Pioneer car transporter in overdrive to meet demanding customer tasks
“We look forward to the challenges in transport segment, ready to innovate, address tasks of customers with a pro-active approach and move ahead rather than look at the competition, cogitate and evolve our reactive action plans” says Mr. Rajinder Singh, Managing Director, Janta Roadways (P) Ltd., Chennai held in high esteem by the industry as a visionary and trendsetter in general and cars transportation segment in particular. As the president of all India interstate lorry owners association, managing trustee of the institute of road safety and truck knowledge and member of many allied industry associations he carries additional responsibility to steer the growth of transport operators fraternity-which he has fulfilled with zeal and equanimity in a career spanning 5 decades.
The journey in transport lane started early for Mr. Rajinder who as a lad of 16 years passing matric from Punjab in 1965 joined his elder brother in Bangalore to support him in transport business. Groomed in the business for 9 years and sensing opportunities opening up, moved over to Chennai to start Janta Roadways as a proprietary firm in 1974. Starting in a small and traditional way the firm handled parcel loads and catered to customers in southern region. Janta Roadways Pvt. Ltd. (Janta) was established in 1982 and Mr. Rajinder soon realised that to grow in the sector, innovation was an important trait and the opportunities came thro’ Dunlop and ITC. Dunlop, a leader in the seventies was looking at economising tyre transport costs-tyres were selling at a 100% premium due to steep demand and as well high transportation costs. Being bulk cargo, only less than 50% of payload capacity in ‘one load’ could be transported in a normal truck. Janta offered a solution by utilising the longer bus chassis for the application. After due strengthening and adaptation, ‘two loads’ of tyres were transported, without overload and at 50% additional cost to customer. It was a win-win situation for customer and Janta and the model proved to be a hit for the application. On the return trip, he catered to another bulk load customer ITC for cigarettes transport from Saharanpur, U.P. again economising transport costs and road map for the company was firmly laid – do it differently with new technology, innovate at all levels to stay ahead and forge the growth.
Mr. Rajinder adds that tractor transport was another segment wherein innovation led to cost reduction. During early 70s, tractors were transported by Railways, an improvement over the erstwhile ‘driven on road’ delivery model. However with the Railways strike and other related transportation issues, demand for road transport picked up and traditionally 2 tractors were carried in the truck, one behind the other. Janta also followed the method but soon offered the solution to transport 4 or 5 tractors in the normal truck by mounting it across after strengthening and modifying the truck; and this became the norm in the absence of trailers at that juncture. Janta also offered solutions to earthmoving equipment division of Hindustan Motors (bygone Terex collaboration, now a Caterpillar Co.) for transporting 200 nos. equipment, viz., front end loaders, crawlers and dumpers to coal mines in east India within a period of 4 months. The task required modification of trucks and dissembly of dumper body and tyres from the chassis/main frame and transporting them in semi knocked-down condition after modifying the truck body. The assignment was appreciated by customer and Janta executed several assignments for them during next 2 years. Mr. Rajinder also recalls the challenge during mid-seventies for transport of 700 nos. imported dish antennae of BSNL (erstwhile Dept. of Telecom) microwave project from port to various destinations during a period of 2 years. “All such projects involved challenges demanding out of box solutions which we readily provided for customers to meet the project deadline; and this approach has enabled us to accelerate our growth in the years that followed”, indicates Mr. Rajinder.
Adapting a bus chassis for goods transport came to the attention of Ashok Leyland. After application discussions and understanding the market needs for longer chassis goods carrier, ALL introduced a new model and the first one was taken-up by Janta. Tata also invited Mr. Rajinder for the same purpose and as well taking inputs for factory built cab design. The contribution of Mr. Rajinder especially towards the importance of having an offset bumper for safety in the cab design was acknowledged as benchmark input by Tata – definitely a proud moment for Mr. Rajinder. The real push to propel Janta to next level came about with auto industry’s meteoric growth that started during late nineties. Companies like Maruti, Hindustan and Hyundai were looking at economical and safe transport of cars to various destinations. Janta was the first company to provide a covered car carrier solution for transport of Mitsubishi Lancer car during 1997; and subsequently to companies like Hyundai and Tata during that period. The design worked out based on their experience has been subsequently benchmarked and replicated by other transporters; and despite it, Janta’s business steadily grew northwards. “Other companies may have similar equipment, facilities and service schedules but not our team members driven by unalloyed enthusiasm and passion; ultimately in our business, it’s the people who can make a significant difference and this interwoven with innovation has seen to the growth of company to its premier position it occupies today in the specialised transportation segment”, observes the veteran.
Starting from a humble turnover of Rs. 28 lakhs in 1982, the company has touched Rs. 49 crores for financial year ending 2013. Corporate and accounts offices are located in city proper while transportation office, trucks terminal and operations centre in Chembarambakkam, on the city outskirts; has many branch offices spread all over India, 2 service workshops, AMC tie-ups with leading CV mfrs. for en-route fleet service support. Total of 500 persons including drivers and staff are working for the company’s operations and Mr. Manavdeep Singh, son of Mr. Rajinder has recently joined the company as director to head the operations. About 90% of the service turnover comes from finished cars and trucks transport and the fleet comprises 140 nos. trailer (car carrier), 40 nos. trailer (truck-on-truck carrier) and 18 nos. rigid truck for general/project cargo. Recent forays of Janta has been in ODC transport segment and car rental service – the rental vertical termed ‘Cool cabs.in’ has about 80 cars and an impressive list of corporates utilising its services.
Comments Mr. Rajinder: “Main focus of the company will be on cars transport business and we have today companies like Hyundai, Ford, Maruti, Nissan, Toyota, Tata, Hero and Volvo as our valued customers. We are the exclusive transporter for Volvo cars and we do also earthmoving equipment transport for Volvo Group. We want to work with select customers and extend service to their fullest expectations. Car manufacturers are also under pressure to deliver specified nos. to different locations; and as long as assured business comes from them, we are not keen to expand our customer profile. Also because of the penalties involved in car carrier business where quality and timely deliveries are of paramount importance, we do not sub-contract trucks to meet the increasing demand. All trucks in the fleet are owned by Janta and the drivers alone are on contract. We have about 450 drivers working in the firm and many of them associated for more than 15 yrs.; and because of the partnership plan implemented, drivers love to work with us. It is this trust and close bonding with the driver community that has ensured our delivery levels are much more than the industry average and customer expectations – 99% on time delivery and transit damages 1% of the movement volume”. The company has been rated by CRISIL as SME-3 during 2012. As regards growth plans he adds they are already jointly working with 4 other car carrier operators, venture termed as ‘Alliance car carrier’ to distribute 6,000 Maruti cars per month from Bangalore hub to various parts of Tamil Nadu. “We are also making our entry into other value-added services in the logistics chain to take the company to next level as one stop logistics solution provider”, remarks Mr. Rajinder.
“Despite all the hype and attention this sector is going thro’ a challenging period. Basic design has remained the same for last 10 yrs.; essentially it has been one end of deck carrying cars coming down thro’ mechanical/hydraulic controls in line with opened rear door to form a composite ramp for the cars to be moved. Car carrier technology requires urgent standardisation but that has not been not happening due to fragmented and disorganised state of operators. Companies are squeezing for rates on one side and on the other front we have toll tax, driver shortage and periodic fuel price hikes. Hence it has become a balancing ordeal to sustain the operations and there is hardly any scope or drive for the companies to upgrade in technology to come anywhere near world standards. I have seen the business scenarios in Korea and Europe and marvelled at advanced open type trailers and tow type trailers. Adaptation of this technology for our use is not going to be easy as the ground realities herein are very different. Of course the rail transport is popular in industrialised countries and the concept could be introduced in India; alternatively trucks can get on to the rail carrier for long distance travel and driven off at the desired location resulting in cost reductions and minimising environmental degradation. Also considering the long coast line and inland waterways multi modal transport model would prove useful – yes, we can share our experience for an effective solution but the project involving many agencies needs to co-ordinated thro’ a common forum”, points out Mr. Rajinder.
Mr. Rajinder sigh gets excited at the mention of words corporate social responsibility. He recalls the 2 year long welfare and rehabilitation project for the Tsunami affected victims during 2005 – a joint initiative project steered by him in building of 162 row houses on bought land, primary health care centre and school for fishermen in Muzhukuthurai, a remote hamlet on the sea shore near Chidambaram, T.N. In 2003 he filed a historic case in Supreme Court for truck overloading and won it in 2005 – it has become the benchmark for implementation all over India to prevent damages to roads and minimise environmental pollution; and submitted suggestions for draft road safety policy to Ministry of Highways & Road Transport. Acknowledging the crucial role played by drivers, he initiated thro ‘Institute of Road Safety & Truck Knowledge’ the annual celebration of ‘International Driver Day’ on April 14. Varied measures are carried out on that day like health check-up camps, presenting awards/rewards to champion drivers and financial assistance to their children for education. Mr. Rajinder is also the managing trustee of many colleges and associated with several social and charitable religious organisations for upliftment of the downtrodden and underprivileged thro’ financial, social and educational support programs.
As for the green initiatives, Mr. Rajinder indicates that Janta was the first to use radial tyres and has been always investing in new vehicles conforming to the current standards to save on fuel and reduce carbon footprint; furthermore average age of the vehicles in the fleet is about 3.5 yrs., Euro 2 & 3 compliant, use high-end lubricants and adapt latest technology to affirm commitment towards the cause. Janta has ‘several firsts’ to its credit in the field vis-à-vis introduction of new model/technology/quality standards few being, open trucks in 1967, long chassis trucks in 1972, automobile carrier in 1982, covered car carrier in 1998, GPS for tracking in 2001, preventive maintenance concept by signing AMC with Cummins in 2002 and ISO 9001:2000 by TUV in 2004. Janta was also involved in the development of multi-axle car carrier with Eicher for Maruti cars transport; and currently working on prototype LCV car carrier to surmount restrictions for HCV carriers to ply during day time.
Mr. Rajinder is a widely travelled person having presented many papers and given talks on transportation related issues in India and abroad. He is genuinely concerned about the looming driver shortage issues and discussed its dimensions and solutions in many fora; has also started a driver training school at his operations centre and trained about 400 drivers till date. His services in the field were duly recognised by the society awarding him ‘Shiromany Vikas’ (President of India-1993), ‘Customer Services Satisfaction’ (IRTA-2010), ‘Transport Nayak’ (AICOGOA-2005) and ‘Transport Personality of the Year 2011’ (Ceat IRTA) to cite some from an impressive list. Janta has also won several awards for excellence in transportation from its prestigious customers and miscellaneous organisations. Recently in 2013, his son Mr. Manavdeep, Director, made it to final round of ‘Completely Boss Challenge’ of Microsoft Office 365 competition-presenting Janta enterprise growth story, contributions to the transportation segment, society and bagging the southern regional trophy.
“I am proud to be born and brought up as a trucker and today reached this stage in life because of what the transportation segment has given me all along in life. Hence I am morally obligated to give back to the industry by contributing tangibly for its betterment and to correct the various lacunae. My association with various organisations and transport bodies, driver training initiatives and welfare schemes are towards bringing world class standards into the transportation arena. Transport segment is the backbone of Indian economy and any improvement effected therein will contribute significantly to the upliftment of various sectors of the industry and society. We have colleges and courses for diverse disciplines but not for transport management. I would hence urge the top business schools to examine this aspect and introduce the specialisation so that graduates coming out are equipped with the basic knowledge in addressing transport issues and work for its betterment”, appeals Mr. Rajinder.
“Yes, I too have a dream and it would not be out of context to share herein that I will extend all help, support and play an active role in the establishment a university dedicated to transport management. I invite like minded persons and organisations to come together and kick-start the venture; and fervently hope transportation segment gets the recognition it richly deserves”, says Mr. Rajinder with passion and conviction. Points cited by the pioneer and respected veteran carries an open invitation and a message to the transportation fraternity and let us hope that the noble project takes off, culminating in his tryst with destiny in the near future.