Apparel Online India Magazine March 1st Issue 2019 | Page 39

INDIA’S PREMIER SOURCING SHOW
transportation service and warehousing service
streamlining the entire supply chain.
Vikas Anand, MD, DHL Supply Chain, India explains the
logic behind giving importance to logistics and warehousing
in India, “In 2012, we prepared a roadmap to strengthen
our presence in India in order to serve the clients better
and improve efficiencies as well as take the logistics sector
in the country to a new level. DHL has built multi-client
warehouses in Mumbai of about 4 lakh sq. ft., 3 lakh sq.
ft. in Gurgaon, 2 lakh sq. ft. in Pune and about 1.4 lakh
sq. ft. in Bengaluru.” These warehouses are large in sizes
and have high rooflines where goods are stored vertically
in specially created racks. All the leading players in the
industry are going for such warehouses due to the fact that
big garment quantities are being imported to India.
APL Logistics is another prominent company which
manages the international transportation, customs
clearance, warehouse management and delivery to
factory, warehouse or store. Apparel retail is one of its
major focus and whether it is a full service department
store, upscale specialty store, brand name bargain
operation or self-service discount store, APL Logistics’
team of retail experts can help the retailers find better
ways to do business through their ‘Vendor Managed
Inventory’ tool. “Our services include retail displays,
customised packaging, delivery optimisation and returns’
management as the market needs to balance materials
availability against cost of inventory and we are providing
that,” says Lalit Nigania, Operations Manager,
APL Logistics.
As the logistics industry has evolved, the trend has
changed towards providing customised services and
started being outsourced to specialised players in the
industry, thus the concept of third-party logistics (3PL)
and fourth-party logistics (4PL) emerged where these
companies provide outsourced logistics services to
companies for part, or sometimes all of their supply chain
management functions. These service providers specialise
in integrated operation, warehousing and transportation
services that can be scaled and customised as per the
market conditions and the demands and delivery service
requirements for their products and materials.
Mahindra Logistics Ltd., one of the leading 3PL companies
in India, functions as a modern factory where best
practice has been implemented. There is a specific path
to walk. Battery-operated material handling equipment
vehicles, supplied by Godrej, move around on the rest
of the floor at no more than 5 km an hour. People who
move these machines, scan the boxes and load or unload
from trucks, have to ensure they wear a bump cap,
earplugs, gloves, steel toe shoes and long sleeve shirts
that must be tucked into full length pants. The company
has increased its warehousing capacity by 30 per cent to
13 million sq. ft. in 2017-18.
WHERE DOES INDIA STAND IN TERMS
OF LOGISTICS?
For quite some time, there has been a gradual transition
in the mindset of the people who are in business to use
the services offered by the organised segments. There
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