Shekar Logistics Waving TATA in

What does a young man in his 30s do when faced with a catastrophe like tsunami, especially when his wife and two young children are with him? He tries to hold on to his calm, dig up discipline from his core and find a way to get out of the danger. In the process, he learns that practising discipline always pays and safety is crucial – whether of his own, his family’s, or of his business. Consulting Editor Sarada Vishnubhatla meets Mr. Chandrashekar Viswanath, Managing Director of the Bangalore-based Shekar Logistics, for an exclusive interview to find out how his life-altering experiences have guided him to maintain his status as a key HCV owner of Tata Motors in South India today.

When you meet Mr. Chandrashekar Viswanath for the first time, you are not expected to know that he is a survivor of two near-death situations in his life. He is one of the few fortunate people who have survived the 2004 tsunami. He shares: “When the tsunami hit Galle in Sri Lanka, we saw more than a lakh of people getting washed out. I fell down 30 feet to the ground trying to climb a wall. Back in Bangalore, the injection they gave me reacted negatively. I got the deadliest allergy in the world called Steven Johnson syndrome and there was only a 4 per cent chance of survival, but I survived. At that time I was at the height of my career. From 2007 onwards, I came back.”

Tatas in every breath

The vintage picture is bucolic. There was a time when Shekar Logistics transported steel for Tatas using bullock carts. According to Mr. Chandrashekar, they were the first company in South India to buy Tata Prima, “For long hauls, Prima is efficient, economical and a world class product.”

Today, the 40-year-old company is a key HCV owner with 250 Tata Motors trailers, and everything is planned for just-in-time with Tatas. Says Mr. Chandrashekar: “Earlier we would hire a truck from the market, but carrying CR sheets is not easy. We treat them like babies, using scotch block and rubber, but these guys use stones. So I decided to provide dedicated fleet to our Tata Steel customers. That’s when Tata Motors offered us specially designed coil carriers. So, with dedicated trucks and on-time quality services these companies started buying from Tata Steel. It added to their bottomline and their sales also went up.”

For Mr. Chandrashekar, the training began early in life, and it has always been Tata Motors for serving Tata Steel for them. He says: “With Tata Steel we have grown well in the last 11-12 years. We started investing in newer trucks. Tata has the standard operating procedures of transporting and loading and unloading compliances. That way you reach on time safely and efficiently.”

Discipline comes naturally to Mr. Chandrashekar. A karate black belt, he believes in approaching everything with acuity, “Nothing else kindles the fire in the belly other than trucks and steel. The inner voice keeps me going, and with Tata Steel I have a strong sense of belonging. You build a relationship which lasts forever, that is more important than the money.”

Sharing ideas

Shekar Logistics handles all the stockyards of Tata Steel in southern India at Gannavaram (Vijayawada), Hyderabad, Hubli and Chennai, which is their major hub. Offering and accepting innovative ideas becomes easier in such long-standing associations, Mr. Chandrashekar says: “Tata Motors set up their workshop with us when I asked for it. So our stockyard is around 55 acres and the transport park is 5½ acres. Further, now we have set up backward and forward integration there. From just being a transporter, we have moved to other things related to transportation.”

Another idea which he wishes to apply soon to his own fleet and offer it to Tatas also is, “on the back haul, if you lift two tyres with one axle on a triple axle vehicle with the press of a button, you bring down the weight of the vehicle, diesel consumption, and the wear and tear of the wheels.”

The perfect pit stop

Shekar Logistics has built an exclusive pit stop for truckers to offer them air-conditioned indoors to rest while their trucks are getting serviced. Mr. Chandrashekar discloses: “In the Tata Motors workshop, we propose to set up a drivers’ training centre. We have professional trainers certified by Tata Motors itself conducting Dronacharya camps for our drivers to give them training on zero breakdowns and accidents, and we reward drivers who do no accidents for a consistent period.”

Mr. Chandrashekar believes in keeping the wheels on the roads at all times. To facilitate that, he says: “We have a little less than 450 drivers for our 250 vehicles. We give them a fixed and a variable salary, especially for the long run ones. If they are treated well, they want to make you happy and in turn Tata Steel is happy.”

Shekar Logistics monitors its trucks plying at least 250 km a day with roughly 35 tonnes of cargo with GPRS in full action round the clock. It has set up a retreading centre. A petrol diesel bunk will come up soon.

Logistics and transportation yet to evolve

Logistics and transport remains an unorganized sector in India despite a few individual organizations trying to make it as efficient as possible. Mr. Chandrashekar is confident when he observes: “It is halfway to becoming organized with most transporters installing GPRS. We do about a lakh of a tonne a month, so we have trained and motivated drivers. And I think of safety and health. I try to create a sense of belonging and well-being for all. I think these are the things which will take us to the next level.”

With Tata Motors and Tata Steel, Shekar Logistics has South India firmly under its belt. As Mr. Chandrashekar puts it, “If I keep doing what I do well”, then very soon the industry may see them riding the wave high and expanding to the West.