Bringing down In-transit Damages from 9% to 0.5%, Resulting in Significant Cost Savings.

The company, working with local transporters for the movement of empty glass bottles to its bottling plants, faced multiple challenges:

1. Wrong vehicle type & inefficient load optimisation

The small-time transporters were using open body trucks to transport poorly stacked empty bottles with practically no robust shielding against in-transit damages. Although the government had officially increased the maximum load-carrying capacity of heavy vehicles, including trucks, by 20-25% in 2018, the transporters were still not utilising it, resulting in a higher cost per bottle for the company.

2. Negligible In-transit visibility

Working with unorganized players resulted in no visibility or predictability of logistics operations. Lack of transparency forced the client to maintain surplus inventory at warehouses to ensure product availability resulting in higher working capital requirements.

3. Lack of right skills & no technological integrations

Untrained team members and zero technological integrations further escalated unpredictability resulting in increased incidences of error and inaccurate planning. The above challenges eventually cost the company a significant amount of working capital.

To tackle rising costs and enable better transportation of empty glass bottles with shorter transit times and more efficient operations, we began devising a comprehensive approach and took the following steps:

1. Right vehicle fit & better loadability

We designated 32 feet multi-axle trucks with closed containerised bodies as the vehicles to be used for transporting the products. With this, we were not only ensuring minimal in-transit damages but also maximising the loadability, in tune with the government’s updated policies.

 2. Industry-leading transit times with real-time tracking

Our GPS-enabled fleet monitored via a centralised control tower empowered the client to track & monitor vehicles in real-time. With our operationally excellent DNA, we were also successful at offering better-than-market transit times.

 
3. Skilled team & greater efficiency

We deployed our comprehensively trained workforce and debriefed them regarding the project. Right from the drivers to the loading clerks, everyone had 100% clarity on what they had to do to enable maximum efficiency for our customer.

By introducing efficiencies into the primary logistics setup of the company and driving seamless coordination, complete visibility & greater savings, we were able to turn a 2-month trial project into a permanent association for more than 50% of its transport operations.  

1. Reducing the cost per bottle: With the help of the right vehicles and a trained team that followed the best stacking practices, we were able to improve the loadability and therefore bring down the cost per bottle borne by the company.

2. Further efficiency optimization with Varuna Group: In an effort to minimise potential detention costs arising due to the warehouses being located at the final destinations, we are working to establish a buffer warehouse close to the bottling plant of the company.