After making its presence in the relocation business in India, Agarwal Packers and Movers Ltd. (APML) is now working on innovative and out-of-the-box solutions to serve its customers better. The home-grown logistics and transportation major, which runs a fleet of over 1,000 self-owned vehicles and 100 branch offices that serve more than 1,300 locations across the country, will soon be rolling out online bookings for both its household and industrial clients.
Founded in 1987 by ex-airman Mr. Ramesh Agarwal, AMPL ranks among India’s largest logistics and supply chain companies. The Agarwal Movers Group (AMG) is a Rs. 500-crore business conglomerate that has diversified interests in infrastructure development, air cargo terminal management, relocation transportation, logistics, 3PL, warehousing and related activities.
In an exclusive interaction to MOTORINDIA, Mr. Ramesh Agarwal, Founder, Mentor, Chairman & Managing Worker of Agarwal Movers Group, stated: “We have been at the forefront of the transportation and logistics sectors and are a one-stop solution to all our clients’ business’ logistics demands. We understand that well-managed and well-structured logistics solutions play a very crucial role in taking any business to its successful point. So in order to meet our business’ complex transportation requirements, we have devised a very supportive, advanced and integrated technique that is believed to perform efficiently and timely for tackling all day-to-day transportation demands. We will now go online with our services as we aspire to foray into e-commerce of logistics services.”
When quizzed about its online venture, Mr. Agarwal said: “We are developing 4, 6, 10 and 16 feet containers which can be booked on a dedicated website and based on the total weight of our customers’ luggage. Just like the online ticketing system, our (freight) rates will keep varying according to the demand-supply scenario. It will be catering to small, medium and large enterprises and will be applicable for all commercial, industrial and household products. The customers can keep the keys of the container so it can be opened by them only at the destination. There is also a new feature of tracking and monitoring so that our clients can track the location of their consignments as our trucks are equipped with the ‘GPS’ system for online tracking.”
The online strategy comes within less than a year of APML rolling out the ‘Trucking Cube’ concept, which has revolutionized the field of relocation needs in the country. The company has earmarked Rs. 60 crores for this project.
As Mr. Agarwal highlighted: “This out-of-the-box concept was introduced after realising our customers’ needs and requirements. The best part of this concept is that even if someone doesn’t have a place to shift at the end of the month, one need not to worry about his or her goods. They can shift their household goods to the new location by booking the number of containers that suits their requirement and thus have to pay only for the containers booked and not the freight of entire truck. Anyone can count on our ‘Trucking Cube’ concept as the goods are stored in our warehouse for 21 days without any cost. And where the security is a matter of concern, the containers key is with the customers themselves. We generally club trucking cubes in one truck and take them from one hub to another. During transit, the cubes are never opened ensuring a safe and reliable delivery of the customer’s goods. This has turned out to be a unique concept and is beneficial for the customers who frequently change their location.”
It is to be mentioned that in order to store the goods of its customers/clients in a safe and secure environment, APML is already having a total warehouse space of 25 lakh sq. ft. spread across multiple locations like Delhi, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, etc. As far as its existing fleet is concerned, it usually sources the chassis from leading manufacturers and thereafter gets the bodies built by third party manufacturers. Besides 4-tonner light vehicles which are used as collection vans, the company also buys heavy-duty chassis which has a carrying capacity of 7.2 tonnes.
Every APML vehicle has an integrated GPS receiver to enable GPS for vehicle tracking. Back in the office, fleet managers monitor each vehicle’s journey equipped with a vehicle tracking system. Location data is refreshed every minute, so that the company has the up-to-date information for making important operational decisions.
He further observed: “Out of our existing fleet of 1,000+ vehicles, we are having approximately 350 light vehicles and 700 heavy vehicles. Among them, 600+ are close-door containers. But as our ‘Trucking Cube’ concept is gaining eminence, we are looking to double our LCV count to 700. The HCV count may go up to 1,000 once there is a complete revival in the market. We usually buy 16 vehicles per month and sell off 10 vehicles at the same time. We dispose of every vehicles after 6 years. We are planning to tie up with other major manufacturers for adding our fleet. We have sourced 5-10 samples from them and will go ahead depending on their vehicles’ performance.”
Besides ramping up its operations, APML has also come out with an innovative CSR initiative aimed at reducing the number of deaths caused in road accidents due to lack of basic amenities for drivers. The CSR initiative, the first-of-its-kind in India, namely the ‘Driver Seva Kendra’, started at Dudu near Jaipur at NH-8 at Rajasthan in 2012. The centre covers an area of 50 acres and offers 500 beds and an adequate number of blankets, fans, wash-rooms, hygenic food, free health check-ups, etc. As part of its future plan, APML will open a similar outfit at District Jalgaon at NH6.
Meanwhile, the Agarwal Movers Group is aiming to clock Rs. 1,200 crores by 2020 with APML accounting for nearly 80 per cent of the business even in the future. “Our mission is to be the first choice for customers and continue to be the best performer in the industry,” concluded Mr. Ramesh Agarwal.