VLSPL provides customers with customized solutions by employing the most effective and efficient vehicle type depending upon the volume and weight of the consignment. With their long-las ng legacy and deep business relationships, they can provide mission-critical transport services to customers offering a value proposition through predictable availability of the vehicle, quick turnaround time full load, at most economical prices. Their strong presence in the Kolkata-Mumbai corridor made them the partner of choice for customers in this sector.

India's road transport network is the second-largest in the world with 46 million km - this makes road transportation a key mode of transportation in India. VLSPL understands the need for customised solutions and thus designs transportation solutions using the most suitable vehicle type sourced from its own fleet and a wide network of vehicle operators.

Problem statement

As a long-standing logistics industry practice, they used to agree on a contracted value with the driver for a trip from Kolkata to Mumbai (e.g., Rs. 60000 for a one-way trip).

VLSPL started with a strong focus on surface transportation using containerized vehicles. Since then, they have expanded their fleet comprising single and multi-axle containers, serving clients with a dedicated fleet of 80+ vehicles.

As a long-standing logistics industry practice, they used to agree on a contracted value with the driver for a trip from Kolkata to Mumbai (e.g., Rs 60,000 for a one-way trip).

Given the fixed trip cost and lack of truck performance data, vehicle maintenance was periodic/reactive, leading to inefficiency and breakdowns impacting profitability. Given the fixed nature of the payout to the driver for each trip, the driver's motivate on to improve turnaround me was limited.

Nigraani’s solution

Looking for ways to optimise solutions for customers, motivating drivers to pitch in for turnaround reduction, increasing fuel efficiency, proactive maintenance of trucks, and enhance their reputation as a progressive and efficient logistics company, VLSPL looked for a technologically advanced, foolproof fuel-tracking solution with inbuilt GPS functionality.

Pravin Baid, Founder and Director at VLSPL, explains, “Nigraani's fleet tracking solution helped us move away from the age-old method of per-trip contracted value payment to the driver, including diesel expenses. We now take care of diesel filling at pre-designated locations and incentivize drivers on per-km driven by them. This has helped us get 15 per cent more mileage off our fleet helping us get more value out of our fleet. Though our drivers were initially skeptical, they gained better incentive in per-km incentive. Our customers are happier since they get a faster turnaround. The power of accurate data has helped us transform our business model benefitting customers, business, and drivers.”

Further Baid explains, removing fuel from the equation of trip expenses but at the same time retaining control, conflict with drivers over fuel consumption/cases was significantly reduced. This helped reduce driver attrition by over 16 per cent thereby reducing vehicle idle time due to driver absence.

Nigraani's successful fuel management solution was one of the various solutions being tested by VLSPL. Following an extensive series of trials, VLSPL opted to use Nigraani's complete fuel and fleet management solution, consisting of best-in-class SaaS-based fuel management platform, vehicle trackers and Nigraani high-precision fuel-level sensors. The first phase of the project involved the multi-axel fleet of 18 vehicles.

The precise tracking of fuel in real-time with high precision of 99.2 per cent enabled VLSPL to automatically track filling, prevent pilferage and improve their fuel planning. VLSPL is experiencing significant benefits within months of installing Nigraani's fuel and fleet management solution:

• Complete fuel control and tracking
• Proactive maintenance of truck with truck metrics
• Ability to plan and forcast fuel consumption at a fleet level 
• Monitoring of fuel theft