From the MD &

CEO’s Desk

New Feather in

the Cap

Addition to

Product Portfolio

eTrans

Participation

In Their Words…

Happenings

Tech Talk

eTrans Solutions

Private Limited

FD-404, Sector-III, Salt Lake City, Kolkata-700106

www.etranssolutions.net

Issue 1

January-2015

2

Dear Colleagues & Partners,

It gives me immense pleasure to present the inaugural issue of eTranscript. As I always believe, first one is never too difficult - continuing is hard task, but we are committed to continue one in every quarter. We invite all of you to give views, suggestions and contributions. The journey which started in 2000, has had lots of pot-holes, road blocks, diversions, but overall has been very very exciting. It has been our privilege to emerge as the torch bearer of this industry - bringing forth combination of useful and high technology tools to the road transport industry, in the quest for improved operational efficiency and

FROM THE MD & CEO'S DESK

operational efficiency and complete transparency. No wonder, we have steadily built up an enviable list of blue chip clients that reads like Who's Who of India Inc. and an excellent team of dedicated professionals I am extremely proud of. Our endeavor in the domain offered us the unique opportunity of working closely with clients – both corporates and transporters – and afforded us penetrating insights into the aspirations and shortcomings of the sector. This has helped us constantly improve our service offering through ongoing dialogues and workshops with various facets of client companies. As I always say, this industry is one of the youngest in the world. At its wildest best, it is 20 years old, and as a pragmatic best, it is 14 years old. We are, in fact, along with all of you writing the rule book of this game. I take this opportunity to reaffirm our commitments to focus our customer service through to our last drop of blood and adherence of value and ethics by our entire team. I am a firm believer of the adage that “learning is a never ending process”. I look forward to feedback from customer and colleagues so that we can raise the bar and continue to strive to exceed our valued customer expectation. I take this opportunity to thank all the customers with the spirit that whatever we have achieved is all because of you and wherever we failed is all because of us, and we will definitely correct and improve. Warm regards

Shoummo K Acharya

Shoummo K Acharya

Founder, MD & CEO

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NEW FEATHER IN THE CAP

Himadri Chemicals & Industries Limited, already our card customer, has started tracking their own vehicles with

eTrans GPS.

Our first GPS customer Ideal Movers have commissioned 200 eTrans GPS units for their Mumbai Region.

We have started tracking of all the

dumpers of NKCPL at West Bokaro Plant

of Tata Steel Ltd. Each vehicle is installed

with eTrans GPS and also a rear view

camera to ensure safety while in reverse

mode. We have also started a 24/7

Centralized Data Center to identify pain

points and provide solution.

Seen here Mr. Subhash Choudhry,

DGM-Operations, NKCPL-GHATO with

our BDM, Mr. Sunny Kumar

We have added CESC Limited, one of the

oldest power manufacturing and distribution

company in the country, as our client. 139

service vehicles of CESC have been fitted with

eTrans GPS with a clear objective of

improving efficiency in operation and

creating transparency.

Seen here Mr. Tushar Das, Manager-

Distributions (Mains), CESC Limited with our

BDM, Mr. Sovan Bose.

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ADDITION TO PRODUCT PORTFOLIO

Safety being the prime focus of the logistics industry, we have introduced a dual recording camera, which can record video of driver cabin as well as the road outside and display the same simultaneously in the same frame. Both driver behaviour and road condition can be viewed with the help of this camera.

A rear-view camera has been introduced to

ensure safety while reversing the vehicle,

particularly inside works, where there is

congestion. The camera comes with a

protective cover which shields it from dust.

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eTrans PARTICIPATION

MD & CEO Mr. Shoummo K Acharya,

and Mr. Ashish Gupta, Chief - CSD &

Logistics, Tata Steel Ltd. were the

guest speakers at the International

Business and Trade Symposium

2014, organised by IIFT at Kolkata on

22nd November 2014.

eTrans took part in the Truckers Utsav at Jasmdhedpur on 21st January 2015. It was a Good Health awareness program for truck drivers and helpers. The programme was graced by Dr. K P Dubey, Chief OPD, TMH and Mr. Avinash

Mehta, Head CSD, Tata Steel Ltd. Pankaj Grover, our DGM-Sales, explained the initiatives taken by eTrans for driver welfare.

6

IN THEIR WORDS….

You have changed the version of the software, mobile application has been developed, now we are doing GIS mapping. We have not yet

been able to take the juice out of this technology, so far. We need to find the usage of this technology in areas where we have not yet used

it.”

Significant moves: “One significant thing that happened was when eTrans started to provide information & not data only. As long as the

customers see the value of what we are providing is more than what they are spending, they will be happy to pay the cost for the services.

If our customers were more demanding, that would have driven much more innovation. This will be a constant struggle and Tata Steel

will keep on supporting eTrans in this struggle.

The other significant thing that happened with eTrans was when we thought of using GPS internally to improve the safety of our operations

and also to increase the productivity of the internal resources that we deploy. Those experiments have been extremely successful and have

helped us to control our internal traffic and today eTrans has become an integral part of Tata Steel and we cannot think of moving

without that support from eTrans.”

Partnering with eTrans: “Whatever has been created here, has been co-owned by Tata Steel & eTrans. Sometimes we have given an

idea, eTrans has implemented, sometimes they have come with some idea & we have pushed. For example we are talking of tracking of

locomotive, optimization of railway operation, tracking of wagons, improving turn around times. So these are advanced usage of the

information that we have. And knowing eTrans very well, they would do it but we need to scale up the back end activity to provide solution

to the customers. That is what I would assume is the future task for Mr. Acharya. He has to build a solid analytical back end to support the

customer requirement.”

Rating eTrans: If I am to rate eTrans on a scale of 5, that is something I would like to avoid at this time. This process of making customers

see value is a long drawn & slow process. The day all my customers are convinced to see value, that will be the final destination. Till that

time we are in a journey, we have not yet reached the destination. Still I would give a 5 on intent, a 5 on passion, a 5 on the entire

team, everybody is sold on to the vision of the organization. That is also visible at the excitement that I see on people's eyes & their body

language when they have a new idea. There is a Eureka moment. The credit goes to Mr. Acharya. He has been able to hold on to the team

of youngsters, some of whom were absolute rookies when they joined. And I have seen lots of youngsters in your Company grow as good

professionals, good human beings.

Opportunities for improvement: “Back end has to be made solid, engagement with the transporters have to be increased. Tata Steel

as the principal who is promoting this idea will be more than willing to provide the support that is required in this journey. A lot of ideas

that we are working on will take some time, some of it are futuristic, and some of it are ahead of its time – like the freight exchange. So

whatever idea eTrans has, it is not necessary that it benefits only Tata Steel, as long as the entire transportation industry can benefit from

something, is good for us. All support is there for eTrans and all the people who work there.”

Ashish Gupta Chief – CSD & Logistics

Tata Steel Ltd.

“eTrans is an integral part of Tata Steel”

Mr. Ashish Gupta, Chief CSD & Logistics, Tata Steel Ltd Jamshedpur, has been a prime

motivator to eTrans since 2010. In his own words, “My first impression of eTrans, when I

started to work with them – a Company with lots of futuristic ideas, with a passion not

to make money, but to change the way things were happening in the industry so far. I found

the team to be always motivated, agile & responsible.”

When eTrans decided to release its own newsletter, who could have featured in the 1st issue

than Mr. Ashish Gupta. Excerpts from the talkathon, “When I had taken over, this GPS thing

was already happening. It was more of a continuation of what was already there. New thing

that happened was the in-plant tracking system. Another significant thing was the engagement

of eTrans in the Safety department for our internal bus services. I also happened to introduce

Mr. Acharya to Prakash Singh who was at that time Chief of RMM. That is the only credit that

I can take for all that has happened in RMM. Rest is all their credit. And that could not have

happened without the conviction of your team. It is an important milestone.

7

We realized Mr. Acharya did not intend to be a dictator and eTrans was driven towards giving high quality service.”

Suggestion: Mr. Himatsingka appreciated the new product, Centralized Data Center (CDC) created for serving all customers

from a central location. In his own words, “You should have a common pool of resource, at your premises to create MIS for

different customers. May be companies like us who have about 1000 vehicles with GPS can afford to engage 10-12 people to

monitor the movement, but small transporters with 5/10 vehicles, they find it difficult to track and monitor each & every

vehicle.”

Benefits derived from eTrans: “We are the largest user of GPS in India today. We have started assessing the efficiency

of our drivers from your data and incentive scheme has also been started from this. My son Raghav, who has just joined, is

looking after this. We are being able to find how each driver is doing, how each branch is doing, how many km a vehicle has

run in a day, how many hours it has clocked and how many hours it has stopped. Incentives are given to vehicles with GPS

only and this has resulted in stoppage of tampering.”

Tirthraj Himatsingka Director

Ideal Movers Pvt. Ltd.

“eTrans is good”

Ideal Movers Pvt Ltd, a giant in transportation sector, has been the 1st customer

of eTrans GPS tracking and has remained with the Company since 2006. Mr.

Tirthraj Himatsingka, Director of Ideal Movers, shared his experience with

eTrans in an extremely candid interview.

We bring you a short excerpt:

On being the 1st customer to take GPS: “It was a compulsion initially. Tata Steel,

our client had made it mandatory to have GPS in all dedicated vehicles and GPS has

to be from eTrans. We started with Nagpur, Jamshedpur & Chennai. Thereafter, we

took eTrans GPS in Pune & Bahadurgarh for vehicles not attached to Tata Steel. We

initially thought your business model of forcing transporters through clients, to be

distorted. A client can force me to buy GPS for certain vehicles, not for entire fleet.

Bu

Manoj Kr. Sahu Driver

“I have found new friends in eTrans”

Drivers are the actual users of eTrans tracking device, be it smart card or GPS device. Here we have Manoj Kumar Sahu, resident of Shripurduhar village of Samastipur, Bihar. Right from childhood, Manoj wanted to become a truck driver. He left studies after class V, joined a garage as helper in Ranchi. He eventually learned driving & now drives truck in Bengal, Bihar & Assam region for JSPL Patratu. He is generally attached to Jain Transport Corporation. He visits his village once a month and takes load 3-4 times a month. Manoj has understood the benefits of tracking and hence swipes at all the swipe stations listed in his enroute list. Percentage of swiping is 100. He believes, it is his duty to make his employer aware of his location. This helps in dispatch plan of the main customer and also information to family can be passed on in case of any accident. Manoj has made new friends in the Site Assistants of eTrans. He often discusses his personal issues with these guys and trusts that this discussion will not be made public. Being away from home for long periods, he needed this friendly comfort.

8

HAPPENINGS

Achanak Program to promote Swiping of Cards

Haryana Auto Service GT Road, Hansi Swipe Station

Truck No. HR39B6350

Jai Shree Balaji Petro Dham

Muklan Hissar Swipe Station Truck No. RJ19GB0001

Junior staff of Jamshedpur being given Training on Bonding

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Transporters’ workshop at Nagpur being held to explain the benefits of

Tracking

Annual Picnic of Head Office Staff

All the employees of HO gather with family for a well-deserved day of fun and frolick. 11th January, we all let our hair down at Srishti Garden – Budge Budge.

10

TECH TALK

GREEN REVOLUTION - SWACHH SOCH!!!

HI Friends!! We talk about Nature and conserving Environment….. We are thinking…, trying hard to build a Better Tomorrow. A GREEN PLANET, WOW!! But are we really going for it?? Where we are and what are we doing to achieve the DREAM!! The transforming climatic conditions and global warming impact are widely acknowledged & discussed by various Industries. The associated stakeholders are showing their utmost concern about environmental and social impact of their operations. The Supply Chain Industry across the globe is facing challenges, rising from resource-constraints, to energy, to fuel prices; causing irredeemable damage. Some of the developed countries already set ambitious target to reduce notable carbon emissions within the succeeding few years. Correspondingly they implemented forced regulations for industries to reduce the environmental impact. However, in the developing countries say India have so far avoided mandatory restrictions on carbon emissions fearing it may choke their economic growth. Considering the fact that the carbon emission is anticipated to grow three fold within the next two decade, and accordingly would not be surprising if the government policies to reduce carbon emission would become more firm.

In India, Supply Chain Value Players need to be more proactive & form trend setters fighting for challenges to shield the environmental resources, and frame strategies to deal with ease. Numerous operational activities responsible for carbon emissions may not always be protected within the periphery of the organization, and therefore started to construct green revolution without understanding the complete supply chain model will not be beneficial in long run. Initiators need to think global impact to collect and integrate network resources and build critical synergic capabilities across the value chain to successfully encounter the environmental challenges. Acknowledged by many minds, the opportunities to maximize the impact of green practices mostly lie at the initiating of the product life cycle. Advance planning of green practices; the cumulative life cycle cost of the product would diminish with the dip in the whole supply chain cost. A Product Life Cycle includes from design to disposal stage should be taken into consideration while thinking and implementing the green strategy for any organization. However, it is a stupendous task without constructing collaboration and sharing goals with value chain players in both upstream and downstream of the product flow.

As discussed, collaboration with numerous stakeholders in the supply chain model is essential to establish green practices at the beginning of the chain. The initiator in the chain can play the most important role in the collaboration process, but association of all needs to be in line to find innovative & productive ways to reduce carbon impressions, environmental impact and waste flow. Green processes such as eco-design and reverse logistics involve cooperation both from Producers and Consumers. Deep-rooted collaboration helps to overcome challenges in emission data sharing, but also provides innovative ideas to create win-win situation for all involved partners. Rather designing various policies to achieve environmental goals, suppliers, manufacturers & logistic service providers of the product can collectively work on joint policies to reduce entire environmental impact, increase in bottom line benefits for all involved. Developing the low carbon or green supply chain can add to revenue generation by cutting harmful emissions, making processes more efficient and decreasing large consumption bills.

Supply chain managers should have the capability to identify the potential areas of collaboration where they can align, share or collaborate some of their resources for their services to achieve environmental goals. This collaborative understanding could be on the basis to improve environmental performance of the chain to gain competitive edge in the long term policies. Green practices should not only be confined to the internal environmental management control system but should be extended to deliverables at multiple tiers to incorporate potential green interventions at the requisite stage in the value chain. A joint strategy could be developed to reduce the harmful emissions in the supply chain by re-engineering, re-manufacturing, re-furbishing and re-using of resources. Strategy to incorporate the ‘green’ component in Supply Chain can also act as a catalyst for improving the competitive advantage of the company by building its effective green qualities, developing a better public image and reputation among stakeholders. Green sourcing is not just about finding new feasible technologies or sourcing from green suppliers, it can also help in reducing waste throughout the whole supply chain by lowering the usage of resources and benefiting from the recyclable materials allowing them to meet the cost reduction goals, and improving the financial results.

After managing numerous economic, social and political challenges on de-carbonize the economy whilst reduce in the on-

going impacts of double dip recession, would be easier said than done. At last, one should understand kick off the green

strategy at the supply chain level could be the right step forward and will help the World welcoming the next generation with

a GREEN SMILE.

SANJIT BASU Operations Head - Jamshedpur

11

DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGY

Welcome to the future wave of computing. For organizations where data is important the paradigm of computing is changing

from what we have known it for last seventy years. Big Data is the new age of commercial supercomputing which will make

it possible for a car to auto-drive in city roads, to monitor an event as it happens, anticipate next tsunami, optimize food

distribution supply chain, predict the volatility of political uprising while they are happening. The speed of the approaching

wave is unprecedented, even for an industry that has been committed, like any decent youth movement, to innovation, self-

destruction and reinvention.

The data ecosystem is evolving and expanding with an exponential scale. Today 2.7 Zetabytes of data exist in the digital

universe. Facebook stores, accesses and analyzes 30+ Petabytes of user generated data. More than 5 billion people are calling,

texting, tweeting and browsing on mobile phones worldwide. Decoding the human genome originally took 10 years to process;

now it can be achieved in one week. Google was processing 20 petabytes of data in a day in 2008. If the average MP3 encoding

for mobile is around 1MB per minute, and the average song lasts about four minutes, then a petabyte of songs would last over

2,000 years playing continuously.

Although big data makes it possible to process huge data sets, it is parallelism that makes it happen. If you want to pass an

elephant through the eye of an needle, then we will have to chop the beast and pass it fast and then reassemble the output. If

we have to do this at a fraction of eye blink then we can pass the inputs through 100s of needle eyes and reassemble the

output. This exactly is the parallelism driving the supercomputing of the big data. Disruptive and opportunistic, big data is

thrusting computing science away from classic Jhon Von Newnam style of computing by brute force of faster multi-core

processors and will change the course of history.

In the old world, data was mission critical, extremely valuable, and should never be lost, corrupted, or compromised. For the

first time, enterprise can afford to crunch on an absurd amount of data for analysis, discovery and insight. Data lives on a

spectrum of perishability that spans from seconds to decades. Data can be so transient that if analysis does not complete

within an hour, the shelf life of the insight expires. Only innovation extends the spectrum of perishability of data, technology

and the business it supports.

Seeing is believing. Human brains never examine every piece of information but have well developed strategies like

associative memory, habituated learning and a retina that can reduce the data by order of magnitude. Brain only looks at

things that might be interesting. The future of computing lies in reducing voluminous data into meaningful datasets. Our

retinas are like tiny clusters of parallel processors. Future of computing will be a hybrid of classic techniques combined with

more crafty ways of processing information that are similar to the way our brain works by visually integrating information so

quickly that the work flow becomes unconscious. The future of computing, analyzing will certainly start with a name change.

JOYDIP SHOME CTO