Category Archives: Technology

Ecom Express, a leading technology enabled end-to-end logistics solutions provider for the e-commerce industry, announced the launch of its self sign-up portal called ‘E-zippie’. The portal is for micro-entrepreneurs, small business owners, sole-proprietors and home-preneurs, to quickly, conveniently, and securely sign-up for a one-stop-shop for logistics services in less than 30 minutes. Commenting on the announcement, T. A. Krishnan, Co-founder and CEO, Ecom Express, said “With ‘E-zippie’, we can fast-track registration to less than 30 minutes against a 10 to 12 days process taken by most players in the market. The self sign-up portal is a major milestone in our effort to provide an automated and seamless experience for online businesses right from onboarding to fulfilling all their shipping requirements. We will continue to enhance customer experience by making logistics simpler and convenient for small and micro businesses, by providing direct control on their shipments and flexibility in managing end-to-end shipment life cycle. Our aim is to help them expand their market access to 27000+ PIN codes, diversify their customer base, and solidify their supply chain through Ecom Express.’’

IBM and Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) operator of Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru (BLR) announced a ten-year partnership under which IBM and Kyndryl will provide the finest IT solutions. The plan is to create a new ‘Airport in a Box’ platform that will support transforming the end-to-end travel experience for passengers at BLR Airport. To achieve this goal, BIAL has selected IBM global business services, IBM hybrid cloud capabilities and Kyndryl, the new, independent company that will be created following the separation of IBM’s managed infrastructure services business, to design and implement a next generation architecture with robust and dynamic delivery model. The new platform will also enable BIAL to improve employee productivity, better utilization of IT assets, reduce costs through streamlined inventory control and improved incident management. IBM and BIAL will work to ensure that the platform supports BIAL’s commitment to sustainability and the community at large. BIAL recently achieved its goal of net energy neutral status in the financial year 2020-21, consuming energy from renewable sources.

Indian government’s premier policy think-tank NITI Aayog along with RMI and RMI India has released a new report titled “Fast Tracking Freight in India: A Roadmap for Clean and Cost-Effective Goods Transport”, which highlights key opportunities for India to bring down its logistics costs. Owing to the increasing demands of goods and services, an increase in freight transport demand is expected. While it is essential for economic development, it is plagued by high logistics costs and contributes to rising CO2 emissions and air pollution in cities. The Report states that India has the potential to: Reduce its logistics cost by 4% of GDP Achieve 10 gigatonnes of cumulative CO2 emissions savings between 2020 and 2050 Reduce nitrogen oxide (NOx) and particulate matter (PM) emissions by 35% and 28%, respectively, until 2050

Fairfax Financial Holdings Group has provided the funding to set up COV-AID@BLR, a 150-bed, oxygenated COVID-19 treatment centre at BLR Airport. The facility would be operational on May 18, 2021. The Fairfax-led initiative, in partnership with GiveIndia, is part-funded by Kempegowda International Airport Foundation (KIAF) – the foundation of Bangalore International Airport Limited. The initiative will be managed by Fairfax Financial Holdings Group’s investee companies – KIAF and Quess Corp Limited. The Centre would be equipped with oxygen concentrators, medical equipment, pharmacy, pathology centre, nurses’ station and restrooms. It will be open to the public soon, and is equipped to treat patients with mild hypoxia

Swift Cargo has announced joining the TradeLens platform, a blockchain enabled digital supply chain solution jointly developed by Maersk and IBM, to use its electronic bill of lading product. The TradeLens eBL, will digitize bills of lading, along with other critical transportation documents, on the Blockchain to vastly increase speed of original bill of lading issuance, transfer and surrender, a process that was traditionally manual and time-consuming which can now occur accurately and securely in minutes. Eliminating the risks and costs caused by lost or delayed documents have been a significant concern for the shipping, logistics and trade finance industries. With direct connectivity of all stakeholders within the TradeLens blockchain technology powered platform, total end-to-end visibility for Swift Cargo’s transportation documentation will now be available for their import and export cargo, sourced from a single platform. The TradeLens solution will provide transparency through the shipping cycle while addressing sensitivities too. “Innovation in the industry provides improved speed, transparency and efficiency for our international transportation documentation. This allows us to ultimately provide better service to our customers and at the same time capture improved efficiencies in our operations,” said Harish Pandeya, Managing Director Swift Cargo. He added, “Going beyond our objective of digitalization and providing timely and superior service levels to our clients, TradeLens will also help us reduce operational overheads and errors by enabling automation of significant parts of the documentation process.” Bimal Kanal, Head – South Asia, TradeLens mentioned, ” We are excited to see Swift Cargo join us on our mission to digitize the bill of lading process across all types of BLs. By eliminating the risk of lost documents, forgeries, delays and charges by using a blockchain …

Taking the supply chain to next level, Locus has released a smart supply chain decision-making platform ‘Locus NodeIQ’ which enables companies to perform end-to-end network and inventory optimization. Locus, which focuses on fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), consumer packaged goods (CPG), retail, home services, third-party logistics (3PL), e-commerce and industrial enterprises, provides a portfolio of products that drive efficiency with AI and machine learning. NodeIQ automates strategic supply chain decisions that impact four key areas; flow, location, inventory, and strategic sourcing. With NodeIQ, users can optimise the movement of goods, from raw materials to delivery of finished products, identify optimal facility locations to address supply and demand gaps, optimise stock levels and improve strategic sourcing. NodeIQ factors in real-time constraints like service levels, lead times, costs and capacity to minimize costs and maximize efficiency. “A black swan event like the pandemic demonstrates the importance of agility in the supply chain,” said Krishna Khandelwal, Chief Business Officer, Locus, in adding, “But supply chains are enormously complex, and depending on the scope of the operation, the number of factors to weigh in while making the right strategic decision is truly beyond human capacity. NodeIQ’s AI-powered strategic decision-making capabilities let enterprises make the right strategic choices so they can stay agile and optimize results at every level.” Locus products are gaining users worldwide because the platform is simple to use. Supply chain optimization is a data-intensive function, but Locus uses AI and other advanced technologies to cleanse data, flag anomalies and deliver clear insights. Following the same product principle of ease and simplicity, Locus NodeIQ uses a digital twin approach to make it easy for clients to test various scenarios and drill down to …

MMC Corportation Berhad (MMC) has embarked on a major digital transformation of five ports, in partnership with global software solutions leader, Ramco System. The digital transformation will consolidate and standardise processes of MMC’s ports, which include Pelabuhan Tanjung Pelepas Sdn Bhd (PTP), Johor Port Berhad, Northport (Malaysia) Bhd, Penang Port Sdn Bhd and Tanjung Bruas Port Sdn Bhd. The group-wide transformation was awarded based on the successful implementation of Ramco integrated Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system at one of Malaysia’s most advanced container terminal – PTP. This technological transformation programme will propel Malaysia to the forefront of global best-in-class ports – which plays a crucial role in mitigating supply chain challenges, including recent disruptions due to COVID-19. Building on an earlier implementation by Ramco Systems of an ERP system for PTP where about 90 per cent of the system has achieved Go-Live in phases over the past 10 months, the enhanced rollout will digitalise processes, while providing real-time business information. MMC will also be able to consolidate various business support functions (namely Finance, Human Resource, Enterprise Asset Management, Supply Chain Management, and Logistics Management) across ports into a single integrated ERP system – all accessible on an integrated dashboard. Over 8,000 MMC employees across the ports will be plugged into the platform on their computers/mobile devices which now eliminates duplication errors and other bottlenecks, allowing efficient business processes and enhanced data visibility. The system will also include smart features such as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML), which will provide employees with greater insight as well as predictive alerts and chatbots which can reduce human error and save time. This will lay the foundation for MMC’s broader strategy to enhance …

LogiNext has announced a milestone partnership with Alibaba backed Daraz. This partnership involved rolling out the LogiNext Mile platform over which Daraz has optimised and automated millions of orders over the past four years resulting in Asia’s largest e-commerce carrier network. Through this partnership, Daraz got access to LogiNext’s Mile platform for its logistics marketplace recently launched for a potential end customer base of more than one billion to empower local logistics businesses and establish their businesses with Daraz. LogiNext’s platform automates order capturing, scheduling, delivery associate compliance, handling peak event sales and the end to end customer experience for these smaller businesses supported by Daraz in its countries. For LogiNext, a pioneer in the field of logistics automation in North America, working with Daraz was a way to make inroads in Asia via a forward-looking high-tech e-commerce environment that Daraz fosters. Together, the partnership has improved Daraz Logistics marketplace’s last mile deliveries by tracking and accessing billions of location data points to deliver a superior customer experience to millions of end customers. “LogiNext’s Mile platform has been leveraged by several premier e-commerce giants across the globe. This partnership with Daraz has helped us solve some very real on-the-ground logistical issues native to APAC and it has given a framework for upcoming and existing e-commerce giants to usher in the new face of last-mile deliveries built on the basis of a world-class customer experience,” says Mradul Khandelwal, Vice President of Business Development at LogiNext. “At Daraz, we are always looking to innovate and bring the best technologies available globally for improved customer experience which in return yields to higher business performance. This partnership has proven to be fruitful for Logistics …

In an industry-first move, Welspun One Logistics Parks has introduced a unique, online ‘Partner Portal’ to effectively collaborate with their external stakeholders, especially landowners and brokers. The goal of this platform is to create a transparent and efficient mechanism that will enable sharing of leads and create a direct communication channel with Welspun One’s land buying and leasing teams. Presently, the process of lead generation in the warehousing and logistics sector is confined to traditional modes of communication. The introduction of an online and integrated platform is a major step forward by Welspun One to bring about digitisation in the industry, and is in line with initiatives like ‘Digital India’ where there is an increasing emphasis on creating online infrastructure. Elaborating on this unique feature, Anshul Singhal, Managing Director, Welspun One Logistics Parks, said, “High internet penetration and adoption of technology has accelerated digitisation across verticals. The industry needs a seamless platform to eliminate outdated and lengthy processes involved in land and leasing transactions. With our distinctive, tech-enabled offering – the ‘Partner Portal’, we aim to build a high level of transparency, seamless communication, and timely updates through a single, online channel.” He added, “All the leads fed into the channel are evaluated under a CRM that allows us to sort deals faster and help focus the efforts of the real rainmakers of the industry, our broker community.” The feature can be availed by landowners, brokers, customers and International Property Consultants (IPCs) by simply registering on the company website’s Partner Portal section. The registrant is then provided with unique credentials that allows access to a specific dashboard and enables them to introduce new leads for land transactions and/or for fulfilling …

Pluss Advanced Technologies (PLUSS) has been granted a patent by the United States Patent and Trademark Office for its Celsure™ box which is designed using Phase Change Material (PCM) technology to maintain specific inside-temperature. The Celsure™ box is a simple box-in-box transport solution with over 40 variants to maintain different inside-temperatures, ranging from -77C to +89C, for times ranging for a few hours to a few days. The Celsure™ box serves as a better and safer alternative to dry ice and conventional ice-packs and has reduced costs and complexities in transport and storage of perishables, vaccines and temperature sensitive pharmaceutical products. The patent was granted to the innovative method of arranging PCMs, which leads to precise inside-temperature control, under varying ambient conditions. The company has received a patent for Celsure™ from the European Patent Office in Germany also, and has applied for a patent in India, Singapore, and Brazil, as well. “PLUSS was formed to innovate on speciality polymers, to address India’s industrial and social and environmental challenges. With our genesis in research, we have been able to develop unique low-cost solutions for temperature control, using the concept of thermal energy storage. Our solutions have been adopted commercially, and the US Patent is a testimony to the robust technology being used for operational and cost efficiency in transporting temperature sensitive cargo,” said Samit Jain, Managing Director, PLUSS Advanced Technologies.