Nestlé India

Nestlé India's FMCG supply chain operates 24/7 across India's varied terrain, coordinating high shipment volumes through a network of over 150 third-party logistics partners with inconsistent digital maturity. Driver shortages and fatigue from long-haul routes elevated collision rates, while complex urban no-entry restrictions made route planning time-sensitive and prone to error. Because safety compliance depended on enforcement across dozens of external partners rather than a single fleet, gaps were difficult to detect and address uniformly. Collision incidents carried direct costs in vehicle damage, cargo loss, and liability exposure—while also threatening brand reputation and supply chain continuity, making road safety a core business risk rather than a compliance formality.

Nestlé India deployed a multi-layered fleet safety and visibility stack built on IoT and edge AI technologies. AI-enabled dashcams were fitted across all dedicated vehicles, delivering real-time driver behavior monitoring and forward collision alerts processed at the edge for immediate intervention. These were paired with GPS tracking and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) to provide operations teams with continuous fleet visibility. Journey Risk Assessments (JRAs) mapped high-risk zones on critical lanes, enabling pre-emptive route adjustments before incidents occurred. On the human side, self-learning kiosks installed at distribution centres digitalized driver onboarding and refresher training, removing the bottleneck of instructor-led sessions across a dispersed partner network. Over 10,000 truck drivers were enrolled in a structured defensive driving programme, and safety KPIs were embedded in transport contracts with quarterly governance reviews across all 150+ logistics partners.

Within seven months of deployment, Nestlé India recorded measurable safety improvements across its entire fleet network:

• 36%+ reduction in total collision incidents
• ~26% reduction in serious collisions
• 85%+ of all shipments now tracked digitally end-to-end
• ~98% of drivers trained through self-learning kiosks
• 100% of dedicated vehicles equipped with AI dashcams

Beyond the headline figures, Varun Gupta noted observable improvements in lane discipline and hazard anticipation across the fleet. Driver attrition fell and on-time delivery rates improved—outcomes the company attributed directly to the combination of technology visibility and structured well-being support including medical and eye camps.

• Pairing edge AI dashcams with structured human training (defensive driving, JRAs) produces faster safety gains than technology deployment alone.
• Self-learning kiosks at distribution centres enable near-complete driver coverage at scale—Nestlé reached ~98% across a fragmented multi-partner network without centralised instructor capacity.
• Embedding safety KPIs in logistics contracts and running quarterly governance calls with 150+ partners shifts accountability from internal enforcement to shared ownership.
• Journey Risk Assessments convert historical incident patterns into pre-emptive routing decisions, reducing exposure before collisions happen rather than responding after.
• Driver well-being investments—medical checks, eye camps, financial literacy—reduce fatigue and attrition, generating supply chain reliability gains that compound over time.