Kesineni benefits from AssetTrackr GPS-based vehicle tracking solution

Safe, efficient goods transport ensured

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Kesineni Cargo Carriers, started in Hyderabad in 1996 as an associate of Kesineni Tours and Travels, is a cargo and logistics organisation in premium category having the most extensive network in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Goa, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat, with plans to cover Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) soon.

Kesineni uses a hub-and-spoke model to speed up deliveries and reduce costs. Using this model, cargo is collected from its point of origin (collection centres) and transported to the local hub (branch). The shipment is then sorted and loaded into trucks and sent to destination hubs where they are again dispatched to delivery centres. Kesineni’s are large corporate customers who rely on the company for timely delivery of cargo in a safe and efficient manner.

Kesineni has main hubs in Hyderabad, Mumbai, Vijayawada, Bangalore, Visakhapatnam, Tirupati and Chennai, handling collection and redistribution. Smaller hubs or branches are located between major hubs. For example, the Bangalore – Hyderabad route has branches like Kurnool, Anantapur and Dharmavaram. A cargo vehicle en route from Hyderabad to Bangalore picks cargo from the Hyderabad hub and drops and picks up cargo in all en route branches before arriving at Bangalore hub. On way back to Hyderabad it picks all cargo from Bangalore and the en route branches.

Profitability of the company greatly depends on how efficiently the goods and cargo are moved across hubs and branches in the minimum possible time. Vehicle utilization and fuel consumption are other key factors contributing to profitability. Each trip is analysed for parameters like total trip time to improve vehicle utilization, stoppage time at each of the branches and hubs to reduce loading/unloading times as well as trip idling time to ensure fuel consumption is minimized. Based on historical data, Kesineni also has put together best times to reach points en route to minimize vehicles getting stuck at congestion points.

As operations expanded, Kesineni was finding it difficult to continuously meet the operational efficiency because of lack of visibility in operations. The delay in total trip time was sometimes attributed to engine breakdown or deflated tyres while actually the driver would be taking a break at his home en route. Excessive fuel consumption tracked on spreadsheets always leads to conflict with drivers and operational personnel!

Kesineni promises time-bound deliveries to customers. However, lack of visibility of the vehicle location makes it very difficult to correctly answer the customer queries. All these factors were indirectly affecting the Kesineni brand.

Then the IT team in Kesineni Cargo decided to add visibility to operations by tracking vehicles travelling across hubs. All the vehicles in Kesineni Cargo were fitted with AssetTrackr tracking devices which worked with the Kesineni IT team and developed detailed analytics of all trips based on configured hubs and branches. Assisted with the technology provided, the Kesineni team was now able to review any trip in detail and could greatly enhance the operational efficiency.

Kesineni started using the AssetTrackr system over two years ago. Mrs. Pavani Kesineni, Executive Director of the Kesineni Group, says, “the AssetTrackr system worked so well for us, and we have deployed it on all of our long-haul vehicles and have realized tremendous cost savings”.

AssetTrackr leverages GPS, GPRS, and BLE technologies to offer solutions in tracking mobile and fixed assets. The SAAS (software as a service) platform, along with devices and accessories, enables applications in real-time vehicle tracking, fleet management, stolen vehicle recovery, fuel consumption audit, cold-chain management, driver behaviour monitoring, etc. Analytics help companies realize operational efficiencies resulting in significant cost savings.

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Some of the operational improvements and efficiencies achieved were:

• The Kesineni team could easily see the current location of all its vehicles in the map. This ensured driver can no longer mislead them on their current locations. Customers can now be given more accurate information regarding their consignment.

• Manual calculation of hub to hub trip time gave way to automatically calculated trip time which was more accurate.

• The system automatically shows stoppage time at each branch/hub. This helped identify bottlenecks and improve operations at a specific hub/branch.

• Idling time reported by AssetTrackr has helped them reduce fuel expenses.

• Ensured that the vehicles stopped at all mandated branches en route.

• Report on detailed kilometres travelled for each trip helped ensure drivers are not able to make unauthorized trips.

• Drivers can no longer do unauthorized stoppages at homes or other places not mandated by the company.

• Teams at hubs/branches are now informed 30 minutes prior to arrival (using geo-fencing around hubs) of the vehicle so that premium consignment can be unloaded faster and delivered on time.

• Trip analytics helped in reducing the trip-time between hubs by an average of 30 per cent

• Drivers now adhere to the policy of taking breaks at mandated intervals, thereby reducing driver fatigue and improving safety