matters the most to our customers is the absolute punctuality in pickup and delivery. We believe that as we pilot the system in more cities and fine-tune the technology, the system will become enormously valuable in fast-changing cities in the emerging markets. It will prove to be an accurate planning tool for the megacities of today & tomorrow. By optimising routes and reducing CO2 emissions, DHL is also contributing towards improving the quality of city
Delivery metrics: Operational • Tour duration - Reduction by 5% • Stops per hour - Increase by 10% • Reduction of cost by at least 10% Warehouse metrics: Reduction of the average turnaround time in the warehouse by 10% life.” Emphasising on the need for this kind of a vehicle in the Indian market, Anil Khanna, MD, Blue Dart Express, opines, “Smart Truck, the intelligent pickup and delivery vehicle, which computes delivery deadlines to calculate the ideal sequence for shipments and also uses real-time GPS to avoid jams & optimise routings, was identified as a good and innovative technology to meet logistical challenges like traffic restrictions, density and clogging.” On choosing Bengaluru to launch the Smart Truck, Khanna informs, “India, one of the fastest growing countries, is a challenging metropolitan area. The country’s urban cities throw up the mentioned challenges. Hence, we decided on Bengaluru – the IT capital of India – as the ideal choice for the pilot study. With this pilot study, we can transfer an already proofed effective system to megacities and emerging markets. We can also ensure environmental protection while meeting customers’ needs. Also, Bengaluru houses the largest Blue Dart-DHL hub, which is spread across an area of 2,25,000sqft.” He adds, “Adapting Smart Truck technology to work in a city like Bengaluru will have far reaching
ACT
LAUNCHED IN GERMANY IN 2010, DHL SMART TRUCK REDUCED THE NUMBER OF MILES TRAVELLED BY 15% AND THE LENGTH OF AVERAGE ROUTE BY 8% DURING ITS PILOT STAGE, THUS REDUCING BOTH FUEL CONSUMPTION AND CO2 EMISSIONS. positive benefits for our clients; the city’s economy; the environment and, in the long-term, for all emerging markets. The Blue Dart Smart Truck pilot, as it is known as in Bengaluru, will cover all Asia-Pacific inbound shipments on five routes in the city, with the system sorting deliveries to reduce errors and increase visibility. This gives customers an accurate delivery time. To successfully launch the pilot here, we have made adaptations to the original system to additionally overcome problems with the consignees’ addresses and lack of postal codes.”
CHANGING THE DYNAMICS OF INDIAN LOGISTICS India is the second country after Germany to possess this technology. The Smart Truck is bound to help
Benefits of Smart Truck: Customers • Brings dynamism and flexibility into pickup and delivery operations • Leverages added value by providing full transparency along the supply chain for all involved parties • Enables new innovative products & services • The system does the sorting which ensures a simplified and less errorprone inbound process • Visibility of operations increases and hence, the customer can be updated of the expected time of delivery. Environment • There is reduction in CO2 emissions and transport costs due to dynamic tour planning • The planning engine can be customised to set a condition for the number of stops for a said route.
Blue Dart increase its tour performance and will prove to be beneficial on various grounds. It is a revolutionary technology in logistics and is specially designed to change the face of logistics in India. As the industry witnesses consolidation and cutthroat competition, service providers need to continuously innovate to meet the customers’ evolving requirements. Smart Truck is an example of this commitment, which Blue-DHL offers to its customers. Talking of the paradigm shift that it is about to bring in, Khanna avers, “At Blue Dart, we are highly possessive of our customers and their businesses. From this ownership stem all the strategies that work in our favour in comparison to our competitors, the latest of this is the launch of Smart Truck. The Smart Truck will also help us meet our customer commitments in terms of timely delivery, especially in our Time Definite Delivery (TDD) products like TDD 10.30 am and TDD 12 noon. The smart technology will allow us sufficient leeway in terms of manoeuvring traffic and route optimisation thereby reaching our customers faster.” Commenting on the company’s expansion plans, Khanna states, “After Bengaluru, we would like to take the Smart Truck across the nation. The Smart Truck will definitely be rolled out to more urban centres, which face problems like environmental pollution, increasing traffic congestion and rising customers expectations. A plan stating which cities the Smart Truck would be extended to has been worked out. We will announce the names soon.” prerna.sharma@infomedia18.in
OCTOBER 2011 • SMART LOGISTICS • 23