Moving on to the ‘One stop logistics solution provider’ domain
Namakkal name can conjure up varied interesting historical, religious and disparate recalls one of which for many should be concerning the diverse mushrooming trucks and transport related fabricators, manufacturers and technical services providers in the region. Namakkal, a small and vibrant city about 70 km from Trichy in central Tamil Nadu is an important centre for the trucking community and herein are located multitude of truck body and bus/coach building companies both big and small; and the place also has been the main hub and source of well trained professional truck drivers and talented technicians of varied skill sets. It has also been a place which has seen the genesis of several of the leading transport companies and entrepreneurs having their business skills finely honed therein, before spreading out to look around for greener pastures elsewhere. One of such several companies having its close links with Namakkal and making it big in the transport and logistics segment has been Namakkal Transport Carriers (NTC) – a firm increasingly sought after currently by discerning companies for addressing their diverse end-to-end heavy weight and project cargo transport tasks.
NTC had a humble beginning in 1997 when K. Chandramohan, a technocrat entrepreneur and currently the CMD of the company hailing from Namakkal saw a big opportunity in the transport of Over Dimensional Consignments (ODC) and decided to take a plunge. Having got soaked and groomed in the business culture of Namakkal, he took to the trucking business with panache and the company was incorporated as Pvt ltd in 2001. Starting as a basic transport services firm with a turnover of about Rs.4.5 crores in 2001, NTC since then has expanded its operations in the domain to provide turnkey services covering all facets of logistics for their niche clients. The growth in the last decade has been at a scorching pace with the firm closing the last fiscal year with an impressive turnover of Rs.450 crores – a creditable achievement indeed considering that this landmark has been scaled by a first generation entrepreneur in a field dominated by established big names with decades of standing.
“Our focus area right from the beginning has been in and around ODC, which to this date accounts to over 50% of the revenues. The company’s growth phase coincided with the timely shift in the Indian industrial horizon during early 2000 when the focus and thrust were on power and infrastructure segments”, indicates Mr. K.P. Ajit Menon, Executive Director, a technocrat and an SCM veteran. With mega projects coming up in the core sectors, the conventional truck/tractor trailer combinations were not able to address the needs to move several of the challenging ODC ranging up to 500 ton or more in weight and dimensions often challenging the road network restrictions. “Yes, it was the windmill sector that gave the real fillip to our operations – timely and safe delivery of long blades, lengths 30 mtr and more at that juncture were more important factors in the choice of a transporter rather than the costs. With project cargo weights increasing all the time, we were forced to find out innovative and economic solutions to deliver the consignment at customer site” remarks Mr. Chandramohan.
NTC addressed the growing and challenging market requirements on two fronts viz., to add on technologically superior, state of the art trailers and trucks ; and inducting professional senior executives from the SCM and project management segments to steer the operations. This approach has paid rich dividends in the transformation of the company on various fronts, increasing the all round performance and providing optimal solutions to customer needs. Various systems and procedures were put in place to move to a higher orbit from the traditional and conservative transport company platform and the firm obtained its certification on ISO 9001: 2008 by TUV NORD-Germany, ISO 140001:2004, OHSAS 18001:2007. Hence it comes as no surprise to see their spanking new corporate office with facilities on par with multinational firms. The directors and the support executives operate from this office, co-ordinate the network operations and interact with customers for their diverse project requirements. The company has Mr. Chandramohan, CMD, at the helm and supported by Mr. Raja Sundaram, Finance Director, Mr. N. Thillai Arasan and Mr. S. Muthuswamy, Directors for Fleet operations and Maintenance; while the purchase, HR, admin and other diverse operational activities are handled by Mr. Ajit Menon, ED. “We still have our office from which we began our initial operations in the crowded commercial area close to the port, a typical norm for companies having their business centred around goods movement in and around of the port ; herein the focus is more on the functional/routine aspects connected with operations” adds Mr. Ajit Menon.
Today NTC has more than 500 vehicles viz., truck/tractor trailer combinations. Their fleet comprises low/semi-low/high bed trailers, universal oscillating axles and extendable air suspension trailers. The prime mover tractors/trucks include Tata, Ashok Leyland, Volvo, MAN, AMW, Mahindra Navistar and Scania. For handing super ODC essentially the project cargo, they have a fleet of over 450 modular hydraulic axles of world leaders like Goldhofer, Tractec, Cometto, Schurele, VMT and Nicholas. In the current set-up to handle customer requirements, they have 23 branches spread all over India and 7 service stations apart from several warehouses at strategic locations. The service stations can accommodate up to 50 trailers, have top class facilities to attend to maintenance and as well fabrication work; and provided with mobile support vans on 24X7 basis to extend service support to their vehicles on the move. The vehicles are fitted with GPS for tracking the movements on real time basis for customers to plan for the project cargo handling at sites. “We provide well developed warehouses for storage with materials handling facilities/equipment like forklifts and cranes at the locations for goods handling. We are also into providing turnkey services for the customers, right from loading to transport and unloading at project sites utilising requisite cranes. We have cranes right from 12 ton pick and carry type to 250 ton truck mounted and crawler cranes with necessary manpower to address the goods unloading. Currently we provide both in-bound/out-bound cargo movement services and complete logistics services including freight forwarding, customs clearance, central warehousing, distribution etc, thro’ our sister company NTC logistics” points out Mr. Ajit Menon. The backward integration has been the logical step for them and in sync with customer needs – who being extremely satisfied with the transport solutions also wanted NTC to handle the complementing logistics part of the transport cycle so that they have one problem and supplier less to worry about in finalising the cargo movements. “NTC has grabbed this opportunity by formation of NTC Logistics Company and is already planning out the strategies to provide a unified front to address the customer requirements” says Mr. Chandramohan.
ODC handling is met 100% thro’ NTC’s own fleet and the custom-built trailers needed for the applications are fabricated to stringent standards at their sister company Sreevari engineers, Chennai and Namakkal. This enables NTC to meet the difficult specifications of demanding customers and for the other light/medium/heavy cargo movement, they utilise 50% of their own fleet and outsource the balance to meet the requirements. “NTC executives interact with customers right from the beginning stages of the project to understand the challenges and suggest optimal transport routes and equipment choice for the needs. The services offered include conducting road surveys, handling documentation to meet the statutory norms, laying temporary roads en route if necessary for the ODC movements and submitting the complete solution as per needs. Safe handling of goods by experienced drivers, utilising custom-built transport carriers, and timely delivery have seen to it that we retain our customer base and get repeat orders” indicates Mr. Ajit Menon.
Mr. Chandramohan adds “Every ODC transport is a challenge as the actual ground situations invariably tend to differ from conceptualisation and the best of plans; also we are challenged to dig deep into our innovation skills and technical prowess to meet the arduous task”. Recalling some of the challenging assignments undertaken, Chandramohan points that NTC was the first company to handle 42 mtr blade of 1.65 MW wind turbine of Vestas during 2002-03. They had to go in for a modular trailer with adaptations to meet the time deadline of 1 week for mobilisation. It took NTC 21 days to move the blades from Chennai port to Coimbatore windmill project site; they had to demolish a building and a compound wall of the port to take out the consignment. With lack of bye- pass roads around the important towns at that juncture, the travel had to be made thro’ these towns. This meant getting permits and clearances at several locations, restricted movement periods and many other unforeseen challenges including laying new roads and demolition of houses/structures to clear the route of restrictions. The experience gained in such exercises had been invaluable in designing/procuring advanced trailers; like trailers with 2 fifth wheel couplers and extendable type (15-45 mtr) that can accommodate blades of differing lengths and getting collapsed in length during return trip. Today such a transport as that had been done in 2003 viz., from Chennai port to the site can be accomplished overnight by NTC, adds Chandramohan.
“Yes, the infrastructure has also improved and the trend set by NTC in this domain has been benchmarked by others in the field to supply similar vehicles – well, imitation is the best form of paying the compliment to us; we keep challenging and pushing our own innovations to move on to the next level and stay ahead of the competition” beams Mr. Chandramohan. He also recalls the transport of ODC water treatment equipment shipment to Sharjah, UAE; because of the height in excess of 10 mtr and centre of gravity of the consignment bordering on the critical limit, the equipment was assembled close to Tuticorin port by the Trichy based supplier. NTC had to utilise its design resources to the fullest core, engineer and fabricate the special trailer to transport the equipment a distance of 40 km from the assembly location to the port – an extremely delicate task considering the stability factor, yet accomplished adhering to all safety norms. “The compliment for the assignment really came from Sharjah when the importer indicated that they found it extremely difficult to transport the equipment and felt that they could have availed the expertise and services of NTC” quips Mr. Chandramohan.
He adds that NTC has also successfully transported several super ODC project cargo exceeding 400 ton for several of the leading companies in supplies to power projects. Amongst their prestigious client list include leading windmill companies like Vestas, Suzlon, GE, Leitner, Gamesa, Regen powertech; power sector firms like BHEL, Jindal, Thermax, BGR, LandT, Ansaldo ; and others like BEML, Tata, TNPL, ISRO, Jaiprakash, VA Tech Wabag, Cethar vessels and Chennai metro. “ We have a long list of customers who come back to us because of our service and are upbeat in adding many new customers while retaining the existing ones” remarks Mr. Chandramohan.
With structured systems and procedures, professional approach and impressive infrastructure NTC today is the preferred supplier for the project cargo handling. We work with the customer right thro’ the project and this gives the confidence to customers to look to NTC for all their future needs. “The USP of NTC, includes several factors some of which being professional service support, ready availability of advanced and world class fleet, capabilities to design and supply custom-built trailers, wide service network, reliability, safe and timely delivery of goods ; add to that 99.5% of our trips are completed without mechanical problems” says Mr. Ajit Menon. Also he adds, the company is already looking forward to introducing advanced technology and equipment like the special attachment to trailers for inclined position transport of windmill blades over hilly terrain ; and getting geared up for next wave of upswing in the infrastructure and project activities which bring with it new transportation challenges. Despite all the growth prospects, it’s never a smooth road for business in this sector. Transporters routinely face obstacles in their everyday work from the vintage laws of road transport and complex set of road regulations and rules that vary from state to state hindering the speedy movement of cargo. If the transport efficiency has to increase, the above factors need to be re-examined and a unified set of regulations taking cognizance of the current scenario in terms of technology, infrastructure etc, need to be implemented without delays.
NTC has recognised the importance of having professional, disciplined and safe drivers, as crucial links to their transport success. To impart safety and increase the operational efficiency NTC has established a college of transport education and driver training and research institute unique of its type on a 50 acre campus, with structured curriculum to impart driving skills and the maintenance aspects, conduct various programs and courses concerning safety, logistics and fleet management. This endeavour has become popular in the region and more than 250 drivers go thro’ this course in a year; training goes on for a year and the drivers come out battle ready with a diploma certificate vetting their skills. Drivers are given performance based incentives, education and medical facilities for their families; in fact knowing their importance and contribution, they are referred to as captains and given a badge to this effect. About 1500 captains and supporting crew form the backbone of the transport function; and the company has manpower in all of about 2200 and growing at an impressive pace to meet the envisaged expansion plans.
NTC has done well on the corporate social responsibility front by extending medical and education support facilities to the deserving people around Namakkal. The exercise has been a continuous one and NTC is earnest in implementing various welfare measures like conducting periodic eye/medical check-up camps, extending monetary support to the top rankers and deserving students for higher education, adopting a govt school and giving back to the society in various ways for its betterment. NTC firmly believes that making a difference to the society is as much an important mission to the companies as that of improving the top and bottom lines of the operations.
NTC’s contribution in the transport domain has been duly appreciated with several prestigious awards coming in its way, a few being ‘Apollo CV award for niche segment fleet operator of the year, 2010’, ‘BHEL, Trichy award for best transport operator’, ‘Asia pacific entrepreneur award for 2010 and 2011-outstanding entrepreneur’ and ‘Vestas wind technology award of excellence’. Having already achieved the premier position as ‘one stop transport solution provider’, the next task for them is to gravitate to the fast lane of logistics and get recognised yet again as a leading player and ‘one stop logistics services company’. Well, going by the past track record, a workaholic honcho at helm ably supported by a dedicated and professional team, willingness to adapt to service customer requirements, attune its operations to the contemporary technology, expanding the fleet size and capabilities in line with international norms, we should definitely see NTC achieve its goals sooner than later; and become an admired company in its operational realm.