The Unsung Heroes of Peak: Team Leaders at Delivery Centres

A Day at a Delivery Centre 

Suman Singh Chauhan is a Team Leader at one of Delhivery’s Noida DCs (Delivery Centres). The 28-year-old, who starts from his home in Delhi’s New Ashok Nagar on his bike at 5:00 a.m. every day to reach the office at 5:30 a.m., is an aspiring logistics professional. He has quickly learnt the tricks of the trade in the two years since he joined Delhivery.

“The festive peak has started and I feel I am performing better this year than I did last year. I have learned how to manage riders and handle peak season volumes without creating operational problems,” he says.

The biking enthusiast, who originally hails from Uttarakhand, knows how to reclaim his sanity once the 45-day peak season is over: pick up his Pulsar NS125 and travel solo to the mountains.

The Unsung Heroes of Last-Mile Operations

Delivery Centres are the backbone of last-mile operations. These are strategically located facilities where shipments arrive for last-mile sorting and dispatch, and where the final leg of the delivery process to the end consumer is managed. During the festive peak, delivery centres can experience two to three times their regular dispatch volumes. So, a centre that typically handles 1,000 dispatches a day, for instance, may need to manage 2,000 to 3,000 dispatches or more on peak days.

At the helm of all this are the Team Leaders, who, along with Assistant Team Leaders and Ground Coordinators, manage operations at these centres.

“For me, the priorities remain the same. Make sure shipments are dispatched on time, support riders and prevent pending shipments from accumulating. Doing these things consistently is what allows us to handle the increased workload during peak season," says Chauhan whose core team includes Assistant Team Leaders, Dheeraj Chaudhary and Alok Yadav, and Ground Coordinator, Nirmal Sharma.

One Assistant Team Leader manages the morning opening while another handles the second shift. The Ground Coordinator manages vehicle loading and unloading.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco"

Riders are important because they deliver shipments to consumers. But if you talk about the unsung hero, it is the Team Leader and his team who manage the riders and create supporting conditions for those deliveries to happen in time.

-Migha Shajan Olakkengil, Director, CB Central, Delhivery

Migha Shajan Olakkengil, Director, CB Central, Delhivery says, “Riders are important because they deliver shipments to consumers. But if you talk about the unsung hero, it is the Team Leader and his team who manage the riders and create supporting conditions for those deliveries to happen in time."

CB(Capacity Building) Central is a corporate department at Delhivery managing projects like vendor onboarding, rider capacity management and resource planning. 

“During the peak, it is not a regular shift for them. They are expected to stretch at any point of time. So they have to prepare their families for the same,” adds Olakkengil. Also, while riders can earn more with more deliveries, TLs generally work on fixed salaries. 

Recognising their efforts, Delhivery rewards its last-mile delivery workforce including TLs and ATLs under Delhivery Shaurya, a peak-season incentive and recognition programme for its last-mile delivery workforce. A leaderboard is published regularly to keep their morale high.

Team Leader, Suman Chauhan(Left) & Assistant Team Leader, Dheeraj Choudhary(Right)
—-
Priority Task for Team Leaders: Available Today, Dispatch Today

In a well-run Delivery Centre, the goal during a regular period is to clear most shipments on the day they arrive. The practice is called Available Today, Dispatch Today. Ideally, around 90 to 95% of shipments reaching the centre should be cleared that day itself. As a result, one of the key priorities for TLs and ATLs during the peak is to ensure that shipments do not remain at the centre longer than necessary before being sent out for delivery.

“We also need to ensure successful deliveries, because any shipment that remains pending at the centre adds to the next day's workload. And I do not know how much additional volume will arrive the following day," says Chauhan.

The Most Critical Part: Managing Riders

“For me, one of the biggest challenges during the festive season is ensuring that enough riders are available and that they continue working with us throughout the peak period.

Riders need to earn well, feel supported and should be able to manage their workload,” says Chauhan who currently manages around 32 to 33 riders. He aims to increase that number to around 40 to manage the 45-day peak period. 

Every rider is responsible for specific sectors within the Delivery Centre's catchment area.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco"

If they fall ill or have a family emergency during the peak season, the entire centre can be affected. In these situations, the remaining team has to absorb the additional burden. I need to see how the workload can be redistributed among riders without disrupting deliveries.

— Suman Chauhan, Team Leader, Delhivery

“If they fall ill or have a family emergency during the peak season, the entire centre can be affected. In these situations, the remaining team has to absorb the additional burden. I need to see how the workload can be redistributed among riders without disrupting deliveries,” says Chauhan.

Many riders have been working with Delhivery for a long time, so they already understand how the operation works and what is expected during the peak season. However, there are around four or five riders on whom Chauhan depends heavily because they have good delivery capacity and work quickly. 

One of the strongest of his comrades is Vikrant Singh. Chauhan goes all out to praise his work.  “Vikrant is a star. Whether he receives 100 shipments or 200 shipments in the morning, he completes his deliveries quickly. Even when he has more than 200 shipments, he tries to clear everything on the same day instead of leaving it for the next day,” he says.   

The way operations are managed at the DC impacts riders. For example, if one rider is responsible for a particular sector and already has a large number of shipments, it becomes difficult for that rider to take another batch during the second run. Workload needs to be planned carefully so that individual riders are not overwhelmed and the overall operation continues to move smoothly.

The Bottomline

For Chauhan, the festive season is also an opportunity to learn, perform better and take on greater responsibilities. And that is what makes the Team Leader the unsung hero of peak season: when the pressure rises, it is their ability to keep people and processes moving together that keeps the last mile on track.

———
For insights on festive readiness, also read: https://www.delhivery.com/blog/before-india-celebrates-they-prepare-the-automation-network
https://www.delhivery.com/blog/festive-readiness-absorbing-the-surge-without-losing-rhythm

Explore: Delhivery

About the author: Taslima Khan is Editorial Lead at Delhivery. A former journalist with 18 years of experience across The Economic Times, ETPrime and Business Today, she has extensively covered India's logistics and supply chain sectors.