Providing service at the doorstep through mobile service vans to support customers on a 24×7 basis to forge ahead
AB Trucks (P) Ltd., Chennai, one of the recent start-up companies of the reputed AB Group commenced its operations during early 2011 as the exclusive authorised service centre of the home-grown CV brand AMW Motors. The company’s performance on all fronts right from the start has been impressive, and by the end of the first year they were ranked at the top as “one of the ideal centres for best practices” by AMW.
Operating profitably right from the start, it was but a natural choice to pitch in for the 3rd S, the sales function and they got the exclusive rights for Chennai and Vellore Tamil Nadu from 2012. The company is led at the helm by the Managing Director Akram A, a third generation leader of the family run AB Group founded by the late Hajee Janab Allah Baksh; and it comes as no surprise that with the group’s pedigree and decades of experience in the transportation and logistics sectors, AB Trucks is turning out as a top performer in the segment, drawing out expansion plans and implementing the same at a feverish pace to meet the growth targets in the near future.
“Automotive and transportation segments have been the passion for us and we intend to grow in these areas that we know the best”, says Akram. With long experience in maintaining the group’s big vehicle fleet, the idea to give a shape to the service centre happened through formation of AB Trucks. “After understanding the diverse customer requirements and conducting extensive market studies, the decision makers zeroed in on AMW, which by itself was a critical move considering the prevalent CV scenario at that juncture, dominated by established players”, adds Akram.
AMW impressed with the group’s expertise and vast experience in the field considered favourably the dealership proposal and accorded the company their “exclusive authorised service centre status”. The facilities came up in the industrial area beside the highway to Bangalore (AH 45) bordering Chennai which incidentally houses most other CV dealership sales and service centres too.
The service centre has four bays and total spread of 8,500 sq.ft. that includes workshop area of 6,000 sq.ft. with latest equipment tools and tackles; attached full fledged body shop to attend to accident/repair works and parking area for vehicles in 2,500 sq.ft. The workshop has all supporting departments including stores, and an office to interact with customers.
“With sales function getting added in early 2012, the company has added on separate sales and marketing office of 1,000 sq.ft. that has conference room for customer training, accounts and admin departments. The company employs 50 people for the sales and service operations. We need more space on all fronts to cater to the envisaged growth plans and to meet the requirements, a state-of-the-art service centre is coming up on a 1 acre plot close to the current location, in the near future”, observes Mr. P.N. Subramaniam, Gen. Mgr. – Operations Service Centre, a CV domain veteran instrumental in setting up the facilities.
The company sells and services the complete range of AMW trucks that include Tippers (from 1618 to 3118 with load/rock bodies), Haulage range (2516 to 3118), Tractors (3518 to 4923) and Fully Built Vehicles (FBV). Market has a strong preference for AMW Tipper especially when it comes to mining/semi-mining, construction and road laying segments that include handling overburden and aggregates.
AMW Tippers have been the fast moving products amongst the diverse offerings and 2518 Tipper has been the popular model. After establishing a strong presence in this segment, the company taking support from the principal is now targeting the haulage sector to position varied models.
Akram says that the company can supply any model as per the customer requirements with cab or cowl option and with load body or as an FBV. While body building is not their cup of tea, they can supply the vehicle with attachments and accessories like special tyres, ABS fitments, video cameras and miscellaneous electronic gadgets as per requirements and for performance enhancement.
If the customer desires the FBV be it a bulker or a municipal refuse compactor, the same can be supplied by AMW and AB Trucks would co-ordinate with the principal in finalising the specs for the application and thereafter supplying it for the task. Buses are not being sold at this juncture but with the recent launch of certain models by AMW, they would also be serving the customers shortly in this competitive segment.
As regards the dominance of AMW in the Tipper segment, Akram points out that to handle diverse materials, arduous terrain conditions, demanding duty cycles and negotiate on and off road transport situations, the reliability becomes a crucial factor in vehicle selection for the fleet operators. AMW scores herein and supported by ready availability of spares and service rendered through the pro-active dealer tilting the scales in the company’s favour. The vehicle operators associations in each geographical zone shares the performance details with its members and the news be it good or bad indeed spreads fast.
“We come out favourably against the competition in this ground situation and the company’s USP has been to offer quality service backed by professional service team to attend to the customer requirements on a 24X7 basis and extending service at their doorstep. Company has 2 nos. fully equipped mobile service van that carries spares and consumables, visits customer sites based on well chalked out plans to support the service requirements”, says Akram.
The visit program is advertised in press and the customers are also met directly and informed well in advance about the visit. The modus operandi has been to park the mobile service van in an application site and cater to the requirements of customers in and around that area.
“In many cases customers in need of service requirements may not be in a position to take their vehicles to the service centre due to paucity of time, distance or workloads and keep postponing the visit until the issue assumes a serious proportion. Herein we score thro’ mobile service van and the customers utilise the service to the hilt and which in turn increases the reliability of the vehicle for the applications. This novel concept first of its type by a dealer has been a roaring success and appreciative customers repose their confidence by placing repeat orders for AMW trucks”, quips the beaming Akram.
He adds that the marketing team meets the customer associations in various locations and explains the advantages in opting to go in for AMW product through them and this approach too has really paid rich dividends. Also conducting road shows and melas with participation from AMW, meetings with financial institutions for organising loans and more importantly spending time with customers in understanding the applications has really helped the company in scoring over competition.
The application, be it for any vehicle, is discussed with the customer right from the initial stages of the project and the best model recommended, corroborated with comparative performance parameters, facts and figures; this professional approach supported by prompt and excellent after sales services has enabled the company to retain their customer base and add on new ones. Some of their valued customers have over 50 Tippers of only AMW make and others mostly AMW in their fleet; company has also added on customers in the haulage segment with 3118 model for the edible oil transport. Also in the final stages is the FBV for handling municipal waste and other specialised application in the tractor segment for long haul applications.
“AMW is appreciative of the company’s efforts and has provided demo vehicles at special prices and terms for such new applications. AMW engineers interact regularly with the company’s team to support them in the sales and service. AMW has done a thorough research of applications and introduced products needed for the applications. By supplying trucks with advanced features and a superior performance, the trucks have reached the no.2 spot and cornered about 25% market share in select segments; and this has paved the way for AB Trucks to fall back on the proven business segments and leverage it in adding on new customers”, adds Akram.
Reliability which is the sum total of various factors like max availability, higher power and pulling capacity, speed and performance under arduous terrain conditions is the catchword when it comes to the make and model selection and the discerning end users knowing fully well about over 95 per cent availability time with AMW trucks for the demanding applications, invariably decide in its favour.
“The drivers and service technicians of the AMW fleet become their vociferous marketers and this, coupled with the company’s service reach, has taken care of the number which continues to increase with the passage of time. In today’s CV market, extending excellent service to customers becomes a crucial factor in getting repeat orders, and herein AB Trucks has performed well to corner the business”, emphasises Akram.
Currently the company sell around 20 trucks every month; and the service/spares revenue is around Rs. 50 lakhs a month. More importantly the company scores 99 per cent on customer satisfaction index, something the management is proud of achieving within a short period.
“But we see the gap widening between bullish demand and restricted supply and to bridge the gap aiming to reach the supply level of about 50 trucks per month with the added facilities. We are concentrating on the niche segments and market size for our focus areas is very big; and being in close touch with our customers, we are not unduly worried about the competition”, says confident Akram.
He also adds that they have always enjoyed a comfortable association with AMW; and the dynamic interactions coupled with excellent chemistry have enabled them to forge ahead and plan for expansions despite the competition from established giants and the spate of new entrants in the field. “Yes, the downturn has affected the sector in general but then, we can make it up with some bulk orders from our trusted and satisfied customers”, quips Akram.
Akram, an MBA from the UK, apart from steering AB Trucks operations, also handles logistics division operations and takes care of marketing and sales function of group companies. One can sense the excitement and enthusiasm of the young senior executive while reeling out the plans of the company and group to grow further in their areas of strength. He adds that despite the steep growth and expansion plans, when it comes to assessing a new business opportunity extreme caution is exercised; and only after understanding the market requirements, ensuring synergy and long term prospects of that the venture, the management team generally approves the proposal. Against this corporate philosophy and thinking the AB Trucks expansion program assumes greater significance.
“The company keeps getting opportunities from various quarters to diversify but would want to stick to the knitting, viz., in automotive and transportation segments which we know like the back of our hand. I am finding 6 days in a week inadequate to cope with the workload vis-à-vis current operations and growth plans”, says the vibrant Akram.
After hearing the details and seeing their operations, one can not but readily agree with him and AB Trucks is bound to catch the attention of leading players in their operational domain and get flooded with collaborative association proposals in the years to come.