Nineteen year-old Subramanya B.T., in 2006, owned one goods vehicle. Today, at 31, he has 120 of his own and rents out 400-450 vehicles owned by driver-owners.
It was in 2006 that Mr. Subramanya started Lakshmi Cargo Movers with a turnover of Rs. 1 lakh. Ten years later, he runs LCM (Lakshmi Cargo Movers) Logistics with a turnover of Rs. 45 crores. What lay in between? His determination, zeal to succeed and experience of his two co-Directors – Mr. T.M. Subbaiah and Mr. S. Kumar. And success was LCM’s.
Mr. Subramanya reminisces: “I came to Bangalore from my hometown, Madikeri, when I was 19 years old. I did not pursue studies after my 10th standard but looked around for a job. I did not find any for six months. Later, I started working as a driver with a logistics company. In 2005 I bought my first vehicle. Once I finished paying out the loan on this vehicle, I bought another one with my savings. I poured all that I earned back into my business. By 2006, I had hired two drivers and rented them out to clients like Big Bazaar and Reliance Fresh. Gradually I added two vehicles in 2012, six in 2013 and 20 in 2015 – all of them from Tata Motors. Today I have 120 vehicles of my own.”
His partner, Mr. Subbaiah, joined him in 2009 in the capacity of Founder Director. Mr. S. Kumar, Country Head & Executive Director, joined LCM in 2016 bringing with him a vast experience in the logistics field. If Mr. Subramanya brings his expertise in management and operations, Mr. Subbaiah aces in the fields of marketing and developing customer relationship. Mr. Kumar who has channelized his experience as the supply chain specialist to increase the top-line turnover of the company takes care of LCM’s offices in Pune, Baroda and Coimbatore.
Today LCM is an integrated logistics service provider based in Bangalore but catering to multiple locations barring the North and East. It provides complete range of services like last-mile delivery, in-bound logistics, warehousing, in-plant logistics, contract manufacturing logistics and packaging services.
Tata Motors – all the way
Mr. Subramanya swears by his vehicles from Tata Motors. He admits: “80 per cent of our business is last-mile delivery. It has been Tata Motors for us all along because for city-bound last-mile delivery we needed vehicles like Tata Ace which are ideal. From the beginning, Tata Motors have taken care of us. They have helped me with financing my vehicles. They are great at delivering quality and have widespread service stations. For me, the cost of maintenance is also low. They have always given me the best service.”
Not only does Tata Motors sell vehicles to LCM, their executives work in tandem with LCM’s driver training team. Mr. Subramanya says: “People from Tata Motors train our trainers whenever we buy a new model of Tata’s. They also supervise refresher courses to our drivers given through our trainers. On our part, we teach our drivers soft skills like how to communicate with customers, dress well and drive safely. We drill into them to perform basic checks on their vehicles by default like checking for oil, water, cleaning the battery, air pressure in tyres and the like. We believe in taking care of our drivers. We offer insurance to each one of our drivers worth Rs. 5-10 lakhs. I began as a driver, hence I realise the problems of drivers face. We extend advances when they need it for paying school fees for their kids or pay them overtime when they have worked extra hours.”
LCM boasts of double the number of drivers, including those on the stand-by, for the number of vehicles they own. He believes in hiring drivers from rural Karnataka instead of local areas because he knows that the locals may get tempted to go whenever there is another lucrative job offer. Mr. Subramanya explains: “Most of my drivers come from outside, so we offer them a place to stay, give them food. A driver is the key to any logistics organization.”
Early on, Mr. Subramanya decided to containerize his vehicles. He shares, “We used to get the bodies built by Joyce Wagon, Peenya, but now we have our own set-up – Caveri Motors – and now I am taking on contracts to build bodies from outside also.”
While LCM runs dedicated branded fleet to service clients like Reliance Digital and Reliance Vegetables, it also runs upto 20 unbranded vehicles to ferry things in general for other customers like Blue Dart and Flipkart.
Mr. Subbaiah chips in: “We also cater to ISKCON for their Askhaya Patra program for which we have 32 dedicated vehicles that serve around 344 schools. We have got a new contract in Hubli now. Then there is food distribution program of BBMP for its Poura Karmikas in the city for which we serve them.”
Major challenges
Typical of any company that provides logistics, LCM too finds availability and retention of drivers a major issue. Mr. Subramany says: “Besides that, when I had begun, it was tough for me because of stiff competition and lack of funds. To solve the finance issues, I took an overdraft from the bank, and to handle the driver issues I hired my close relatives to supervise them and their schedules.”
The rest, according to Mr. Subramanya, is relatively easy behause of his being a peoples’ person. He adds: “Delivering on-time and to the satisfaction of my customers is what keeps LCM in the game, not only that… I know that because of this no competition today can budge me from being the sole logistics provider for some of my clients.”
Handling drivers and keeping them employed with LCM has come a long way for Mr. Subramanya who comments: “My drivers know that the moment they make mischief or are insincere in their work, they will be removed. I know the value of a good driver because I began as one. If the driver is not good, then the business will not run. All my vehicles are fitted with GPS. I track them constantly. I haven’t had a single driver related problem since I started.”
Vision
The three heads of LCM are clear about their vision that if this year their turnover is Rs. 45 crores, then by next FY they wish to touch Rs. 100 crores. Mr. Subramanya plans to start express courier services by 2019-20.
The head honchos of LCM also believe that with the GST initiative, e-commerce activity will undergo a drastic change with regard to the warehousing needs and 3PL providers – and that is where LCM plans to be to leverage maximum mileage.
LCM Facts:
Complete network across Karnataka covering all major cities
Present in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Telengana, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, covering major cities
On an average, around 350 LCVs are pressed into Bangalore-bound last-mile delivery services
Plans to add around 300 more LCVs, 50 more MCVs and 20 bikers to cater to businesses in Bangalore
Has set up warehouse for Saurer Textiles at Karjan, Baroda, where LCM handles more than 3,300 items and supplies on the JIT basis.