Gati, a Secunderabad-based express distribution and supply chain solutions company operates a fleet of 4,000 vehicles, and three marine vessels. To strengthen its booking processes, and shrink the time its field force spent at customers’ premises, CIO G.S. Ravi Kumar decided to go mobile. Using low-end handheld mobile devices, field personnel can now capture airway bill details and push them to Gati’s ERP in real time—and, crucially, generate a package label sticker using a handheld mobile printer, all at the customer’s premises.
“The innovative part was interfacing a mobile handset with a mobile handheld printer. And what’s unique is the printing of a barcode sticker. It was a challenge to print a sticker, which is very thick, from a light, paper receipt printer,” says Kumar. In an industry where getting a package to its destination on time is critical, the solution gives Gati more control over the entire shipping process. It also brought down pickup time drastically and ensured end-to-end visibility of packages at various points of transit, thanks of the use of barcodes.
WINNER Company Name:
Gati Industry:
Logistics Headquarters:
Secunderabad Employees:
3,500
G.S. Ravikumar Gati
IT Team Internal:
60 Founder and CEO:
Mahendra Agarwal
2012
74
S E P T E M B E R 1 5 , 2 0 1 2 | REAL CIO WORLD
VOL/7 | ISSUE/11