The editorial team met up with Mr. Hariprasad, Senior Manager Commercial and Logistics, Macktel, India to obtain inputs on logistics support for project execution. An extract from the interview is given below:

Q. What are the challenges faced by Commercial & Logistics team while providing support for project execution?

The mission for Macktel for the financial year 2009 – 10 is to build the tower infrastructure and complete other services like electrification, installation and commissioning for more than 1000 sites.

For accomplishing the above,  Macktel’s Commercial & Logistics team are faced  with the challenging task to  deliver goods to project teams in time on a continuous basis.

In today’s highly competitive market scenario, a Turnkey Service Provider (TSP) continuously needs to prove it’s capability. It is extremely important that we deliver the goods on time, ensure that we improve the business volumes, keep the margins intact and also remain competitive.

Q: What are the strategies being adopted to ensure that the above mentioned objectives are met?

To achieve the above mentioned objectives, some of the strategies which have been planned are given below:

1. Have a databank of  TSP rates to ensure that we quote the best price and increase our bidding success rate
2. Establish new customers by providing competitive pricing
3. Develop sub-contractors in all the regions for civil work to ensure that they meet the required timelines stipulated by the customer
4. On selected sites, procure materials directly for civil work and work with labor contractors to ensure that we meet the project deadlines
5. Procure electrical materials from the manufacturer / wholesale distributor to ensure that we get the best price
6. Get the mechanical items fabricated locally and delivered to site for installation by sub-contractors
7. Reduce the lead time on certain items by giving projections to suppliers in advance  to enable them to stock the materials and deliver as per our need on a real time basis
8. To be a total TSP , Macktel  has the vision to supply and install all items like Tower, Shelter, DG sets, Battery bank, Power supplies etc in the near future.
9. Transport agreements including loading & unloading has been made with logistics service providers to ensure that we deliver the materials to site at the required time.
10. An inventory tracking system has been planned in all the warehouses to ensure that we have optimum inventory on hand to meet the demand.