After traversing through many parts of the country to meet leading fleet operators with whom JK Tyre has forged long lasting relationships, we took a stop at the capital city of Delhi to get a broader insight from Agarwal Packers and Movers Limited (APML), another happy and satisfied JK customer. Founded in 1987 by ex-airman Mr. Ramesh Agarwal, APML ranks among India’s largest logistics and supply chain companies. 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, sources 100 per cent of its tyres from JK.
Interacting with MOTORINDIA, Mr. Ramesh Agarwal, MD, APML, stated: “Our Association with JK began in 2005 when we started sourcing tyres from them through their retail channels. At that point of time, we were also buying tyres from other brands until we became their loyal customer when we got into corporate buying which happened a couple of years back when we were overwhelmed by their tyres’ running cost per kilometre.”
It is to be mentioned that APML’s fleet count comprises goods carriers from all OEMs like Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland, Mahindra, Eicher, BharatBenz, etc. The average tyre consumption by its fleet is 130 new tyres per month and 70 re-treaded tyres per month, which totals to nearly 2,400 tyres annually. The radial tyres on APML’s fleet clock an average of 130,000 km while the nylon ones deliver a life of 70,000 km. For vehicle maintenance, the fleet outfit runs an in-house workshop at Narsinghpur, Haryana with the tyre service handled completely by dedicated JK engineers.
Talking about the benefits derived from JK Tyre through corporate buying, Mr. Agarwal highlighted: “We get the best savings in terms of cost per tyre per km with JK. Our purchasing department has found their tyres to be highly fuel efficient, lower in abrasion with a proper non-skid depth (NSD). Moreover, their customer care is excellent as we can just contact them anytime and they provide instant onsite support. Because of the excellent rapport we share with them, we are now completely sourcing tyres from them for our entire fleet. Though 85% of our tyres are currently nylon type, we expect the equation to change in favor of radials as our demand patterns change.”
Currently, tyre as a component accounts for 10.8 per cent of APML’s total operational costs. Likely to shift to more radials in future, the company anticipates to bring it down its costs further. At Present, it is largely sourcing Jet R Miles (non-radial) tyres at the front and Jet 1 (non-radial) & JDH 3 (radial) tyres at the rear with plans to go for enhanced radial tyre adoption in future.
When queried about its plans to go all-radial in its fleet, he said, “We are taking baby steps as nylon tyres are robust and can withstand any kind of terrain. But as the government is building world-class roads and highways, we will definitely think about going full radial. When that happens, we will not think anything beyond JK as their Fleet Management Team has been assisting us excellently for streamlining our fleet operations.”
When quizzed whether it has any suggestions to offer to JK, the MD concluded by saying: “One of the suggestions that we have offered to JK Tyre and which is likely to be formalized is buying tyres on rent. Instead of paying a sizeable amount up front, we can pay on a monthly or yearly basis for the number of kilometres logged by the tyres multiplied by the average cost per unit. It will be a win-win situation for both of us.”
