Concor plans big push to 'Make in India' with tech, logistics infra

How about being able to track in real time exactly where a specific container is lying in any part of the country, all this while sitting in your corner office?

State-owned logistics major Container Corporation of India (Concor) is planning a complete rollout of such a technology-based service for 100% of the goods it handles by the end of March next year.

Concor is using hand-held devices called radio data terminals, which are claimed to be better than the conventional RFID (radio frequency identification devices) tags that have limited usage, said its chairman-cum-managing director Kalyana Rama.

"As of now we are offering such facilities in 18 locations and by March we would be able to offer radio data terminals at all locations using which we would be in a position to hand over any specific container that my customers want. These facilities are not easily available with RFID technology," Concor's CMD said.

At present, Concor has around 74 container terminals across the length and breadth of the country.

Nagpur's inland container depot was one of the first locations to have the hand-held radio data terminal as part of Concor's 'Know Your Container Location' initiative.

These hand-held devices help customers locate containers at terminals as each container is assigned a unique stack location number which is read by the devices and uploaded to a central server from where customers can know the exactly where their goods are lying and can plan accordingly, an official of Concor explained.

In contrast, RFID tags have limited use, as they can only show when a container is entering or exiting a terminal or a warehouse as it passes an RFID reader.

Post goods and services tax rollout, Container Corp is planning significant investments in logistics hubs as the sector is the biggest beneficiary in the new tax regime. Also, in a bid to realise government's 'Make In India' initiative, it plans to put up manufacturing and distribution zones across the country starting with a project in Andhra Pradesh.

"We have just signed a memorandum of understanding with state government of Andhra Pradesh for setting up of an integrated logistics and manufacturing zone (ILMZ) at Machilipatnam to be spread over 1,000 acre. Here a manufacturer needs to just set up shop and we would take care of complete logistics from raw materials to distribution of finished goods. Our plan is to set up four to six such ILMZs across the country," Kalyana Rama said on the sidelines of CII Logistics Colloquium.

"All the new logistics infrastructure including the manufacturing zones, distribution hubs and increase in the number of container terminals would give a real boost to Make-in-India push," he said.

STRATEGY IN POST-GST ERA

• Concor is using hand-held devices called radio data terminals, which are claimed to be better than the conventional RFID tags
   
• It also plans to set up four to six integrated logistics and manufacturing zones where a manufacturer needs to just set up shop and the company would take care of complete logistics