Truck fleet owners play a major role in keeping the logistics industry running smoothly. They toil very hard coordinating at multiple ends to ensure a timely supply of essential goods. Their responsibilities increase manifold especially during the times of crisis. This makes it all the more important to take care of their interest and eliminate the concerns that are holding them back in operating with confidence. In this context, tech ecosystems such as WheelsEye are proving to be a milestone in addressing the issues of truck owners with their trucking management solutions.
In the early 90s, Lal Babu Shah migrated from Bihar to Delhi in search of work. Coming from a modest background and unscripted future, he started working with a logistics company. After working for a few years, he decided to start his own delivery van service in 1998. He settled on the then fringes of Delhi, Sultanpur. He recalls: “It was all just bushes and rocks. When I started out, coming to this location made sense as it was southernmost of Delhi and the beginning / ending of all long haul journeys. Proximity to the Airport yielded many opportunities in the logistics sector. In the last 22 years, a lot of development has happened.”
He still operates from the same yard he rented 22 years ago. The landlady or chaudhrain is a lady in her 80s, peacefully enjoying her hukka in the vast verandah. She seems to be very happy for the place Lal Babu Shah has earned for himself and is also a motherly figure to him.
From the inside, the yard seems like a normal van parking spot of truckers. But from the outside, it is wrapped in several layers of narrow lanes that have mushroomed since the Millenium city Gurgaon came into being. What was once an open, peaceful area covered in bushes and open land, is now surrounded by signs of habitation in every possible direction. With increased settlers, the crime rates started to grow in Sultanpur and Lal Babu Shah started losing his sleep. In 2002, after his van was stolen, he decided to guard the yard himself and began sleeping away from his family, in the parking yard itself. Though the theft at night stopped, but theft from other places have happened in the past.
WheelsEye’s technology has given him full control over his delivery vans at his fingertips. When his vans are running, he can remotely lock engines in case of rash driving, vehicle theft, unauthorized movement etc. And when the vehicles are parked, he deploys the parking lock to prevent the vehicle from starting and sleeps peacefully. He recalls an incident wherein one of his vans was stolen. Upon knowing about the incident, he used his WheelsEye app to track it with Police and remotely lock the relay of the vehicle, which had by now reached Bahadurgarh. With a stalled engine, police were able to recover the vehicle midway.
He shares multiple accounts of how the WheelsEye app helps him in doing many things beyond tracking. Using accurate GPS location, he shares the vehicle locations on Whatsapp and also uses the KMs from the app to calculate driver salaries. He can’t stop raving about the accuracy of the GPS which saves both time and money by leading them to the right results every time. Using WheelsEye, he is now able to not only track all his vehicles, keep a record of relevant documents, and is able to save money from the fuel-loyalty programs. An elated Lal Babu is extremely satisfied with his WheelsEye experience and says: “ab hum chain kee neend so pate hain WheelsEye ke saath” (Now with WheelsEye, I am able to sleep peacefully).
Speaking on Lal Babu Shah’s experience, Sonesh Jain, spokesperson WheelsEye, said: “It’s a pleasing experience to learn about a customer’s peace of mind because of our product. Transportation is a tricky business. Every vehicle is like a time bomb. Unless the vehicle is EMI free, there is a lot of pressure to focus on profitability. And when a vehicle is stolen, with EMI still running, any profitable transportation business could succumb. When you have multiple vans, multiple drivers and little organization, keys are getting lost all the time and duplicate keys are made. This creates a constant probability of vehicle theft.”
Run by IIT, IIM, ISB & ex-executives at big startups, WheelsEye is a hyper growing logistics tech startup from Gurgaon, India. It is well-known for simplifying the lives of truck owners with simple to use technology solutions specially designed to cater an Indian Truck Owner. They help truck owners by securing business interests against risk of vehicle theft, fuel pilferage. More than 1 million trucks use their GPS tracking, document management & FASTag solutions. Numerous truck owners share their stories of how their solutions have helped them time and again.