Apollo Tyres : Transport Mgmt System

Tuesday, June 03, 2008

A logistics automation solution crafted to keep a tab on the movement of goods at different stages of the logistics chain. The project Transport Management System delivers special value in overcoming a host of real challenges faced by the manufacturing industry.

An effective transportation management involves overcoming a multitude of challenges. Apollo is in the manufacturing of automotive tyres and its accessories (tubes, flaps) and ships them to more than 150 locations, OEMs on a hired fleet of trucks. Since these vehicles are not dedicated it was very important for Apollo to manage, control, and measure the performance of the transporters across all sectors where the vehicles are plying.

The implemented project, Transport Management System, is a Web-based application with a controlled set of users having different authorizations. The automation of its logistics operations through a tighter coupling with the already-deployed SAP ERP backbone and added facilities such as sending SMSes to transporters to send trucks, including transporter freight contract management and road permit management indents, has made the handling of more than 300 trucks a day and controlling of whereabouts a facile task.

The project has been in action for the last three months in plants, and has been delivering profound results. Total transaction processing time reduced from 30 min to 8 min per truck load, errors related to communication eliminated because of standardization of processes, order processing related errors eliminated (from 4 in a week to 0 in a week), truck turn around time (gate in to gate out) reduced from 12 hr to 7.5 hr.

Over 22 years of experience in IT with an in-depth knowledge on various business processes and expertise in automating the business processes to improve the efficiency and productivity. He has good domain knowledge of all SAP functional modules.  Jitendra Mahana, Divisional Head-IT Q What were the challenges and business problems that led to implementing this project? Apollo has world-renowned ERP to manage the movement of goods, but the solution could not address to all the logistic needs, as many minute details of information, for instance the data on the performance reports of transporters and vehicles, were not captured. The challenge involved was to develop a software which allows capturing of minute details and interacts with SAP as per needs and helps to measure performance reports of transporters and vehicles. Q What were the key benefits gained after having deployed this project? With the project in action in its plants from the last three months we could make the entire dispatch process-starting from requirement upload to indent generation to Truck Loading Slips, loading confirmation and truck exit-automated and running. With it we maintain vehicle history, transporter details, road permit utilization, tracking and control, ensuring of all transporter freight contracts. Owing to the standardization of processes, there is a significant reduction in the total transaction processing time, truck turnaround time (gate in to gate out), order processing related errors, and errors related to communication.

The project delivers special value in the management of contracts for transporters, finished goods, road permits, upload of SKU plan for dispatches from all the plants through Excel and SAPsystem into the transport Management System, indenting of trucks based on dispatch plan-indents once generated also send an SMS to transporter for dispatch of trucks thereby reducing coordination effort from Apollo's side-truck reporting and truck entry at plant against the indent, preparation of Truck Loading Slip and auto creation of sales order/stock transfer order in SAP, truck breakdown management, key analysis reports, auto download of road permit consumed and Delivery Challans (DC) Notes from SAP truck-wise, exit of trucks from plant, and reminder facilities on road permit usage.

The solution integrates complex packages such as SAP, APO, DOMINO, and SMS gateways. An important benefit has been the immaculate control over the truck ordering process and in minimizing the hold time of the vehicle inside the factory.

In a way the entire dispatch process-starting from requirement upload to indent generation to Truck Loading Slips, loading confirmation, and truck exit-was automated and running. With it the vehicle history, transporter details, road permit utilization, tracking and control, ensuring of all transporter freight contracts were maintained.

Transport Management System addressed to many minute details of information, for instance the data on the performance reports of transporters and vehicles, which were not captured in SAP. This helped produce controlling and management reports.

Implementation Partner

Dinesh Rampal GM, Systems LifeCycle Q What were the challenges faced while implementing this project? Successfully integrating the app with SAP and IBM Domino seamlessly was one challenge. Another set of challenges faced during implementation was to measure the deviations from the processes since they were studied and do the changes quickly and implement the same so that the momentum is not lost. Q Any other solution considered for the problem? While discussing solutions, there were two possible options. The most obvious was SAP but it was not feasible as predicting when SAP changes shall be done and related cost was not possible. Custom development was the only choice left as availability of COTS packages meeting these requirements was also very remote. Q Resoving the key problems faced by the end customer. The initial requirement put forward to us was generating performance reports for transporters. This is a key requirement since the hired fleet of transporters is one of the factors for Apollo's success. Users at Limda plant were met and interviewed for 3 days. All the findings were documented and blueprint for the process established.

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