This automotive veteran from Indore, Madhya Pradesh, hit upon a success streak a few years ago when he opted for Bridgestone tyres for more than half his fleet. Manoj Choubey, Director, YRC Logistics is only too happy to share with Sarada Vishnubhatla his experience with the tyre manufacturer and elaborates on how the tyre professionals have helped him in making his business successful while keeping down-time to almost nil! Here’s the report.
Butter-soft glide on the road is the ultimate dream of a fleet owner and his drivers. It is also the singular aim of a tyre manufacturer worth its salt. Manoj Choubey, Director, YRC Logistics and Bridgestone prove it to be true.
Established in 2014, YRC Logistics (YRC) is one of the largest and the fastest growing company in Indore, Madhya Pradesh today. YRC primarily ferry FMCG, pharma products and tyres in containerized vehicles. The company owns its fleet of 150 trucks of which 25 are BS-VI variants. These vehicles are 32-feet multi-axle ones and are of 28 ton capacity. Since they ferry expensive goods and products, YRC takes utmost care in reaching the goods on time every time to their customers. The entire fleet is equipped with two GPRS devices with two different data network services so that if in certain areas one does not work, the other will.
A little more than 3 years ago, Manoj Choubey started converting to using Bridgestone tyres and today at least half the number of his vehicles are running on these tyres. Over the time, Choubey saw Bridgestone tyres giving better mileage over other brands and he was impressed with the sales and service team of Bridgestone coming to his rescue whenever he had an issue with tyres – be it about their maintenance or pre-empting problems. Today, Bridgestone has become an integral part of YRC’s success.
Manoj Choubey says: “In my study I have seen that the longevity of Bridgestone tyres is more compared to other brands. Mileage wise, my vehicle runs for 4.25 km with Bridgestone tyres as against 4 km with other tyre brands. So, my fuel efficiency is 3-5% better when I use Bridgestone tyres. An added advantage is that their sales and service teams visit us frequently and help our maintenance team with tyre rotation and alignment issues.”
YRC primarily uses M751 tube-type tyres along with G611 & M721 patterns. YRC has also expressed an inclination towards tubeless tyres and a handful of their trucks have been mounted with Bridgestone’s premium tubeless product – R156. YRC’s tyre consumption was roughly 60 per month which has come down to 40 after they started using Bridgestone tyres. At present, over 50% of the tyres which YRC uses are from Bridgestone.
With Bridgestone, Choubey calculates the cost per kilometer coming to Rs. 0.17 while tyres of other brands give Rs.0.19. It works out to be huge savings for YRC if the total number of kilometers his fleet runs in a month is taken into account. If 3 years ago YRC was spending 4-5% of the total income on tyres and maintenance, it has now come down to 3% thanks to Bridgestone.
Choubey is also happy that his drivers too prefer Bridgestone tyres thanks to the superior driving comfort, better tyre mileage and improved fuel efficiency they deliver. Talking about drivers, YRC has taken the initiative to obtain a mediclaim policy for all its drivers to help them during the current COVID crisis. The company has also provided sanitation kits for its entire workforce including drivers to help keep themselves and their fleet safe and hygienic.
Excellent Support
Bridgestone sales team does not wait for a call for help. They make voluntary visits to YRC Logistics every month to trouble-shoot in various ways. According to Choubey, this is one of the main reasons why his steady conversion to Bridgestone tyres is continuing.
Choubey explains: “Though our vehicles are under the company AMC, our tyres in the past would wear out faster. We received advise from our well-wishers that we should use nylon tyres. Instead of doing that we sought Bridgestone teams’ expertise who then identified the problem and solved it for us. Despite being a tyre manufacturer, Bridgestone extends end-to-end support to fleets. They cater not only to tyre related issues but also help us in the overall upkeep and maintenance of our fleet.”
On their part, Bridgestone ensures that they serve their discerning clients like YRC Logistics with utmost efficiency and with speed.
Choubey is only happy to explain: “Many a time, we have had to call on their help in emergency. And they have always come through for us. It helps us immensely because vehicle down-time for us means financial loss. With their prompt service and commitment, we are able to get our vehicles back on road within just a few hours.”
It is a natural extension for Bridgestone’s service team to a take deep interest in training the fleet drivers too, from time to time. Every morning, Choubey takes stock of his vehicles that are scheduled to move and checks them for their fitness and readiness. He is accompanied by a member from Bridgestone’s servicing team and together they make sure that each vehicle’s tyres are ready to run smoothly as they have been designed to.
YRC is in the process of getting better working knowledge of technology such as TPMS among others with Bridgestone with the help of which maintenance functions such as tyre inflation, pressure, and heat generated in the tyre can be flawlessly documented. Choubey hopes to soon install this technology in his tyres with the help of Bridgestone team.
Bridgestone – Preferred Tyre Partner
Choubey dreams of taking YRC Logistics’ turnover to touch Rs. 100 crores by 2025. For him, it automatically translates into an increase in the number of vehicles in his fleet, which in turn, means that his tyre requirement also increases. Choubey is confident that: “We will be able to increase the percentage of Bridgestone tyres from the present 50 to more than 60.”
His parting words define the partnership that YRC Logistics and Bridgestone share perfectly when he says ‘we are like a family now. We are happy to have brought in Bridgestone as our tyre partners and this is one relationship which we can see continuing for a long time to come’.
And why not, because this is how Bridgestone takes best care of its loyal customers and YRC Logistics is no exception!
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“Fuel efficiency is 3-5% better when I use Bridgestone tyres. An added advantage is that their sales and service teams visit us frequently and help our maintenance team with tyre rotation and alignment issues.
– Manoj Choubey, Director, YRC Logistics
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The Bridgestone Boost for YRC
• 3-5% Better Fuel Efficiency
• ~ 25% Cost Savings on Tyres
• ~ 30% Drop in Tyre Consumption