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When Dalmia Cement Bharat started missing dispatch windows, the impact went beyond plant gates. An aging Plant Logistics Management System struggled under peak loads, truck queues stretched for hours, and month-end cycles meant systems freezing right when customers needed cement the most. Delays in primary movement from plant to dealer weren’t just inefficiencies, they were a direct threat to market share and dealer trust.
Instead of patching the old stack, Dalmia chose a clean break. Partnering with EY, they deployed a cloud-native Transport Management System (TMS) that stitched together the entire dispatch lifecycle: truck registration, order allocation, vehicle tagging, tare weight capture, loading, goods issue, and invoicing on one integrated platform. GPS tracking, ePOD, optimizers and a bidding module gave the central team real-time control over a previously opaque network.
Technology alone wasn’t the answer. Dalmia backed the TMS rollout with hard operational changes, widening and paving internal roads to remove yard bottlenecks, restructuring Delivery Order creation to align with plant capacity, adding dedicated weighbridges for invoicing trucks, and using RFID-based time-and-motion studies to pinpoint where trucks were really losing time.
To de-risk capacity, they signed Master Service Agreements (MSAs) with key transporters. Dedicated fleets, freed from route restrictions, ensured availability even on return routes, cutting dependency on spot market sourcing and last-minute firefighting.
The results were material: Truck Turnaround Time dropped by ~25% (from ~8 hours to ~6), secondary depot dispatches reduced, delay-related logistics costs fell sharply, and customer experience improved through more reliable next-day deliveries. Dalmia’s story shows how marrying cloud TMS, physical infrastructure upgrades, and structured transporter partnerships can turn a lagging dispatch operation into a strategic asset.
