Continuing our quest to scratch beneath the surface of the CV industry and find out JK Tyre’s contribution to yet another fleet operator, we landed in Indore to visit Arneja Road Lines (ARL) and Arneja Auto Logistics (AAL). Located in the Malwa region, the commercial capital of Madhya Pradesh, the company is well known for its prompt, secure and reliable transport service.
Mr. Joginder Singh Arneja, Director, ARL, says: “We have grown gradually from commission agents of transport in 1957 to clearing forwarding agents and now are owners of a leading transport business group in India. The business was started by our father Mr. Harbans Singh Arneja in 1978, with the mission of providing safe and reliable transportation of goods to clients.” He was subsequently joined by his younger brother Mr. Jasvinder Singh Arneja, as another Director of ARL.
The company believes in moving with time and adapting itself as per the needs of its customers and industry. In 1998, Arneja Road Lines had started business with Safe Express courier contracts. It was then when its association with JK Tyre began. Mr. Jasvinder Singh recounts: “In a short span of time with Safe Express we went pan-India to reach destinations like Chennai, Calcutta, Bangalore, Guwahati and other cities from Indore. That was when we used JK JDH tyres which yielded us huge savings of nearly 30-40 litres of fuel per truck per trip. Imagine the amount saved when we multiply the saving per trip by several rounds and multiple trucks.”
Covering miles with JK
The tongue remembers the taste and an astute businessman remembers the profits from his dealings. The initial experience with JK Tyre and its influence on ARL’s business has stayed on with the Arneja brothers. Today, with most of its tyres from JK, the brothers don’t shy away from giving the taste of this friendly family partnership with JK. “We are one fleet company from Indore who have been a regular participant in JK Tyre’s National Fleet Operator Conferences held overseas for all JK customers. The Conference was a large platform for sharing feedback and suggestions on the performance of their tyres and served as a very good knowledge-sharing forum”, recalls Mr. Joginder Singh.
Today, although ARL does not work with Safe Express any longer, it transports open body goods and runs mostly towards the East from Nasik to Guwahati. In 2010, AAL was started to cater to the demands from car manufacturers and operates for Tata cars from Pantnagar, return load of Tata from Pune and other car manufacturers like Hyundai, Maruti, Toyota, Mahindra and Nissan on an all-India route.
Having realized the benefits and potential of JK tyres, ARL and AAL, together with their large fleet size, consume around 1,000 to 1,200 tyres from JK every year. “Tyres account for the second largest business expense for us after fuel. Durability and quality of JK tyres have ensured that our turnaround time is faster, mileage is higher and breakdowns are lesser,” informs Jasvinder. “We do timely replacement of tyres which reduces vehicle downtime, check for air pressure which brings down punctures and ensure rotation of tyres to minimize tyre wear. Timely greasing coupled with wheel alignment whenever required helps us considerably reduce the cost per km per tyre. This certainly would not have been possible without the reliable tyres from JK,” explains Joginder Singh.
To further enhance the tyre life and overall operational efficiency of the fleet, JK is leaving no stone unturned. “The JK Fleet Management team has plans to further ramp up the technical service by placing exclusive fleet service executives at our premises to help enhance the tyre life and save more. The JK team visits our workshop and inspects the tyres periodically, with any irregularity in tyre inflation pressure or wheel rim being brought to the notice of our workshop in-charge. This helps our fleet in-charge do preventive maintenance and thus save huge losses due to tyre failures, while it also helps us save a sizeable amount spent on maintenance. We are very thankful to JK for their efforts in supporting our business”, concludes Mr. Singh.