Jamna Auto goes digital to carve out bigger share of the market
Leveraging Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), Jamna Auto Industries has developed two apps, JAI MLP and JAI Aftermarket, in an effort to carve out a bigger pie of the market.
The company, specialising in the manufacture of leaf springs and allied components for commercial vehicles, has developed the JAI MLP app. for mechanics. It calls upon a mechanic to register himself with the company’s sales officer who in turn provides him with a welcome kit. The kit includes a cash card similar to a debit card. The products purchased by the mechanic using the app. would come with a sticker, which has a unique code. This code is scanned by the sales officer to provide the mechanic with reward points. These points are converted into currency and added to the cash card. The company provides an incentive of 1.75% of the retail price for a Jamna auto product. When the mechanic accumulates a certain number of points, he is eligible to participate in a lucky draw called ‘Jai Ho’. The draw is held regularly in different cities of India in a bid to encourage many more mechanics to come onboard. The app. is also expected to encourage them to prefer quality spares to the spurious ones.
The JAI Aftermarket app. is to facilitate the working of the company’s sales officers. It is designed and developed to help them plan their visits, schedule their rosters and do more. The app. is designed in such a way that it enables the sales officers to scan the codes of products that a mechanic has ordered, and to convert them into reward points. With the help of the app., a sales officer can also look at any pending visits. He can also check the history for accounting purpose.
In order to reach out to its employees, distributors, mechanics and customers, Jamna Auto Industries is continuing to find ways of doing business. Well regarded by its clients in the aftermarket as well in the original equipment space, the company has 21 manufacturing units. Claimed to be the second largest manufacturer of leaf springs and related components, the company caters to Ashok Leyland, Toyota
Kirloskar Motors, Volvo, and Mahindra & Mahindra among many others.
Said to command a market share of 72% for multi-leaf springs and parabolic springs, Jamna Auto, according to Bhupesh Kumar Mehta, Vice President, Jamna Auto Industries, is keen to support cleaner modes of transport. Of the opinion that the evolution of auto industry is set for a paradigm shift with the advent of fuel cell vehicles, electric vehicles and alternate fuel vehicles, Mehta said that it would have a profound influence on the company. Confident of growing with the auto industry, the company is looking at providing quality spares. It is thus drawing a strategy to de-risk itself from the cyclic nature of the CV industry. Keen to carve out a greater pie of the aftermarket, Jamna Auto is looking at expanding its retail and distributor network. Striving to reduce the risk of recession, the company is chalking out plans to introduce new products. It is also working out a comprehensive export strategy that would result in higher exports. “We want to increase exports. This will help us reduce our dependency on OEMs. Not that we will not supply to our existing OEMs, what we are looking at is to achieve a sustainable growth,” Mehta said.
Keen to promote the safety aspect of the products it offers, Jamna Auto is creating awareness. Awareness of driving safely, clocking maximum uptime and higher profitability with the use of the high quality parts the company offers. Of the opinion that the products that they offer play a key role in vehicle safety, Mehta mentioned that the use of high quality materials and craftsmanship ensures that there will be no breakdowns of CVs, which could result in an accident. He quickly pointed out that the suspension system parts that they offer contribute towards the load carrying capability of CVs. Multiple leaves of a leaf spring, said Mehta, adds to the safety of the vehicle. Perhaps with an eye on the forthcoming safety norms, he explained that the CV industry is driving them to engineer more safety into the products they offer. Taking pride in the fact that Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland are satisfied with its products, Jamna Auto is providing parts in the aftermarket that are no second in quality to the parts that it supplies to the OEMs.
Having put in place a definitive structure of channel partners, distributors, retailers and mechanics, the company is keen that genuine products reach the buyers in the replacement market. Well aware of the threat the unorganised aftermarket poses, Jamna Auto, according to Mehta, is driving the incentive programme just to encourage a shift from cheap non-reliable products to genuine spares even if they are a bit costlier. The ability of genuine products to far outperform cheap and non-reliable spares from the unorganised market is much higher, he said. Going that extra mile, the company has been regularly organising plant visits for its distributors and mechanics so that they understand why parts from Jamna Auto Industries make a case for quality and performance. With particular concern about the high rate of accidents in India, and the loss that accompanies, Jamna Auto is working on an aggressive aftermarket thrust by going digital with the 2 apps. it has developed.
Safety first
Jamna Auto Industries is especially keen to drive the safety angle attached to the suspension products that it offers. Well aware that it may not have much scope as far as the OEM supplies are concerned, it is addressing the angle of safety in the aftermarket. Confident that this will create awareness among fleets, drivers and mechanics, and drive them to use genuine parts even if they cost more, the company is aggressively promoting the fact that the breakage of a leaf spring will lead to loss of control, and the cost of which could be very high in terms of lives lost as well as the damage to property. Not very happy at the prospect of leaf springs not considered as a safety-intensive component of a CV, Mehta said, “It is time that the contribution of leaf springs and leaf spring suspension to safety is acknowledged and promoted.”
Keeping a strict tab on quality and performance parameter of each and every product that the company manufactures, Jamna Auto has been paying close attention to the developments in the other markets of the world. It is a result of this that the company has tied-up with Ridewell Industries, USA, and Tinsley Bridge, UK. The alliance is expected to enable the company to further elevate its expertise in the manufacture of leaf springs as a key component of a CV, Mehta said.