From growth prospects to innovative solutions, skill development of drivers and technological advancement in the trucking industry.

Rajaram Krishnamurthy, Vice President, Marketing & Sales, Customer Service, Daimler India Commercial Vehicles, shares his views on preparedness to face the challenges in the post Covid scenario.

– Rajaram Krishnamurthy, Vice President, Marketing & Sales, Customer Service, Daimler India Commercial Vehicles

How do you assess the growth prospects of the mining sector as a whole, and how the demand-supply scenario of mining trucks look like?

The mining industry is a potential trigger to generate demand for heavy commercial vehicles. According to recent news reports, coal gasification and methane gas exploration will receive much needed government incentives to grow. Based on this, tippers and special applications, such as deep mining trucks, will naturally see more demand. DICV believes India will recover sooner and better from the crisis than many other economies and the economy will start seeing growth by 2021 from the low level of 2020.

During this pandemic what are the innovative solution you have launched to service your customers?

One example of an innovative solution for customers is BharatBenz’s very popular ‘Proserv’, a digital platform for providing customer service. The Proserv application, enabled with 65+ features such as advanced booking, parts ordering, renewal of contracts, extended warranty, insurance, fleet maintenance, 24×7 RSA and integration with all types of online payment options, brings all customers’ needs at their fingertips.

With lockdowns and social distancing norms making it difficult to visit dealerships in person, this digital platform has helped our customers keep their fleets and their businesses running.

How IoT, telematics and other such technologies is reshaping the trucking industry, especially fleet management and service and maintenance areas?  Also tell us the solutions offered in this space?

Telematics is one technology that will certainly reshape the trucking industry. BharatBenz’s ‘Truckonnect’ is an excellent example of this. Based on Daimler’s global platform that already connects over 300,000 trucks worldwide, Truckonnect lets customers remotely monitor all key performance indicators including utilization, fuel & Adblue consumption, fleet health and driver behaviour. Users can access all this information 24/7 through an online analytics dashboard.

Truckonnect is provided as standard in all BharatBenz trucks and allows customers to remotely check and analyse vital vehicle information in real time via the Truckonnect online portal, including vehicle location and health, plus fuel consumption. With this, fleet managers can optimize driver performance, increase fuel efficiency, and reduce downtime. Vehicle owners are also supported by a customer assistance centre available during all hours of the day.

Could you brief us on the unique features of your range of trucks offered for mining sector for optimizing production and uptime?

Our new generation of BharatBenz CVs offers ‘ProfitTechnology+’, a package of technologies and features ensuring industry-leading fuel efficiency, safety, comfort and reliability.

For example, customers will gain better fuel efficiency from the gearshift advisory, PR air compressor, new turbocharger and, of course, the proven engine platform. For safety and comfort we have many feature like a crash tested cabin, reverse parking assist, and air suspended seats to name a few. BharatBenz customers enjoy longer service intervals (60k) kms resulting in fewer dealership visits. The engine oil drain increases to 120 kms.

When it comes to connectivity, we offer peace of mind to customers with fuel monitoring, track and trace, real time alerts and better truck utilization thanks to our Truckonnect platform. Needless to say, this is backed by one of the best warranty packages in the industry with a six year warranty on power train and a three year warranty on vehicle, apart from offering attractive extended warranty programs.

Also tell us the initiatives taken to up the skill and comfort of the drivers?

We have a strong association with Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited. We launched a co-branded loyalty card ‘BharatBenz DIESELAABH’ for fleet owners. Under this programme we have many offerings, such as: Insurance cover of upto INR 3 Lakh is offered to driver & helper, Joint driver training program at leading HPCL pumps, Drivers and helpers also can avail facilities such as secured vehicle parking, access to rest room, bathing, medical facility, Dhabas and washing facility and others at all leading HPCL petrol bunks.

During the lockdown, Drivers who are on the road away from home can dial the 24*7, toll-free number (1800-120-380380) and request basic support. BharatBenz collects information on the driver’s requirements, which include secured parking, water, fuel, bathing and shelter. This information is then passed on to the nearest HPCL team, who contacts the driver and offers the required support. 

How do you foresee the growth prospects and how geared up your company to meet the challenges in the post covid era?

We are seeing very good acceptance of our BSVI products in the market and a good pipeline of demand in 2020. We are already strongly positioned in construction and mining segment due to the robustness of our products, and in E-commerce where our products offer the best turnaround time and on-time delivery.

As BharatBenz has a strong portfolio of construction vehicles, we hope to benefit out of the government fiscal package. The demand for commercial vehicles is directly dependent on the economy. Higher activity in construction, real estate, infrastructure, mining and other sectors that generate payload will boost demand for CVs. However, with fiscal measures announced to reboot the economy by encouraging construction activities, especially affordable housing and de-regulating the mining sector and opening it for private participation can revive demand for the tippers segment. Certain trucks used for e-commerce applications could also witness quicker revival in demand.

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