Odisha is known for its large reserves of iron ore and coal and the potential it holds for mining and construction, given the numerous power plants that have come up in its western part. We had the opportunity to travel to Jharsuguda district in western Odisha to meet Mr. Gopal Krishna Goenka, Founder of Krish Coal Movers (KCM), a well-known transporter of stone chips and coal in the region, to find out why it fits only JK Tyre on every single vehicle in its fleet and its close association with the leading home-grown tyre maker.
Mr. Goenka, a qualified Chartered Accountant, entered the coal trading business in 2007 with KCM, plying hired trucks for transporting coal within Odisha. He made his first truck purchase in 2011, placing an order for eight Tata Motors 2518 10-wheeler vehicles and went on to add eight more trucks in 2012. Having understood the nuances of the transport business and its potential, KCM exited the coal trading business in 2014 in order to focus on the transport part.
Says Mr. Goenka: “In 2014, I had a strong intuition that the Modi government would come to power. Until then, Orissa was blacklisted due to the ongoing scams, and there was no mining happening here. But knowing the Modi Government’s vision, I expected the transport industry to boom and for mining and construction activity in our State to be revived. This happened once the new Government took charge. Thanks to our right decisions, we now have a fleet of close to 100 vehicles – 75 tip-trailers, eight Hyva tippers and 16 10-wheeler trucks.”
KCM’s fleet is made up of 65 Tata Motors vehicles, 24 from BharatBenz and 10 from Ashok Leyland. All of its tip-trailers have been built by Black Diamond while the regular tippers are from Hyva.
Almost 65 per cent of KCM’s business comes from transporting stone-chips and other construction material for Shree Balaji Engicons from its crushers to the construction sites, with the remaining 35 per cent accounted for by coal transportation for different clients. While the company’s tip-trailers transporting stone-chips run for around 10,000 km every month, the coal transporting vehicles run nearly half the distance due to the long loading and unloading time involved.
Close association with JK Tyre
KCM’s association with JK Tyre started in November 2015 when it started sourcing tyres from one of its dealers. Soon, details about JK Tyre’s distinguished Fleet Management Program reached Mr. Goenka who was excited to know about the advantages that came as part of the package. “I came to know about JK Tyre’s Fleet Management Program which came with lots of benefits. From that day till today, I have opted only for JK Tyre across all my vehicles. The tyres on the prime movers from all OEMs and also on the tip-trailers from Black Diamond are exclusively from JK Tyre based on my request. As far as vendors are concerned, my business policy is very clear – I do not keep jumbling them – all our tyres are from JK. IndianOil takes care of all our oil needs and all our tip-trailers are from Black Diamond. A number of other vendors have approached me for tyres, oil and tip-trailers, but I have never thought about switching over because we are very happy with our existing supplier partners”, shares Mr. Goenka.
Though KCM had started off with bias tyres, over the last nine months or so, it has completely switched over to radials, impressed by the improved performance and longer life offered by JK radials – JDE, JDC3, JUC3 and JUH3+. “We have had huge cost savings by switching over to JK radials that easily run for over 10 to 11 months. Through smart usage and rotation of the radials, the savings have been even better, which is why we have decided to go radial-only from now”, he reveals.
So is it just the tyre performance that has made KCM stick to JK Tyre or is there something beyond? The company’s main man responds: “The approach and communication of JK is very good, right from their top management to the bottom person in their team. They understand the problem of the customer; being a partner, we expect our vendor to support us so that there is longevity in the partnership; JK Tyre has supported us a lot in that way which is why we stay committed to them.”
On the service and maintenance front as well, JK Tyre offers complete round-the-clock support to KCM. “A JK Fleet Management person visits our sites every week, inspects the tyres, offers suggestions and ensures the tyre part is completely taken care of. Apart from this, a dedicated person from JK has been made available for us onsite for performing retreading and other patching works. With such a service support In place, If I have a tyre issue in any vehicle, the JK person attends to it and checks not just the one vehicle, but also the other vehicles as well, making the overall tyre maintenance very convenient and hassle-free for us”, he says with a satisfactory smile.
With a total workforce of around 200 employees, including a driver count of 100, KCM has not been really hit hard by driver shortage, with the exception of the last three to four months wherein there has been a pinch as an aftermath of demonetization in November. The company though, is confident of getting over the challenge by the end of June. Adopting a not-so-common policy as far as Odisha is concerned, KCM does not offer fixed salary for its drivers, offering them variable pay which allows them to earn in proportion to the amount of work delivered. While the policy has kept its drivers happy since they are rewarded for good work, it has also taken driver and worker retention levels to a new high.
In an year’s time, almost all vehicles in KCM’s fleet would become finance free, paving the way for Mr. Goenka to look at further fleet expansion which he plans to do based on market dynamics, while also exploring the possibility of getting back into its erstwhile business of coal trading.