Monday, September 22, 2014

OPL @ August: Independence from stagnancy

It was Outperformers League galore this August.

The first OPL was conducted at the Hotel Park Ascent in Noida on 13th August, 2014. The seminar focused on Construction segment and was attended by 52 fleet owners and financiers operating in this segment. The session was flagged off by Mr. P. V. Satyanarayana, Zonal Business Head (North), Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. – Truck and Bus Division, who gave a detailed presentation on OPL explaining the various initiatives and customer benefits associated with OPL. The first speaker of the day was eminent Cement Industry Expert, Dr. S.C. Maiti – Former Joint Director – National Council for Cement and Building Materials, who provided an overview on different types of cement. He stressed on the importance of its quality in building an infrastructure. Eminent Construction Industry Expert, Mr. Satander Kumar – Scientist (Ex. CRRI) followed him. He recommended the practice required for plants, tools and equipments during construction. He kept the audience engaged by showcasing the different kinds of equipments used for construction. The last speaker was renowned Motivational speaker, Mr. Vijay Batra whose highly inspirational presentation on how to motivate transport employees and drivers helped the audience learn and understand the importance of self-belief and outperformance in every aspect of life.

The Noida OPL also saw the display of the powerful TRUXO 25 Cowl and TORRO 25 Tipper. Mr. R.K. Chadha, Managing Director – Greenland Automobiles Ltd., Noida (Authorized Dealer – Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. – Truck and Bus Division) concluded the seminar with a vote of thanks.




















The second OPL happened at The SRM Hotel in Chennai on 19th August, 2014. The seminar focused on Blue Metal segment and was attended by 144 fleet owners and financiers operating in this segment. Mr. S. Karthikeyan, Area Business Manager (Tamil Nadu), Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. – Truck and Bus Division opened the session who was followed by Mr. Raghavan R. - Partner – Anantara Solutions who provided an overview on current trends, challenges and upcoming opportunities available with the transporters in the blue metal segment. Motivational speaker, Mr. Kevin Samuel ended the session on a high on the topic of driver motivation. One of the customers, SMS Transport who had recently purchased 2 vehicles was felicitated and the keys of the vehicles purchased were handed over. The powerful TORRO 31, TORRO 25 and Load King Zoom Tipper were also on display for the customers to have a closer look. The program ended with Mr. Arun Bharath, Sales Head – Rajalakshmi Automobiles Pvt. Ltd. (Chennai), (Authorized Dealer – Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. – Truck and Bus Division) giving the vote of thanks.

























The 3rd and the last OPL happened on the 22nd of August, 2014 and took place at Fortune JP Park in Bangalore. The seminar focused on Construction segment and was attended by 115 fleet owners and financiers operating in this segment. Mr. P B Varadarajan, Area Business Manager (Karnataka), Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. – Truck and Bus Division opened and concluded the seminar.

Mr. Raj Kumar Gupta – General Manager (Tipper Sales), Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. – Truck and Bus Division gave an overview on the various tipper products available with Mahindra Truck and Bus Division. Eminent Construction Industry Expert, Mr. Satander Kumar - Scientist (Ex. CRRI) followed with his presentation providing an overview on concrete road construction. Motivational Speaker, Mr. Harish Vittal addressed the audience in Kannada motivating the audience to move from good to great. His speech echoed OPL’s philosophy – OK is no longer OK.  Sri Shridi Sai Stone Crushers who had recently purchased 5 vehicles were felicitated and given the keys of the vehicles purchased. The powerful TORRO 25 and TRUXO 25 were on display for the customers to have a closer look.





























These seminars provided an exclusive platform to the various fleet owners to closely interact with other customers, industry experts, officials from the Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. - Truck and Bus Division team. The speakers were experts, who motivated the audience and also educated them about growing opportunities of respective segments in this area. Following the seminar the customers were all praise for the both the OPLs. They were happy to know about the growing business opportunities in their respective areas. With positive customer feedback about the seminar both these installment of the OPL were grand successes.

It was raining OPL’s in July

Rains and July didn’t go hand in hand this year. So for us the next thing that brought about some relief was the 2 Outperformers League’s that we conducted in the month of July. The first one was conducted on the 18th of July in Jorhat in Assam followed by the one on the 25th of July in Ariyalur in Tamil Nadu. Both the OPLs were well attended and the content was engaging like all other OPLs.

The OPL in the northeast focussed on the Tanker segment and was attended by 71 fleet owners and financiers operating in this segment. The kaziranga gold resort formed the perfect environment for these participants. Mr. Saumyabrata Das, Zonal Business Head (East), Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. – Truck and Bus Division started the event with a detailed presentation on OPL explaining the various initiatives and customer benefits associated with OPL. He was followed by eminent Liquid and Chemical Transportation Expert, Mr. Santosh Deshpande, who provided an overview on tanker Lorries in India. He educated the audience on the importance of the right tank designs. He further threw light on the changing tanker designs leading to the growth of liquid transportation. This insightful session was followed by one that of Mr. L N Phukan – DGM – Northeast Operations, Indian Oil Corporation Limited. He threw light on the tanker segment logistics in northeast India. He explained different business opportunities and new oil transport routes in this region and its bordering countries. The final speaker was Tyre Industry Expert, Mr. Pradip C. Varaiya who educated the audience on the upkeep of tyres & its relation with operational efficiency. The event also saw the powerful TRUXO-25 cowl and TRUXO-25 tanker, the curtains to which was pulled down by Mr. Sunil Gogoi, Managing Director - Milestone Motors, Jorhat (Authorized Dealer – Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. – Truck and Bus Division).











The OPL in Tamil Nadu was as unique as the Jorhat one. The event was held in the Indian Medical Association Hall in Ariyalur. The seminar focused on Limestone segment and was attended by 80 fleet owners and financiers operating in this segment. Mr. S. Karthikeyan, Area Business Manager (Tamil Nadu), Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. – Truck and Bus Division started the event with a detailed presentation on OPL and was followed by Eminent Cement Industry Expert, Mr. V. Sujendran - Head Logistics - Ramco Cements, who spoke about an overview on current and upcoming opportunities available with the transporters in the limestone segment for various cement OEMs. Motivational speaker, Mr. Amit Mathur followed him with an inspirational presentation on how to motivate transport employees and drivers. The powerful TRUXO 31 and TORRO 25 were on display for the customers to have a closer look. Mr. Sathya Moorthy, Director - SJB Motors, Ariyalur, Trichy (Authorized Dealer – Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. – Truck and Bus Division) concluded the seminar with a vote of thanks.




















These seminars provided an exclusive platform to the various fleet owners to closely interact with other customers, industry experts, officials from the Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. - Truck and Bus Division team. The speakers were experts, who motivated the audience and also educated them about growing opportunities of respective segments in this area. Following the seminar the customers were all praise for both the OPLs. They were happy to know about the growing business opportunities in their respective areas. With positive customer feedback about the seminar both these installment of the OPL were grand successes.

Friday, September 12, 2014

With heads held high...

Chaya Jadhav was quite & numb. She just heard her name being called out. No, she wasn’t in her class fearing punishment nor was she playing in the lawns. Chaya was being called out to be given the Mahindra Saarthi Abhiyaan Scholarship of INR 10,000/-, for her to pursue her dream of studying further, something that she thought would never happen. Chaya walked gingerly onto the stage amidst a cheering crowd. There was one man’s cheer in that room which was the loudest. It was her father, Rakhamji Jadhav, a truck driver.  

Like Chaya, more than 26 such Truck Drivers’ Girl children were offered the Mahindra Saarthi Abhiyaan Scholarship to help them for their higher education. Little did any of these kids imagine that their father’s will & zest to educate them would lead to recognition of this nature. In today’s time we believe that women empowerment and girl child education is of primary importance not only for the safety & development of women, but for the cause of nation building at large. The drivers have challenges of their own and education of the girl child doesn’t seem to feature in the priority list. With this initiative we intend to applaud and appreciate their foresight in getting their daughters educated. As a pilot the scholarship was launched in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Rajasthan and Haryana.  The first felicitation ceremony was held recently at MTBD’s Head Office in Chinchwad.  

It was indeed heartening to see the daughters along with parents come onto the stage with great pride to receive the Scholarship Certificate and a Token of appreciation from the dignitaries - Mr. Nalin Mehta, Mr. R. C. Mangal and Mr. Riyaz Inamdar, Managing Director, KGN Motors, our Pune Dealer. Speaking at the felicitation ceremony, Mr. Nalin Mehta MD and CEO – Mahindra Truck and Bus, and Chairman of MAHINDRA SAARTHI ABHIYAAN Governing Board said, “True to its philosophy of driving a positive change within the transport ecosystem, through this pioneering effort we are striving to improve the life of drivers at a grass root level as they are one of the most important stakeholders in our business. There are more than 70,00,000 truck drivers in India today and I look forward to that day when every truck driver’s daughter is highly educated and self-sufficient. Mahindra Saarthi Abhiyaan, is a salute to these drivers who, despite all odds, have shown great mettle in educating their children, especially daughters. Through this initiative we salute these heroes who have ensured their daughters become the next engineers, IT professionals, Teachers etc. This is our way of thanking them, showing a sense of gratitude for this exemplary effort!”

MTB’s constant efforts for betterment of the transport ecosystem, with each program targeted sharply at improving specific beneficiary has been lauded by the industry. We are confident of ‘Mahindra Saarthi Abhiyaan’ will ensure that not only the drivers but their daughters too will travel that extra mile. And this initiative will certainly endear the brand MTB to various constituents of our ecosystem.
















Friday, September 5, 2014

Will the real ‘OUTPERFORMER’ please stand up?

Good is ordinary. In this competitive world, where consumer and business demands quality- excellence is the only word to live by. We at Mahindra’s Truck and Bus Division call this the “The Attitude to Outperform”.

Many initiatives both internal and external have been designed to give this philosophy a shape. Amongst such initiatives taken by Mahindra Truck and Bus Division, is the Mahindra Transport Excellence Awards.

The award recognises and rewards the various stakeholders in the trucking industry. It judges the participants in the ambit of Outperformance, Excellence, Innovation and Change Leadership. The event with its inclusive behaviour has set the standard that is driving the entire industry. Outperformance has moved beyond the walls of Mahindra’s Truck and Bus Division, it has become an industry slogan. 


With this announcement we call out for entries from various players. The call out are for individuals and organisations who believe that they have ‘Outperformed’ and went beyond the ordinary. The Award categories are as follows.

Category
Regional Winner Award
National Runner-up Award
National Winner Award
Fleet Owner (details below)
-
5
5
Youth Transport Personality of the Year 2014
-
5
5
Lady Transport Personality of the Year 2014
-
1
1
Fleet Driver
-
2
2
Super Outperformer Driver of the Year 2014
-
-
1
Commercial Vehicle Financier
-
1
1
Highway Dhaba
3
-
1
Commercial Vehicle Mechanic
3
-
1
Spares Retailer
3
-
2
Lifetime Achievement Award
-
-
1
Safety Award
-
-
2

The fleet owners can apply in the following sub-categories too.

Sr. No.
Sub-Category Name
Industry/Application Segments Addressed
1
Finished Metals
Steel, Iron, Copper, Coils, Rods, Pipes and other finished metal products.
2
Dry Bulk & Cement
Sand, Granite, Marble, Coal, Iron Ore, Stone, Stone Chips, Construction Material and other Mineral Ores. Cement – Bagged and Loose, Bulker, Ready-mix Concrete (RMC).
3
Automotive
Car Carriers, Two-wheeler Carriers, Truck and Bus Chassis Carriers, Tractors Carriers, Fully-built LCV Carriers and Three-wheeler Carriers.
4
EXIM Containers
Export and Import Ocean Container Carriers.
5
Open
All other segments/applications not defined above, such as Tankers, Reefers, Rigs, ODC, Market Load etc.

Please note that the winners of the Regional Awards, wherever applicable, will be the contenders for the National Awards. The Jury will be the sole deciding authority for selection of winners for all the Awards.

The jury is formed by some of the stalwarts of the industry and needless to say, their judgement will be fair. The applicants go through a stringent scrutiny process set out by the jury to qualify and eventually win the awards.


So if you believe you are an Outperformer or you know one, key up on the laptop, write the story down and send in the entries. Log on to http://www.mahindratransportawards.com/howtoapply.html for more details.