiding travel between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m., allotting only 10 hrs of travel for a driver, limiting speed to 60 km/h, giving proper respite durations for every hour ( say 20 mins rest for 2hrs travel, 30 mins for 3hrs travel in case if driver could not stop at 2 hrs), mapping the route and conveying the hazards (weather & road-conditions), monitoring every movement via GPS, analyzing driving behavior and warning if any road rule is broke via speaker & microphone that comes with the GPS Kit, rewarding the driver for his good performances and behavior with incentives have been effectively lowering the risks on road for the drivers and also increasing their quality of work & life.
The conference also touched upon Supply Chain Management, Packaging Solutions, Supply Chain Reception Models and Efficient & New Trends in Storage Solutions by eminent personalities belonging to the field.