ENTERPRISE: The LML experience

Kanpur-based two-wheeler maker LML is one of the biggest enterprise-wide

smart card users in India. The company has provided smart cards to its

employees, vendors, distributors and service stations. Globally, Benz (Europe)

and Nissan (Japan) have implemented similar projects.

While over 2,000 executive employees at LML’s Kanpur plant use smart cards

to log in their attendance, a more dramatic application has been the

introduction of smart cards for the 100-odd just-in-time (JIT) vendors who

deliver more than a dozen truck-full consignments per head per day. A similar

smart card-based system has been used for vehicle dispatches. The company is

also using smart cards for maintaining service station data.

Smart card terminals have been provided at the various gates of the factory

and office, where the time-in and time-out is logged and then transmitted to a

central server for instant integration with the personnel MIS and payroll

systems. At certain locations, the smart card also acts as a means for

authentication and secured access control. Employees also use this smart card at

the canteen, simplifying the canteen accounting and linking it to the various

cost centers for improved accounting. Shortly, the same smart card will be

linked to in-house cash-dispenser facilities for employees to draw wages and

allowances.

LML has provided JIT vendors with compatible software, which enables them to

encode the details of consignments onto smart cards that is sent along with the

delivery trucks. By inserting the smart cards at the entry gates, the vendors

can ensure that the consignments are correctly identified, directed to the

correct unloading bay and the material receipt documentation is instantly

prepared. This has resulted in substantial space saving by minimizing the

turn-around time of the incoming vehicles. Thus, a truck that used to spend

about 60-80 minutes waiting for entry and documentation now does so in less than

15 minutes. The smart card goes back with the empty vehicle as proof of receipt

and thus of payment processing.

LML’s decision to use a smart card-based system for vehicle dispatches has

been triggered by the typical nature of its consignment containing hundreds of

two-wheelers of different models and colors. Also, it is necessary to send the

individual details of each vehicle consisting of engine and chassis numbers.

This system is used for dispatches to the company’s own depots, as well as to

dealers’ locations.

The company is also evaluating the possibility of providing smart cards along

with each vehicle as a service and



warranty card.