Schenker puts forward a big foot
Schenker India plans to strengthen its footprint and become one of the largest warehousing players in the country over the next three years. Vishal Sharma, Chief Executive Officer, Schenker India and Indian Subcontinent, gives a peek into the roadmap that will help the company achieve this target.
In your opinion, how is automation shaping the logistics industry?
Automation has been the buzzword for years in India. However, with the increase in cost of manpower across multiple geographies in India and the availability of technology at a lower and more reasonable cost, the buzzword has become our reality. It is an added advantage to logistics partners not only to scale the business exponentially, but also to reduce direct and variable costs in the business environment.
What are the technological trends that DB Schenker is keeping an eye on?
DB Schenker has been constantly improving its service offerings to customers in different facets. With some of the initiatives rolled out in 2018 and a few more coming up in 2019, the company has launched its eSchenker platform which allows customers to book shipments on a single platform. We have also successfully launched Connect 4.0 (in a few countries in the APAC region) to enable SME customers to trade online. The company has also been investing extensively in the TMS solution that provides finalmile delivery updates in real time. We continue to watch the ecommerce space to provide compelling solutions to customers, in turn allowing them to focus on the customer’s core needs. DB Schenker has collaborated with IAM Robotics to create ‘Warehouse of the Future’, and this will lead to automation within the logistics business of the company with minimisation of human involvement in the processes.
What is the roadmap for Schenker India’s growth?
As the Indian arm of one of the world’s leading integrated logistics players, Schenker India managed to deliver a doubledigit growth in the top line. Moving forward, the company plans to grow its cross-border road transport services and contract logistics to make deeper inroads into verticals like automotive, electronics, consumer and retail, as well as aerospace industries. The company plans to strengthen its local footprint and become one of the largest warehousing players in the country over the next three years. It is currently directing its forces to double its warehousing capacity spread across 53 warehouse locations, as well as to enhance efficiencies through technological deployment for faster processing and real-time updates across the value chain. By 2022, Schenker India is aiming to double its capacity in terms of footprint. The plans of expansion will be supported by DB Schenker’s state-of-the-art ‘Enterprise Lab for Logistics and Digitisation’ located in Germany.
By 2022, Schenker India aims to double its capacity, supported by ‘Enterprise Lab for Logistics and Digitisation’