Category Archives: Warehousing

With a vision to improve intra-warehousing logistics and supply chain, Godrej Material Handling has announced the launch of MOPTro™, a product of Greendzine Technologies – a motorized order-picking trolley. This is a natural extension to Godrej’s existing product – SKUtro, a manual order-picking system, which was launched last year, to aid in improving shop floor mobility and employee productivity. The pandemic brought about many changes in the functioning of businesses with many city-working people moving back to their hometowns. This reverse migration pivoted e-commerce sales from tier-1 cities to tier-2 cities. Launched in 2019, SKUtro has been seeing a rise in demand from e-commerce, retail and pharmaceutical companies especially over the past few months. Factors such as the past few months of lockdown, the subsequent pent up demand and seasonal festive sales are pushing companies like Godrej to partner on solutions that ensure speedy and accurate order-picking thereby achieving higher throughput. This also ensures that the warehouse employees reap benefits such as better health, safety, and wellness. MOPTro™ revolutionises the everyday manual order-picking practices by simplifying the tedious manual picking process for operators, ensuring accurate picking and put-away. The software on the mobile device attached to MOPTro™ helps in showing the fastest aisle route to picking a product thus enabling greater throughput. According to statistics released in the public domain by research organizations on the recent sales by Amazon and Flipkart, 91% of Amazon’s and 65% of Flipkart’s new customers came from smaller cities. Therefore, in order to fulfil such high demand, timely picking solutions are of high importance. India is a relatively young nation with a large slice of the population being sub 35 years in age. They like to try new experiences …

In line with the company’s vision, OM Logistics has expanded its warehousing facility with the inauguration of a novel project at Chakan, Pune. The upcoming and actively unfolding industrial hub of Chakan will serve as an ideal location through which the company hopes to serve all industries with logistics solutions. With an investment totaling Rs 125 crore, the new warehousing facility sprawls across 23 acres and is situated near the main highway with proposed warehousing capacity of 3,50,000 square feet. During Phase 1 of construction, 1,50,000 square feet of the warehousing park has already been built, while Phase 2, aiming for another 2,00,000 square feet, is proposed to be completed soon. Raghav Singhal, Director, Om Logistics, said, “We are happy and excited to launch the new, state-of-the-art warehouse facility at Chakan, Pune. With the new facility and investment, we will have an enhanced capability to fulfill logistics and warehousing solution for any business. Our strategy always aims to provide the best-in-class services that reach every corner.” “We are already equipped with advanced warehouse technology system & latest software that spans across 20 million square feet pan India. With the growing facilities, we are currently servicing over 19,000 Pin Codes and more than 1500 locations throughout the country. As the need for logistics and supply chain management grows, we want to enable companies to grow to their full potential, for which, we are looking forward to expanding our base to many more locations in the near future,” he added. Akash Bansal, Marketing Head, OM Logistics, said, “For more than two decades we have been aiming for and have constantly been offering world-class service to our clients with the best facilities and …

In its efforts to expand its business, SafeStorage has launched operations in Chennai & Pune. The Chennai warehouse, located in Vaanagaram and the Pune warehouse, located in Wagholi are both 10000 square feet facility. The company has over 3.2 lakhs square feet space spread across 30+ warehouses. Owing to the lockdown and ‘Work from Home’ scenario for a foreseeable future, self-storage facilities have seen a significant rise in demand; as people have moved out of their rented apartments back to their native places. The numbers enquiries have also seen a big surge. Sharing his thoughts, Ramesh Babu M, CEO & Co-Founder, SafeStorage, said, “We started in Bengaluru and Hyderabad, with IT Professionals being our main target audience. After we received great response, our research indicated that in Chennai & Pune are the other top two markets where there is demand for self-storage facilities. SafeStorage® is one of the pioneers in the storage facility sector in the country and we are committed to offer our services to our patrons through the nation. Our aim is to be present across nine cities in India by end of 2021. As a part of our growth strategy, we will also be venturing into the packers and movers business by early next year.” The company strives to provide a safe, secured and insured space, making self-storage experience easy with all the necessary care, using fire extinguishers, smoke detectors and periodical pest control. The company provides short term, long term and temporary storage space that are designed to offer economical and easily accessible.

With a primary focus on BBIN (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India & Nepal), V-Trans India has announced the commencement of its operations in SAARC countries on its 62nd foundation day. Initially, the service will primarily be focused on surface movement and will soon be covered with express and multimodal. On this M. K. Shah, MD, V-Trans says “This is one more milestone in our journey to become one of the most reliable and trusted players in the logistics business. The starting of our operations to SAARC countries is the beginning of a new chapter in the history of our company. We have been able to successfully manage the current scenario and looking forward to many more accomplishments in the near future. While the present times are challenging and tough, our team has gone all out and brought the best possible results, which are fully supported and integrated with the advanced technology and a collaborative approach.” One of the highlights for the company has been the successful management of the impact of the COVID pandemic. The company adapted quickly to the situation, digitised the processes, enabled smooth flexi working, and most importantly modified the decision-making process thus leveraging maximum to its advantage. It has undertaken several initiatives in the last couple of months towards the aim of achieving service excellence. The objective has been to ensure smooth conduct of its operations and maintaining high-quality standards in terms of delivery.

In collaboration with tech innovator Verity, DSV is implementing an autonomous drone system in several of its warehouses to help manage inventory. The drone system can scan barcodes without human interaction and detect if pallet positions are empty or occupied. Operating mainly at night, the drones don’t interrupt warehouse operations. Inventory management traditionally involves manual barcode scans to count the warehouse inventory and keep track of stock. Besides being an unsafe and arduous task, manual counts often result in inventory data not being up to date due to discrepancies. The DSV Innovation Hub continually works to innovate DSV’s customer offerings and its operations, and after connecting with Verity, the two companies tested the system at the Moerdijk warehouse in the Netherlands, completing thousands of autonomous flights and tens of thousands of scans. “The drones know down to each centimetre where goods are located, and the information they provide with their scans can be compared with information in our system. This helps us to increase the predictability and visibility of inventory,” says Luca Graf, Senior Director, Innovation, DSV. The pilot showed that manual counts can be avoided to a large extent and that inventory data becomes virtually error-free, thereby helping to reduce stock. The successful pilot now leads to roll-out of the drone system into more DSV warehouses. “We want to offer our customers high-tech supply chain solutions, which is why we work with innovative companies like Verity. We have had a good, hands-on collaboration with them on this drone system, which we expect can benefit many of our warehouse operations where the business case makes sense,” says Peter van der Maas, Executive Vice President, Benelux, DSV Solutions.

JSW Infrastructure has completed the acquisition of Chettinad Group’s Port Business which allows JSW Infrastructure ownership and operational control of a deep draft international coal terminal and a Bulk Terminal at Kamarajar Port Limited (KPL) as well as coal and bulk commodity terminal at New Mangalore Port Trust (NMPT). The company is investing more than Rs 1,000 crore to acquire as well as modernise these Port assets which has a combined cargo handling capacity of 17 million tonnes per annum. Commenting on the development Arun Maheshwari, Joint MD & CEO, JSW Infrastructure said, “The successful acquisition of these Port assets consolidates our strategic presence across South East & West coast of India. It allows us greater access to the hinterland trading hubs with promising growth potential. These assets also fit our strategic direction to achieve 200 million tonnes per annum cargo handling capacity over next couple of years offering us an opportunity to service varied requirements of a wide customer base. The newly acquired Terminals will have business synergies with our upcoming 30 MTPA coal export terminal at Paradip Port Trust which is scheduled to commence operations during first half of calendar year 2021.” According to Devki Nandan, Senior Vice President & Head of M&A of JSW Infrastructure, “The newly acquired terminals are strategic assets for JSW Infrastructure. Their addition enables us to service higher volume of third-party customer cargo. We intend to modernise these terminals to further enhance their operational efficiency. This acquisition will immensely benefit all our stakeholders through better efficiency, reduced cost and a world-class customer service experience”.

Enabling the ultra-fast delivery services of daily essentials and grocery under the Amazon Fresh Store on Amazon.in, Amazon India has announced the launch of Amazon Fresh in Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Pune and Chennai. With this expansion, Amazon India has more than 25 such Amazon Fresh centres, with a 3X increase in processing space. The company has also expanded its infrastructure with new centres in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Delhi-NCR with growing customer demand for the grocery category. The specialiaed infrastructure is designed to ensure safe storage of products in the category with freezer and refrigeration zones, special packaging for frozen food among others. “The investment in these specialized centres is in line with our long-term commitment to invest in India and create hundreds of job opportunities. We are also delighted to help Indian customers get what they need, while keeping our customers and our workforce safe. In the last few months, customers have increasingly trusted us to enable delivery of essentials safely at their doorstep. We have ramped up our operational capabilities in cities where we already offered this service, and added 4 new cities ahead of the festive season to meet customer needs” said Prakash Kumar Dutta, Vice President – Fulfilment Operations and Supply Chain, Amazon India. Siddharth Nambiar, Director – Category Management, Amazon India, said, “As part of our commitment to fulfil the needs of customers, we are launching Amazon Fresh in four more cities of Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Pune & Chennai to offer customers the convenience of ordering daily essentials on Amazon.in while staying safe at home. Customers can now order the freshest fruits and vegetables as well as everyday grocery and get them delivered within 4 hours. The …

Strategically located on Durgapur Highway, National Highway – 2, Safexpress has launched its ultra-modern Logistics Park in Kolkata. Kolkata is a hub for various industries in India, and several well-known brands have their manufacturing plants located here. Being one of the largest industrial hubs of West Bengal, Kolkata is a crucial location from supply chain & logistics perspective. Keeping this in mind, Safexpress has established its state-of-the-art Logistics Park at Kolkata. This facility will serve as a nodal point for supply chain and logistics in the region. This facility is based at a strategic location and has strong connectivity with all Indian states. The company has made a significant investment to set up this world-class Logistics infrastructure in Kolkata. The development of Safexpress Logistics Park in Kolkata has been done on a land area of over 2.75 lakh square feet. This Logistics Park is enabled with state-of-the-art transhipment and 3PL facilities. It will boost the industrial growth of this region. Supply chain & Logistics has a very crucial role to play in the development of numerous industries spread all over West Bengal. Safexpress Logistics Park at Kolkata will help greatly in minimising the infrastructure gaps and serve the supply chain & logistics requirements of the entire West Bengal region. The Logistics Park enables loading & unloading of over 100 vehicles simultaneously, which ensures smooth and uninterrupted movement of goods. Operations at the Logistics Park are highly streamlined, which ensures the country’s fastest transit-time from Kolkata to across India. The Logistics Park has state-of-the-art fire-fighting equipment and trained manpower to deal with any emergencies. This facility is a perfect mix of nature-friendly initiatives and technology. Safexpress has taken special environment-friendly initiatives …

Mahindra Logistics (MLL) has added more than 7.5 lakh sq. ft area to its existing ‘Built-To-Suit’ warehousing capacity in Hyderabad and Chennai. The facilities are developed to sustainable standards and allow MLL to provide flexible and scalable fulfillment and integrated distribution solutions. Phase 1 of these sites is focussing on integrated solutions for e-commerce, consumer and engineering industries. In addition to this, with the anticipation of strong demand during the forthcoming festive season, MLL has set up nearly 10 lakh sq. ft. of flex warehousing solutions for supporting customers in anticipation of the upcoming festive season. A considerable size of this space is also catering to large Pharma companies during the pandemic. MLL is already gearing itself with a massive last-mile delivery roadmap to cater to the highly anticipated COVID vaccine for its pharma clients across India. Rampraveen Swaminathan, Managing Director and CEO, Mahindra Logistics, says, “Continuing our efforts in growing the non-Mahindra business, MLL continues to expand its warehousing capacity and is focused on tapping the huge potential in warehousing spaces across all regions. With the launch of these large spaces, we look forward to continued business growth from existing as well as potential customers from all regions. We have also deepened our focus by launching new solutions like returns processing, pop-up sort centers and integrated distribution services for our clients.” Mahindra Logistics has been steadfast in its efforts to be more inclusive. The company has actively employed differently abled persons and employees from the LGBTQ+ community, at its warehouses across the country. Similarly, MLL is bridging the gender diversity gap by hiring more women from various backgrounds and experience.

Witnessing a surge in deliveries across sectors, Raag Technologies & Services (RTS) has reported a 32% Year-on-Year (Y-o-Y) growth in revenue in Q2 FY 2020-21. With its complete suite of services and solutions, the company has empowered large-scale manufacturers and distributors, enabling them to resolve the logistics challenges in the new normal. Commenting on the growth, Narasimhan Raghavan, Director, RTS, states, “We have seen remarkable growth in Q2 and continue to witness a strong growth largely driven by the rebound in the Automotive, Industrial, FMCG, and Energy & Infrastructure sectors. While in Q1, we saw apparent hiccups in terms of infrastructural challenges, non-availability of the fleet, and so on, most of the issues vanished beginning May.” “The use of technology and our expertise over the years has proven to be a cornerstone of our success. This not only supported our organic growth but as a result, we also saw a significant increase in new customers in the first half of this financial year,” he adds. The company has taken extensive precautionary measures and has ensured the most stringent health protocols for the entire team to operate in the new normal. Consequently, RTS has successfully been able to support and manage business continuity for all its clients and has been able to deliver services to them in a seamless manner even during these challenging times. Over the last decade, RTS has successfully demonstrated service value and cost reduction to OEMs in Tier-1 and Tier-2 markets. It leverages home-built technology tools and best of breed external software to provide best-in-class logistic solutions to sectors such as Automotive, Industrial, FMCG, Energy & Infrastructure, etc. Early this year, Spoton Logistics, India’s engineering & technology-driven …