Visitor's Diary: LTC Logistics-5

Ramesh Kumar 

Open office is something I cherish. Not many. Recently, a senior official in a listed company lamented that he has no "privacy" because he operates from an open office. What privacy? he was talking about. "Everything I say in this cubicle gets broadcast. There is no secrecy," explained this privacy-seeker and a staunch open office hater. I can understand his predicament. By nature, we Indians are loud-mouthed. Talking in hushed tones over phone is an alien concept to most of us!

As April 1969 born Devinder Kohli, son of late Puranchand Kohli (a renowned transporter in Faridabad in his time), escorted me into his den from where he rules the LTC Logistics kingdom, I found it to be an open office. Simple but elegant. Tastefully decorated. Lot of natural light, thanks to large glass windows on three sides - facing the front yard one side, workshop on the other and the rear of the complex.

The squarish hall can easily accommodate 20 seats. However, the Operations wing was empty almost.

"Lunch time," explains Devinder, a seasoned operational hand in transportation. In no time, I notice people trooping in. On their own volition? Or directed? No idea. My wrist watch displays 1402 hours. Okay, lunch time expired and back to work.

Introductions happen with Devinder explaining their job profiles and how critical each one of them to the operations. Believe me or not, I respect and love op guys immensely. "Government bodies are nothing if not unending report generators, and NITI Aayog probably could not avoid the trap," commented R Jagannathan, Editorial Director of Swaraj magazine recently on the Action Agenda (2017-2020) prepared by the august think tank of Government of India. Number crunchers and strategy makers. All on paper. The actual challenge lies in translating those dream plans or strategies into actions. That's where these guys jump in. Now you know, the rationale for my hats off approach to these action heroes.

"This gentleman tracks all vehicles. Sort of control room master," adds Devinder, pointing to a tall guy occupying a window seat and busy with work.

24x7? Devinder looks at Mayank, part of the cruising crew inside the Operations wing. It's a tell tale sign that their response would be measured and calibrated. Psychologists claim that our response time to any question may be instantaneous or delayed for a variety of reasons. The hesitation rises whenever the responder evaluates how would the receipient of his response would react: positively or negatively.

Sensing a sudden nano second vacuum in the conversations which may be interpreted anyway one likes, Mayank interjects to say: "No."

Good. It's always advisable to be transparent and upfront and not hide the reality. Undiplomatic? Not at all. Mayank's intervention has to be seen in that light.

Control room in logistics companies is a MUST. Supply chain is all about end to end visibility involving multiple stakeholders. In the good old days (talking about 25 years ago and before the advent of mobile phones), long haul truck drivers used to halt wherever there is some telephone connectivity on the routes they steer around and trunk call to their supervisors indicating their location at that point of time and seeking assistance of sharing their visibility.  Trunk call? What's that? Check with those who lived under the Prime Ministership of Smt Indira Gandhi. Nothing to do with her politics, but the then prevailing economic scenario.

Challenging times it were for transporters (logistics was  not a term in vogue those days!) to keep abreast of the vehicle movement. Whatever they hear from the other side from drivers, they used to note down on notebook to share with consignor or consignee in case they demand delivery schedule from transporters. By the way, those were the days transporters mostly meant fleet owning tribe. Not the modern day zero or light asset maestros, riding on the shoulders of less privileged motor maliks.

Couple of years ago, I was fortunate enough to watch the control tower of Kundan Mal Transport (KMT Logistics) at its old Jaipur office. Under the watchful eyes of youthful Gaurav Jain, in a room with walls converted into black boards where assistants were calling up  their own vehicle drivers ferrying passenger cars for various auto OEMs across India to know their position and literally chalking them on the boards! Primitive? So what? It served the purpose of location awareness. A few years later, I did visit them at their new control tower at Dudu where they have gone a bit modern: a hybrid of black boards and PCs. Not to be forgotten is the visit to Gati's Secunderabad - not the current one, but the previous location, closer to the famous Paradise.

Another control tower I dekko-ed was at Agarwal Packers & Movers' Masjid Bunder (Mumbai) office with Gayatri Jha shepherding her team. Hybrid again. The most modern one was at Hyundai Motors India. Walls stuck with giant flat TV screens, tracking mostly ships from South Korean ports to Europe and all over including  India for its subsidiary Glovis India which is also into Freight Forwarding business. That was the ultimate I have seen. Maybe many others have much more sophisticated control towers for supply chain visibility factor.

That's why when Devinder's control tower (a desk top, actually) did not impress me much. So long as it serves his objective, what has size got to do with it? My liking or rating, actually, does not matter much.

"You ask him where any truck is, he will tell," says Devinder. I did not venture.

LTC Logistics boasts that the tracking can be  monitored at the consignor/consignee end as well since necessary usernames and passwords to access such crucial data are shared. Nothing new, again.

By and large, most transport companies religiiously mail a status report of vehicles to clients on a daily basis. That's it. Can't  they check on their own consoles? They are too busy, perhaps.

The atmosphere seems to be relaxed. This is not Satish Dhawan Space Centre or Sriharikota High Altitude Range of Indian Space Research Organization. Appears all is well with LTC soldiers delivering service without any hitch on this day. Or is it because of May Day holiday across India? Could be.

I scan the walls and notice several message boards kept close to the ceiling over the wall mounted orange shelves. Among them, one attracts my attention which reads:

"Sabhi sarati (driver) ko suchit kiya jaata hai ki raate mein koi  bhi chalan hone par uska aadha chalan sarati ko bugatna hoga"

Very interesting sandesh. How many LTC Logistics' saratis read and understood the meaning of this suchit? Worth pondering.

Through the transparent window facing the workshop, I notice very little action. Lunch time. Plenty of trucks parked haphazardly. Some trucks'  front open. Tools lying all around. Left midway by workshop hands to partake their food.

After all, we all work is to feed the hungry stomach. Had the Almighty not invested us with hunger, we would have been lazing around. Moreover, there is capacity limitations. You cannot eat for tomorrow today. It's a daily chore. For some three times. For some two times. For some just once, depending upon their earning capacity. Because no food is free. Some, like Devinder,  Lakhani saab and Mayank exercise their mental powers to earn their daily bread. Others, like those in the workshop and truck drivers, use their own skills (mostly physical) and stamina to eke out their living. Wages of labor. Are all equal? No way. I pinch myself for this May Day thoughts!

"Can we step out?" suggests Devinder.

We did.

The very first man I met bowled me over.

How?

Ciao



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