Navata family has been into the business of logistics for over 3 generations now. Our grandfather Sri Parvataneni Subhas Chandra Bose started his career as a mechanic. It was with immense struggle and continued support from his brothers Sri Sukhadev and Sri Venkata Koteswara Rao that he managed to start his workshop in 1956, laying the foundation to a group that is currently an employer of over 10,000 employees. We have been so lucky that the entrepreneurship spirit has retained over all the decades. Our sister company, Navata Road Transport is the market leader in secondary transportation in the south and west covering over 40,000 locations with over 200,000 loyal customers. Similarly, our other group companies including PSC Bose Automobile, PSB Industries – MRF retreading, Ravi Rays, PSC Bose Automotives, enable us to offer high quality, cost-effective logistics solutions to customers.
After a ten-year long stint in the U.S, leading growth and products teams across various organizations, my husband and I moved back to India last year to join the family business. Last one year has been very interesting to say the least!
After moving back, I joined Navata Road Transport as head of growth and innovation. Over the last year, myself, our group partners and our team have interacted with hundreds of customers to understand their current supply chains and their pain points. Being from Silicon Valley, my initial instinct was to start a tech company. But upon digging further, we realized that the Indian Supply Chain Solutions (SCS) industry is flooded with tech start-ups specializing in individual aspects of the entire gamut of Supply Chain Management (SCM) but the challenges faced by the manufacturers are deeper. Some challenges that we noticed that organizations both big and small face are:
Increased logistics cost due to SCM inefficiency
Nearly one-third of India’s logistic cost (~4% of GDP) is due to inefficiency such as lower road & rail speeds, higher inventory levels and theft & damages. Global comparison shows that India’s logistics spend at 12-13% of GDP is higher than developed countries (~9%) and also higher than the global average 11.6%. Companies need to focus on reducing inefficiencies through warehouse consolidation, shifting towards PTL from FTL for improved transit times and reduction in number of warehouses, network optimization and better inventory planning. But a lot of companies are just getting started in this optimization journey and are looking for trusted partners to offer customized solutions.
Vendor management
A logistics head in a company is typically working with 15-20 vendors to manage their supply chain. Companies work with multiple vendors for multiple activities across multiple locations. Managing the price efficiently while keeping track of each of the consignments throughout the customer’s supply chain is a huge challenge.
Lack of technology infrastructure
Although the industry is now talking about using IoT, blockchain and drones, in reality – most of the companies in India are just getting started on their digitization journey. Except for some top players in the country, over 80% of the warehouses that we visited do not yet have the scanning technology implemented. Also, the API integrations of the various vendors into a company’s ERP for seamless flow of data is pretty rare. These make tracking a consignment a manual, error prone and tedious job. For a company considering digitization, the decisions on the right technology, the right vendor for the best ROI and execution of the plan is a multi-year journey.
Data opportunity not used effectively
Majority of companies are currently sitting on years of SCM data. Data is mostly being used for basic analysis rather than to improve operational efficiency. The deeper insights through AI/ ML that could help optimization of SCM operations and costs are yet to be minted by most organizations.
People recruitment
The logistics industry traditionally has been relatively less attractive to talent. The industry being heavily dependent on man-power poses challenges for the companies to hire the right talent to bring about the needed change. Women in logistics are even lower and women in leadership positions in logistics is almost a myth!
After detailed understanding of the industry and the customers, we feel we can make an impact by being a true Partner to Businesses by understanding their individual supply chain and by building custom SCM solutions to suit their needs.
We are very excited to announce the launch of the newest member to the Navata group:
Navata supply chain solutions
Our eco-system of thousands of vetted experts combined with our 60 years of industry experience gives us the grass root level understanding combined with agility to deliver the service that our customers deserve. We are a tech and data savvy company. We use the right technology to make customer experience seamless, for example smart tracking of consignments throughout their lifecycle, routing and scheduling tech, etc. The industry has seen an uprising of 3PL companies and most of these completely follow an asset light model. We feel that having asset-heavy sister concerns to anchor on while NSCS itself being an asset-light company gives us an edge in serving customers customizable solutions.
SCS Vision
Our vision is to provide a complete high-quality supply chain solution in tune with changing needs of the clientele through innovation, state of art infrastructure and reliable service.
Follow and support us as we embark on this journey. Regards,
Hima Parvataneni, Navata Supply Chain Solutions
