Smart Number Plates
About Smart Number Plates
The Excise & Taxation Department, Punjab assists strategy development for greater resource mobilization for Punjab, and provides services for various tax and duty collections to be conducted efficiently and effectively. It’s purview of enforcing regulatory frameworks related to its scope, providing governance and ownership of critical activities like vehicle registration, and building vital public trust make it a critical department for the Government of the Punjab.
Challenge:
In Punjab, numbers plates were being issued using a manual, cumbersome process. Requests would be received from over 30 districts. The owner would then be issued a registration number, which they would use to get the plates themselves from the market.The introduction of the Motor Transport Management Information System 2006 Act necessitated a more automated process. Based on this, the Punjab Government tendered a request to fulfill the given requirements of the act.
Solution:
Inbox’s solution comprised of a future-proof IT-based manufacturing solution to produce smart number plates on a turnkey managed services basis. Three specific applications at the “proof” and “track” and “press” stages managed the supply chain process, leading to smart and secure operations. This approach created a significant reduction in errors like duplication and improved operational efficiency, as a result of the process and material tracking, as well as the ability to use data for iterative improvements across the supply chain. To effectively manage emergencies, the manufacturing facility also had several redundancies built-in.
The smart number plates were European-approved and complied with ISO 7591 quality standards, which ensured temperature and environment resistance
Impact:
When Inbox took charge, they were handed a backlog that went back to almost 2 years, along with new orders that were coming in daily. However, with their efficient methodologies, Inbox was able to clear the backlog, and initiated a process where requests were dealt with on a near real-time basis.
The registration cycle became significantly faster. Innovations such as barcoded number plates replaced the manual process. Continuous improvements within the facility prepared it to produce 20% more than expected capacity.
A critical aspect that was addressed was the adoption of ANPR (automatic number plate recognition and readable) number plates, which enabled a wide range of security capabilities, from proactive monitoring to root cause analysis of security incidents.
Throughout the project, the Government of Punjab received excellent service and supply, as per the service level agreements. The facility experienced no on-floor health and safety incidents, a final wastage of less than 1%, and no plates went missing. This was all due to the innovative, technology-based approach that Inbox implemented.