Mahindra is a brand which has always stood out from the rest whatever field it operates in. Mahindra Trucks and Buses (MTB), the commercial vehicle arm of the Mahindra Group, is doing just that through its MPOWER program, empowering young transporters to think big and scale new heights in their trucking businesses.
The MPOWER program, a joint initiative of MTB and IIM Ahmedabad, was designed with a vision to provide a platform to cater to the learning needs of the young transporters. The program curriculum is designed to include aspects facilitating transport business decisions relating to the choice of markets, procurement, production and dispatch planning, plant location and layout, procurement and distribution network planning, route optimization, fixing the ideal fleet size, warehouse location and operations, desired inventory levels, and so on. This helps the young transporters take better informed decisions to take their business to the next level.
Today, MPOWER has successfully completed eight batches with 221 participants from various transport segments across the country. The participants of all the batches vouch for their experience to be very rich and are confident of taking their family business to the next level by applying all the learnings from the tailor-made program.
MPOWER War Room is a brand extension of MPOWER that helps its participants to take the learning experience to an advanced stage. The idea was born in July 2014 with the objective of making the MPOWER delegates of past batches to introspect, reflect and make presentation on the subject, ‘Successes and Challenges in implementing what I learnt during Mahindra MPOWER at IIM, Ahmedabad, back into my business’.
MPOWER War Room II, hosted at IIM Ahmedabad from November 28 to 30 saw students from MPOWER batches 3, 4, 5 and 6 make presentations to demonstrate the execution of best practices derived from the mentorship programme to the demanding nature of their businesses. We represented Motorindia as part of the Expert Jury to judge the presentations and were enthralled to see the enthusiasm and vibrancy of the young transporters unfolding phenomenal stories of success and growth at their respective companies.
“The presentations made by these young transporters established matured awareness of the procedures to be implemented in different verticals of their business like finance, delegation, driver and HR management, effective leveraging of IT and technology along with focus and innovation. They are also learning to collaborate and learn from fellow transporters and making the whole industry a single entity,” noted Nalin Mehta, MD and CEO, Mahindra Truck and Bus Division, as he reflected on the case studies during his speech at the valedictory session.
The War Room II had 20 case studies presented for evaluation by an expert jury. As Prof. Raghuram, faculty from IIM-A observed: “The idea of War Room was to measure the consequence of the mpower program in terms of benefits to the transport fraternity.”
Thus the candidates were rated on five parameters – ability to identify improvement areas, quality & effectiveness of implementation, the impact that these measures have had on their businesses, innovative thinking, and overall presentation.
Suraj Rajan from Suraj Forwarders Pvt. Ltd. bagged the top prize. He was followed by joint winners, Nitin Bagai from Nagpur Golden Transport Co. and Ravi S.K from Mast India Logistics Private Ltd. Chirag Katira from Shree Nashik Goods Transport Company achieved the third place.
One of the few important changes that all the participants confessed to have gained, after attaining the Mahindra mpower programme at IIM-A, was structured thinking. The mpower programme helped them convert their rough formulations into structured, measurable flowcharts and graphs.
While Suraj could develop quantified thinking plan for years to come, Nitin Bagai developed structured tunnel to process the operations. Ravi SK zeroed down on route rationalization and worked on its strength of reefer containers, and Chirag executed the same day delivery concept he envisioned at the programme. Navkaran Chada-Narang Motor Transport Organisation and Rita Gargg-Bindal Logistics, who also were among the top six finalists, displayed innovations that can save time of the delivery and even offer eco-friendly ways of transportation.
Clearing the clutter
Among the most commonly cited pain points was the issue of collecting and comprehending accurate data from the clutter of information. Foreseeing the lifespan of the ERP and MIS system, Suraj invested in cloud storage. He says: “Cloud storage can provide the benefits of greater accessibility and reliability, rapid deployment, strong protection for data back-up, archival and disaster recovery purposes, and lower overall storage costs as a result of not having to purchase, manage and maintain expensive hardware.”
The forward-looking step has garnered him the rare distinction of being the first Gujarat-based logistics company to be on the cloud.
“The manual data entry reduced to 30 per cent and 20 per cent of the documentation have already gone paperless. We aim to completely go paperless by 2017”, adds Suraj.
Nitin Bagai, opting for a conventional method, chose to appoint process co-ordinators and also linked the employees and clients to MIS. “MIS processes were created for each vertical like finance, booking, sales, drivers, truck loading & unloading pattern, etc. A track of non-performers (problem areas) was kept, which resulted in greater clarity, productivity and sense of responsibility in each employee,” propagated Bagai.
Ravi SK, gaining clarity on the process of operation, opted for client-based restructuring. “I noticed business opportunity for the Hyderabad-based reefer shipping transporter (domestic player) and focused on this sector, giving attention to the 20 per cent of pharmaceutical and lifesaving drug clients that give 80 per cent of business,” revealed Ravi.
To make sure even his team focuses on reefers, he invested in 40 feet multi axle trailers that can carry reefer containers. To not get carried away with the success, for the time being, “I wanted my people to only think out of the containers,” retorts Ravi. He also decided to stick to EXIM as he focused on route rationalization, port to hinterland movements.
“Mumbai, Chennai, Krishnapatnam, Vishakhapatnam all are more or less at equal distance for us since we were based out of Hyderabad. As 95 per cent of EXIM containers that move out of Hyderabad is shipped from the ports of Chennai and Mumbai, I chalked out my primary routes,” informs Ravi.
Greener pastures
Chirag Katira and Navkaran Chada, who learned from the limitiations of their parent companies, relied on the lack of speedy options to deliver goods. While Navakarn’s new initiative (Xpress Runner) aimed at express deliveries from retailers and mom-pop stores in Delhi, Chirag’s start-up, 3XCargo, catered to intra-city same day deliveries. “MPOWER helped me get out of the constant work environment and triggered thinking out of the box. The break of two weeks (for the MPOWER programme) gets you out of the routine and keeps you thinking,” asserts Chada. Today Chada carries out 100 deliveries per week within the service operation in the last seven months.
Referring to the impact the programme had on his mindsets, Katira said: “The programme taught me calculation of ROI, reporting MIS and gave us a lot of operational clarity.”
Katira operates with 15 cargo vans, 10 which are Mahindra Bolero pick-ups and five Eeco vans. It was evident that the programme has taught the young minds to venture into greener pastures with the proven art of fleet management. However, one who mixed the art with science of fleet management was Rita Gargg.
She envisioned the idea of green transportation. Being a science student she propagated the idea of Aero-dynamism, using the dynamics of air energy by streamlining the shape of the container, to use the air energy to advantage for lesser fuel consumption and reducing the exhaust (CO2 emission).
“With experience, I observed that all my efforts were being made towards reducing the resistance by air. To lower fuel consumption of my fleet, I decided on converting resistance into assistance,” asserts Gargg. Creating an improved customised aerodynamic shape for truck trailers can lead to a cut in fuel consumption and emissions of up to as much as 15 per cent.
Her efforts soon translated into fuel savings. “We could cover the distance from North to South with specialized container that matched the height of the cabin, with 200 litres of fuel, while the other trucks without aerodynamics needed 240 litres for the same distance,” adds Gargg.
She established the fact that there is a significant relation between fuel consumption and speed. “Fuel consumption is high for lower speeds and is the minimum for intermediate speeds. Fuel efficiency is maximized when acceleration and braking are minimized. So a fuel-efficient strategy was incorporated where drivers were trained to keep the speed to 50-60 km per hour, to decrease application of brake and be fuel efficient.” Clearly, innovation merged with technology is the answer for age-old constraints.
In other quarters where Suraj Rajan met with requirements from one of his metal scrap customers, he came up with innovation to build hydraulic jacks on a 20-ft trailer. “With hydraulics on both the sides we were able to unload the cargo in 6 minutes, by tipping the trailer, compared to 6 hours earlier,” reveals Rajan. The success and confidence gained helped him replicate the same model to a 40 ft trailer which, according to Rajan, “tilts to 40 degrees with hydraulic jacks, becoming India’s only 40 ft tip trailer for containers.” This innovation helped Rajan demand 20 per cent more on contracts as his trailers were enabled for tipping.
Delegation in action
“It is the need of the day to maintain cordial relationship with drivers and other employees. I don’t believe in over-supervising and thus have dedicated managers and a board of advisors to help me run the business. My company can even run without my presence, and I have moved on to my third start-up,” reveals Rajan.
Nagpur Golden Transport’s Nitin Bagai agrees and reminisces: “I actually want to make process co-ordinators powerful and limit my presence in office to once a week and let the professionals manage the business. I hire drivers who also think like entrepreneurs and pay them 8 per cent of the profit.”
Thus, these businessmen are even professionalizing the drivers and making them decision makers in their businesses.
This summarizes the agenda of MPOWER which aims at professionalizing the entire transport fraternity. Kudos to the young blood, IIM-A and MTB!
“MPOWER gave me a long term thought process, more about the preparing the entire life plan. Apart from giving me clarity, It helped me aligned things. I was going at a certain pace and to speed up the process and achieve what I want in next 20 years I need to have experts. MPOWER made me understand the importance of advisor’s on safety, maintenance and finance.”
– Suraj Rajan, Suraj Forwarders Pvt. Ltd.
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“We weren’t used to the parameters that can help measure the success of our operations. This framework helped us
focus on what is important and negate the distractions. We learned to identify the 20 per cent of our client that gave us 80 per cent of the business.”
– Ravi S.K., Mast India Logistics Private Ltd.
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“One of the important learnings for me from MPOWER was to map out processes for each and every vertical to bring out operational proficiency. Since a lot of MNCs are giving us contract, it was time my company adopted the professional methods of doing business.”
– Nitin Bagai, Nagpur Golden Transport Co.
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“I always wanted to do something different, something on my own. While sitting in the class, I came up with the
idea ‘same delivery’. MPOWER taught us calculation, ROI, reporting MIS and gave us a lot of operational clarity. Think out of the box was the mantra I acquired.”
– Chirag Katira, Shree Nashik Goods Transport Company
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“MPOWER helped me get out of the constant work environment and triggered thinking out of the box. The break of two weeks (for the MPOWER programme) gets you out of the routine and makes you thinking,”
– Navkaran Chada, Narang Motor Transport Organisation
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“After attending MPOWER I opened up to the challenge of fleet management and amalgamated it with science. I 
realized the potential of ‘economics of science’ which made me immensely confident to approach the transport business.”
– Rita Gargg, Bindal Logistics