Rajesh Rajgor conducts an exclusive interview with Mahendra Shah, Managing Director, V-Trans Group, to learn more about what makes the company, which consists of V-Trans, V-Express and V-Logis, an integrated logistics entity able to provide speed and convenience to its clients across various operations thanks to talent and technology
At V-Trans Group, no single day is the same. Each day at the group, employees work in a manner to better themselves. This work ethos is inculcated in the group’s workforce thanks to its Managing Director Mahendra Shah’s vision for system, processes and training. Playing the role of a ‘change agent’, Shah has been pivotal in the growth of the organisation from a traditional transporter to an integrated logistics entity that is able to provide speed and convenience to its clients across various operations thanks to the talent, technology and network it has bolstered.
As the market takes off to recapture the pre-pandemic heights, V-Trans Group is on the verge of launching an ‘integrated logistics’ division within the group that can cater to clients requiring end-to-end solutions. Already, the group has an enviable strength of over 850 branches, 50+ trans-shipment centres and a team of 3,000+. It has penetrated across India from Kashmir to Kanya Kumari, and also expanded to SAARC, in the initial phase in Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal. It has an inimitable positioning as a single window solution provider. Under the group, V-Trans provides part load, full load and ODC transport whereas V-Express takes care of door-to-door express cargo using road and air.
V-Logis offers complete warehousing and 3 PL solutions with dedicated and shared facilities. The group has recently expanded to chemical storage warehouses. Shah elaborates: “Network expansion is always on our cards and we keep upgrading and enhancing our network of branches. With six decades of expertise in chemicals transportation, our clients have been asking for warehouse solutions too. Our ‘Chem-Store’ located near Bhiwandi is engineered with high compliance standards to store the class 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 9 types of hazardous chemicals comfortably and securely. This will cover almost 80 per cent of the industry requirement. The spacious facility with a total area of 218,350 sq. feet can store precious hazardous chemicals in a perfect way with utmost safety measures offering complete peace of mind to customers.”
V-Trans Group’s extensive experience in handling diverse industries like chemicals, engineering as well as machine goods, automotive, textile, FMCG and FMCD, publishing, electronics, pharmaceuticals and more is a boon for the logistics industry. They have the capacity to successfully handle and deliver over 2.4 million tons of cargo each year. Their ‘On Time in Full’ (OTIF) delivery of goods have earned the trust and confidence of clients over the last six decades.
The company keeps upgrading its technology in order to stay ahead of the competition and adds value to the customers engaging with them. “We have heavily invested in the powerful business tools Oracle, SHIPX and WMS – INFOR, which are the best enterprise resource planning tools to manage the entire logistics operations for all the verticals, i.e. V-Trans, V-Xpress and V-Logis. The interlinking of the software makes the information flow between them seamless and also provides the best solutions for optimisation,” Shah states.
Some of the important components that the technology at V-Trans Group takes care of include network, route, scheduling, forecasting seasonality, extracting the best data analytics, geo fence at all trans-shipments and branches, and broadcasting the trucks’ availability notice to neighbouring trans-shipments. Along with automation, the business offers clients personalised dashboards to give them the timely information they need. Some of V-Trans’s ‘eagle eyes’ include SMS alerts for booking and delivery, ePOD, and GST and eWay bill compliance. The system includes the ability to gather insightful and useful information that can be shared with clients. With eBill and ePoD, convenience and comfort are guaranteed.
“Through our client information portal and the assistance of Vijayant, our technology vertical, our clientele needs are enhanced. For a seamless experience, we can guarantee API integration with the clients’ ERP. Vijayant, which aids in keeping logistics on track, has MIS reports that offer insights and instantly offers eBill and ePoD in order to be paperless. Tapping of the consignment is only a click away with Vijayant. All of our vehicles are either GPS-equipped or SIM-based apps are used to track them. Online pick-up requests are simple and convenient to submit from any location at any time,” informs Shah.
Over the years, V-Trans have acquired the tenacity and discipline needed to enjoy unmatched commercial growth, competencies, outreach and network. Shah is a strong proponent of creating an environment in the workplace that encourages creative thinking, an unwavering commitment to customer satisfaction, and an increasingly strategic attitude. He oversees operations, finances, and human resources at V-Trans in addition to general management. He has therefore directed the organisation’s multiple duties and tasks in business transformation initiatives.
“In our labour-intensive sector, human relationships are the most important component,” he feels. “As a result, we have always worked to develop and nurture talent. From our branch managers to our back-office managers, we have always made sure that they come from the talent pool. The top programmes for personality and self-development and professional advancement for our employees are among our many training and development initiatives,” he adds. Some of the talent nurturing programmes by him include Uttkarsh and Nipunta for branch and shift in-charge.
“Across all our 800+ branches the main in-charge is the branch manager. He is the brand ambassador and a central touch-point for V-Trans. We identify the people, give them training and keep them in the talent pool and use them as branch in-charge when we open a new branch. Same goes with the shift in-charge as there is a lot of goods coming in and out and we need efficient trans-shipment shift in-charge,” he informs. Shah’s untiring efforts on many fronts have earned the company many accolades and awards in various domains from logistics to training and developments to overall excellence and fair business practices. They are also certified as ‘Great Place to Work’.
“We place a lot of emphasis on the training of our labour personnel and drivers. We have observed highly fervent participation from the team, which includes the drivers, loading-unloading personnel, vendors and co-workers. For the benefit of our team, technical trainings, health check-up camps and sessions with Bramha Kumaris are routinely planned. We even started a programme called ‘Dignity to Drivers’ to teach our team members how to treat drivers with respect and to think of them as members of the V-Trans family. All of these things guarantee incredible operational effectiveness and promote business expansion,” believes Shah.
Before learning about a logistic player’s fleet, no interview is complete. Over 250 trucks are owned by the three organisations that make up V-Trans Group. They care about utilising vehicles that are cutting-edge and less harmful to the environment as much as they are committed to growing their branches, developing talent and advancing technology. “The majority of our fleet, which is expanding every month, consists of less than eight-year-old trucks. We also have a few new BS VI trucks and more than 100 CNG vehicles. Additionally, as a first in the B2B sector, we are operating four electric vehicles at specific locations and closely monitoring the market for larger capacity EVs because the current capacity of EVs is only up to 500-600 kg,” he shares.
In addition, the company forbids overloading of vehicles. To preserve vehicles in excellent driving condition and free of dangerous pollutants, it has fixed maintenance contracts and routine PUC and tyre tests. To prevent their drivers from using diluted fuel from shady vendors, they have established relationships with dependable and trusted refuelling pumps that offer petro-card facilities. All of these contribute to maintaining proper fuel emissions, no accidents, and no road damage. The company uses advanced MHEs (material handling equipment) for reduced labourer effort in order to make manual labour operations simple. Their cutting-edge infrastructure guarantees efficient material flow.
People form habits and thus it is feasible to promote positive habits by making persistent efforts. V-Trans keeps putting on events like ‘Safety Week’ to encourage its employees to make safety a priority in all they do. The group is expecting to grow at CAGR of 40 per cent year-on-year and end FY 2022-23 at approximately Rs 1,500 crore gross turnover with V-Trans contributing close to Rs 1,150 crore. “Thanks to the brilliant efforts by the Government of India on various fronts like road infrastructure, digitisation, transparency and ease of doing business, we are confident that our business will be back to the pre-pandemic days and perhaps even surpass it. We are glad that our family’s third generation too has joined the company and are taking our group to newer heights to make every day better than yesterday with right emphasis on technology, training and people-oriented processes,” wraps up Shah.