The average speed for trucks is approximately 12km/h in India!

With India poised to be an automobile hub, there is a pertinent need to get the country’s infrastructure for automobile logistics in place. Carsten Goransch, vice president & head of logistics, Volkswagen India, in a tete-a-tete with Lionel Alva provides his insight on the key dynamics shaping the future of Volkswagen while also providing an elaborate prognosis on specific aspects of the country’s automobile logistics infrastructure. How dynamic are Volkswagen’s information collaboration systems? Are plants, suppliers and logistics able to react in close to ‘real time’ to variations in volume across the network, and thus avoid shipping too much or too little material? Volkswagen Group is using Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) solution to exchange the scheduled and the delivery related information with all suppliers. Likewise, Volkswagen India has also adopted different variants of EDI solutions (Web EDIs & Classic EDIs) which enables us to provide live information to our suppliers and avoid excess or under shipments.

Are you assessing methods or system improvements to avoid lost or missing equipment in a returnable packaging loop? We are currently using an online returnable container management system (LISON) to effectively track our returnable packaging material. We also have a yearly returnable packaging inventory at all the locations (including our partners) to physically verify the system data. Could you highlight Volkswagen’s export numbers and key markets? How do you perceive the export potential for Volkswagen manufactured cars from India? Volkswagen India exported approximately 65,000 cars from India in calendar year 2014. The key export market for Volkswagen India is Mexico amongst over 32 markets across three continents of Asia, Africa and North America. The export potential of Volkswagen manufactured cars from India is high and this can be seen through the high volumes of exports from India and the increasing demand from these markets.

Given India’s ambitious plans to become the Asian hub for small cars, does it need dedicated ports to handle auto exports? If yes, which locations would you prefer? Yes a dedicated port infrastructure and facility is needed to give a boost to the overall exports. All infrastructure must be developed, maintained and set-up as per the global standards.From our standpoint, we are satisfied with the port in Mumbai as it is very close to our production facility. How well-equipped do you think is India’s ro-ro infrastructure? What according to you are the infrastructure and legislative changes required? The average speed for trucks is approximately 12km/h in India! Main reasons for this are the poor road conditions, inter-state crossings, slow toll station operation, etc. There is a lot of scope for infrastructure improvement and legislature in these areas.

How do you think disruptive technologies like 3d printing would impact the automotive industry? What would be the logistical implications for Volkswagen's supply chain? New technologies have a big impact on the any supply chain. There could be significant improvement in the life cycle of parts, more flexibility in the packaging and part protection resulting in reduction of the logistical costs with a better quality. Are you assessing any system or technology upgrades for vehicle logistics? Right now we are focusing on constantly improving the efficiency of the existing operations. We may assess the possible upgrade at a later stage, may be at the time of GST implementation. What is your criterion when it comes to choosing a logistics partner or 3PL? Apart from good performance, reliability and costs, the scope of work has to be fulfilled by the bidder. Also, there should be flexibility to accept additional work and responsibility. LSP should be striving for cost saving and process improvement ideas.