About the role
- Formulate and implement transportation business strategies aligned with organizational objectives, customer requirements and long-term growth plans.
- Own the overall Transportation P&L, including revenue, Gross Margin (GM), profitability, cost and operational performance.
- Drive revenue growth and margin improvement through route optimization, vehicle productivity, cost reduction, commercial interventions and new business opportunities.
- Identify and develop new transportation business opportunities, including new customers, routes, plants, lanes, locations and value-added transportation solutions.
- Develop strategies for customer retention, business expansion, additional vehicle deployment and penetration of new transportation requirements within existing accounts.
- Establish and achieve annual and monthly revenue, GM, cost and profitability targets for the transportation business through structured performance reviews.
- Monitor transportation performance through MIS, P&L, KPI dashboards, fleet utilization, vehicle productivity, TAT, OTIF, SLA and route profitability.
- Ensure achievement of budgeted revenue and margins through effective pricing, route costing, commercial negotiations and cost-control initiatives.
- Drive route-wise and vehicle-wise profitability improvement by optimizing vehicle utilization, trip productivity, fuel consumption, manpower cost and operational expenses.
- Ensure effective fleet planning and deployment based on customer demand, route requirements, vehicle availability and business volumes.
- Monitor and improve vehicle utilization, turnaround time, trip frequency, empty running, loading/unloading time and fleet productivity.
- Drive optimization of fixed and variable transportation costs, including fuel, driver cost, vehicle rental/EMI, toll, maintenance, vendor cost and other operational expenses.
- Ensure accurate and timely transportation billing and revenue realization, including trip billing, detention, fuel escalation, additional kilometers, waiting charges and other applicable commercial components.
- Review and negotiate transportation rates, route pricing, fuel escalation, vehicle cost revisions, manpower revisions, contract renewals and commercial proposals to protect business profitability.
- Lead customer relationships at senior management level and act as the key escalation point for transportation, operational, commercial and contractual matters.
- Conduct regular customer reviews covering service performance, fleet requirements, route performance, cost improvement, business expansion and future transportation opportunities.
- Monitor and ensure compliance with SLA, TAT, OTIF, vehicle placement, fleet availability, safety and customer-specific transportation KPIs.
- Drive continuous improvement in transportation operations through route optimization, technology adoption, automation, GPS tracking, digital trip management and data-driven decision making.
- Identify opportunities for consolidation, load optimization, backhaul, multi-drop planning and reduction of empty kilometers to improve transportation profitability.
- Build and maintain a strong business pipeline by identifying new lanes, customers, locations and transportation solutions.
- Ensure effective management of transportation vendors and fleet partners, including performance, cost, availability, compliance and service quality.
- Lead and manage the transportation workforce, including drivers, supervisors, transport coordinators and other operational teams, ensuring productivity, discipline and service delivery.
- Ensure effective manpower and driver planning, deployment and productivity optimization in line with transportation volumes.
- Develop Managers, Transport In-charges and frontline leaders through capability building, performance management and succession planning.
- Review individual and team performance against KRA/KPI, establish improvement plans and ensure accountability.
- Handle critical IR, driver-related issues, workforce disputes and operational escalations and ensure timely resolution.
- Ensure compliance with SOPs, transportation processes, statutory requirements, EHS, vehicle documentation, driver compliance and customer-specific requirements.
- Drive a strong culture of safety, customer centricity, operational excellence, cost consciousness and continuous improvement across the transportation business.
- Ensure implementation of HO policies, transportation initiatives, cost-saving programs, digital initiatives and strategic business projects.
- Promote initiatives for fuel efficiency, reduction in carbon emissions, EV adoption, sustainable transportation and responsible fleet management.
- Conduct periodic Transportation Business Reviews with senior management, presenting revenue, GM, fleet utilization, route profitability, customer performance, risks, opportunities and action plans.
- Identify and mitigate transportation risks, including vehicle availability, driver shortage, fuel price volatility, route disruptions, customer dependency, compliance and profitability risks.
- Drive new transportation solutions and innovative business models, including dedicated fleet, spot transportation, milk-run, shuttle, line-haul, FTL/LTL, first-mile/last-mile and value-added transportation services, as applicable.