Mr Dinakar Boddapati has been with the company since March 2015 and has been in the leadership position. He has proven leadership and strong industry knowledge, wherein he has been a successful Business Head with 31 year track record of aggressively growing sales and improving profitability in heavy duty truck and capital equipment business operations in India. An effective leader with strengths in team building, strong customer orientation, strategic planning and interpersonal and communication skills and recognized as a highly competent Leader for enhancing P&L scenario and developing new markets.
Q: Volvo and JMB go back decades in their partnership...
Ans: Volvo Trucks is proud of its long- term partnership with J M Baxi Group - Boxco Logistics, which has given us the opportunity to bring out the best performance of our world-class, heavy haulage trucks and be part of the success stories of critical cargo movement in developing India’s core sector. We have been able to efficaciously create and sustain set of loyal customers, and Boxco logistics is one of them.
Q: What are your future plans of Volvo in India?
Ans: We are continually looking for ways to stay ahead and provide added value to our customers.
Volvo Trucks has a comprehensive range of offering, which satisfies the highest demands for reliability, ruggedness and long service life, and opens up a new dimension in transport efficiency. We continue to invest in product development and are on a constant lookout for new ways in which we can meet our customer’s demands. For example, in 2015 we introduced for the very first time in India, a concept of ‘Road Trains’ which are currently deployed at a port in Andra Pradesh. The bottom-line for any new product introduction has always been improving upon our value proposition.
We strongly believe in the Indian growth story and are confident about the long-term prospects of the market beyond the current circumstances.
Q: What has been your growth story?
Ans: In 1998 Volvo Trucks embarked on a journey in the Indian CV industry with the Volvo’s first 6x4 truck, the ‘FH12 340’ built at Hosakote, Bangalore. The truck set a new benchmark as it was the first high-performance truck from a leading European CV manufacturer. Subsequently, over the years, Volvo trucks continued to bring in many value-added services and products such as driver training, 24x7 support services, customized service agreements, site support, Fuelwatch etc.… that set new benchmarks in the CV industry and continued to drive progress. Again in 2010 Volvo Trucks launched the FH520 Powertronic Truck (then the most powerful and technologically advanced truck on the Indian road) in the over-dimensional cargo (ODC) segment. In 2011 FMX 440 8x4 mining tipper (Volvo’s global truck) was introduced in EXCON at Bangalore in November. This truck specially targeted Construction and Mining applications and was adjudged the CV Technology demonstrator of the year 2012. Further, 2012 The innovative concept from Volvo the FM 480 10x4 Dump Truck with sturdy 5-axles has been a ‘Game Changer’ in the mining industry. Two years later, in 2014 Volvo introduced the most technologically advanced range of products in October, thereby pushing the limits on what premium trucks can offer, setting a new benchmark for transportation.
We realized early on that our products deliver the best performance under challenging operating conditions and deliver much higher value to customers over its life cycle compared to other products in the market. However, back then the concept of TCO (total cost of ownership) & LCC (Life Cycle Costing) was seldom used and understood by the industry. It was a challenge initially to make customers realize the long-term benefits of deploying a Volvo solution, but slowly we made progress and our customers believed in us and supported us in achieving the success we talk about today. Our philosophy of providing “premium care for premium trucks” through our own service network differentiates our brand.
Q: Any new product offerings for JMB in order?
Ans: We believe in understanding the need of the customer and offering right solutions for the demanding needs. At Volvo, we have pioneered this process and have offered various solutions that were the first of its kind in the industry and thereby attaining the first mover advantage and tapping the demand.
Q: How do you ensure safety? How does Accident Research Team (ART) function?
Ans: Since 1969 Volvo’s Accident Research Team (ART) has investigated thousands of traffic accidents. ART’s close collaboration with Volvo Trucks’ product development has had a big impact in developing technical solutions to increase safety and promulgate Volvo’s safety philosophy through the global spread of Volvo Trucks’.
Our traffic environment is becoming more sophisticated and connected, and today many accidents occur in cities where the number of vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists are constantly increasing. There is a limit to what we as a vehicle manufacturer can do on our own. It then becomes increasingly important to have comprehensive collaboration between different players.
90 percent of traffic accidents are attributed to human error, and often the source of errors can be something small that is often overlooked. A brief distraction or slight discomfort –can be enough to cause a serious accident. From the driver’s seat, there are a number of things in your control that can have a big impact on the way you drive and your level of safety. Anything that distracts or interferes with the driver’s concentration is a potential safety hazard.
Safety is in our DNA and that clearly emerges in the design expression of both the exterior and interior of our cabs.
Q: How do you use technology for your customers' benefit?
Ans: We are committed to customer’s profitability over the life cycle of our products; hence we always endeavor to create value for our customers.
With Volvo Telematics solution – “Dynafleet Online” which is introduced with new platform trucks, enabled for “Fuel & environment” and “Positioning” services, customers can have more control on their fleet performance and together with Volvo Trucks Driver Training can work towards improving their overall fuel consumption and operational efficiency.
Q: Any initiative to be more environment friendly? & Now that BS3 has been scrapped, what are your plans with BS4?
Ans: Environmental care has been one of our core values since the 1970s. As we see it, no single innovation or energy source is going to solve everything. As per MoRTH guidelines, we have transitioned all our products to meet BSIV emission norms. There exists only a 3-year window before BS-VI norms kick in. So our long-term strategy in India is not driven by BS-IV alone.
Volvo Trucks participates actively in the development of alternative fuels. We are focusing primarily on alternatives that meet the toughest standards in terms of both high energy efficiency and low environmental impact.
The possibility to use alternative fuels, however, depends on a lot of local parameters such as government subsidies, but also on the fuel quality and operating conditions. For India, we are currently evaluating the different options and will come with what we think is the right proposal. Since the 70’s we have decreased the emission of pollutants from our trucks by 90% and fuel consumption by 40%.
Q: How do you plan to bring India to the global level?
Ans: We offer technologically advanced trucks which offer the best in class uptime, productivity, fuel efficiency with minimal total operational costs and thus enhance customer’s profitability.
Being the first European manufacturer to enter the market, we have been a leader in the true sense and continue to Drive Progress for the industry by bringing in technology to India much ahead of time, thereby forcing the competition to follow.
Q: Any innovations in driver trainings?
Ans: Driver productivity is the key element in transport operations. Therefore, even before we rolled out our first truck in India, we had set up the first of its kind driver training center in Bangalore. Since then Volvo driver training center has trained over 55,000 CV drivers. Our CTC offers both onsite training for Volvo tipper customers and training in Bangalore for Volvo tractors and buses.
With our technologically advanced range of products, we also have special training for the I-Shift vehicles and a Fuel Efficiency Package which includes training the drivers on adopting driving methods that improve fuel economy and create awareness among the drivers on the importance of saving fuel. Through our soon to be introduced telematics system gateway, Dynafleet Online we would be able to offer focused driver advisory programmes on improving fleet uptime, efficiency, and driver productivity.
