25 Glorious years The 'Blue Dart' Story

News Clip :Logistics and Supply Chain World, Magazine, All India

June, 2009.

Logistics as an industry in India, is on the threshold of unprecedented growth, led by a convergence of globalisation, digitisation and timebased competition. The industry contributes between 11.8% - 13% of GDP, which is higher than more developed economies.

Blue Dart, in its 26th year, is strategically positioned as the undisputed leader in this domain to participate in India's growth story and deliver in order to support its business and trade.

Blue Dart envisioned itself as a 'warehouse in the sky' creating a niche segment in supply chains that demand critical deliveries, low inventories and reliable and timely distribution. A strategic product mix, optimum utilization of aircraft space and committed people delivering at high reliability levels to over 21,340 locations across on expansive Indian geography, backed by 26 years of commitment, building trust and relationships, value offerings, and delivering peace of mind. Blue Dart is now strategically positioned as the market leader in the air express segment.

Achieving such stunning success wasn't easy. Blue Dart has always made a conscious effort to create a bond with its customers. Perhaps, because of this, the brand has today become synonymous with value, quality, speed, efficiency, reliability, responsiveness, and service excellence.

Infrastructure, Reach & People

Over the years, Blue Dart has made huge investments in building an infrastructure that is unmatched in the entire South Asia region. The figures make impressive reading: Over 21,340 locations, 55 domestic warehouses, a fleet of four B757 and three B737 freighter aircraft offering a revenue payload of 300 tonnes per night, a flotilla of over 5500 vehicles, more than 350 business associates, 350 Blue Dart-DHL combined retail counters, over 1 million square feet of warehousing space and 7083 committed and trained employees driven by a singular passion of delivering service excellence and value.

Technology

Since 1988, Blue Dart has hugely invested in technology to keep abreast of the latest market trends and have continuously upgraded its technology. Today, its in-house development team matches the best in the world.

Blue Dart's technology innovations have played a key role in its premium positioning and in bringing global standards to the Indian customers doorstep. Blue Dart's in-house IT team has constantly developed technology solutions over the past twenty-one years. Such has been the ramification of these offerings that more than 79% of Blue Dart's regular customers use them actively. Home grown innovations like the COSMAT II, TrackDartTM, MailDart'M, InternetDartTM, PackTrackTM, ShopTrackTM, ImageDartTM are tools that ernable easy tracking and thoughtful information management.

Products

Blue Dart offers air and ground express, air freight and charter services and through its synergies with the three DHL Business Units- DHL Express, DHL Global Forwarding and DHL Supply Chain, it offers it's customers the best-in-class ocean freight, supply chain solutions, freight forwarding, customs clearance and project handling services.

The Express services offer Domestic Priority for non-commercial domestic documents and small packages under 32 kilos. Dart Apex is a door-to-door, time definite, supply chain and logistics distribution service for commercial shipments that require regulatory clearance. These products also come with an add-on premium service for critical shipments, with full money back guarantee. Smart Box is the convenient door-to-door service for cargo in two sizes-10 kilos and 25 kilos.

Dart Surfaceline is a premium ground service that provides ground services to over 21,340 locations in India for shipments weighing 10kgs and above. This service is not only fast and efficient but is also safe and economical. Dart Surfaceline also has value added features attached along like 000 (Demand Draft on Delivery), FOD (Freight on Delivery) and FOV (Freight on Value).

Blue Dart, in line with its focus on innovation, has also introduced several customized products - Rakhi Express, Student Express, Import Express & University Express Baggage designed to meet specific needs. In association with DHL, the international products under Blue Dart's offering include Duties and Taxes Paid (0 TP), Economy Select, Shipper's Insurance Interest (511), Express Pallet, Worldwide Parcel Express (WPX), Worldwide Document Express (DOX) & University Express.

Recognition

Blue Dart's services have been recognized and rewarded time and again. Blue Dart was selected as a Business Superbrand from over 1,699 brands and received the Readers Digest's Most Trusted Brand Award, for three years in a row and has been listed twice in the Dun & Bradstreet top 500 companies in India. Blue Dart has been awarded the NDTV Business Leadership Award 2008 and the Asia Brand Congress Brand Leadership Award 2008. It has also been listed as one of the Forbes 'Best under Billion' companies.

Way Forward

Blue Dart strives to be a customer-centric organization. Every step it takes is an effort to strengthen this relationship. In this pursuit, Blue Dart has invested heavily in building an infrastructure that would provide unmatched value.

The company plans to invest nearly Rs. 1000 crores in air infrastructure, aircraft and creating state-of-the-heart facilities, transit hubs, with hi-tech material handling equipment. It also plans to add 58 new warehouses for an additional holding capacity of 1 million square feet.

Blue Dart plans to roll out 25 new initiatives in a phased manner during the year. The new initiatives will upgrade its product range and improve service quality thereby offering customers state-of-the-art air and ground express solutions across the country.

Some of these products are designed specifically for industries with time-definite requirements and there are others, which cater to vertical specific requirements, thus giving the much-required flexibility to the shipper and consignee.