L&T IS INDIA’S BEST DIGITAL ENTERPRISE
RECOGNIZED FOR OUR ‘DIGITALIZATION AT SCALE’!
With over 1,100 nominations, the Economic Times CIO Awards for Enterprise IT Excellence 2024 were keenly contested, and L&T was recognized as ‘the Best Digital Enterprise’ pipping corporates like BOSCH and the Tatas at the finishing line. While officially the award recognized L&T’s commitment to digital transformation and success in leveraging technology to achieve business goals, Mahesh Chikodi, Chief Digital Officer – L&T, who received the award at a glittering ceremony held on 22nd February 2024 at Sahara Star, Mumbai, has a slightly different take.
“We were recognized more for our ability to implement digital solutions at scale,” he observes, “be it using a combination of RFID and QR codes at the Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir to track the journey of the various Bansi Paharpur stones, managing our huge 2.5 million workforce at site that sees almost 300,000 workers reaching various sites across geographies every day or coordinating with the team of 150+ Digital Officers across the organization to drive towards a common objective.”
Tracing the road to success
The evaluation criteria included Contextual Connect (Market, Competitiveness, Customers), Addressing Business Goals and Strategic Objectives, Structural Readiness to Support DX Drive, Leveraging Emerging Technologies, and the Breadth of Digital Transformation across Business Functions.
THE ROUTE TO THE AWARD
Selected among the top 3 from a total of 1,100 nominations, the team had to present to the Jury member panel that had Mr. N R Narayan Moorthy, Founder – Infosys, in the Grand Jury Chair supported by a 8-member Grand Jury that included luminaries from the technology space like Dr Kiran Karnik, former President – NASSCOM; Mr. G P Gurnani, former CEO & MD Tech Mahindra; Ms. Anna Roy, Senior Advisor – NITI Aayog; and Mr. Ashishkumar Chauhan, MD & CEO, National Stock Exchange of India, among others.
Mahesh presented the scale of L&T’s projects in the construction and manufacturing sectors, highlighting some marquee projects like SoU, Motera & Al Rayyan Stadiums, the world’s largest FCC (Fluid Catalytic Cracking) reactor in Hazira, and more. “I focused on our scale of annual procurement – 6 MT of cement, 3.5 MT of steel, 15 lakh KL of diesel, 30,000 tons of aluminium, 15,000 tons of copper,” he remarks. Apart from elaborating about the ultimate outcome of L&T’s solutions in each Digital vertical – IoT, material tracking, project management, data analytics, deployment of drones, Geo Spatial, workmen & EHS – Mahesh shared how L&T is adopting new technologies like GenAI for contract management and developing the ‘L&T ONE Super APP’ that will usher in a One Organization One Solution digital realm.
We were recognized more for our ability to implement digital solutions at scale, be it using a combination of RFID and QR codes at the Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir to track the journey of the various Bansi Paharpur stones, managing our huge 2.5 million workforce at site or coordinating with the team of 150+ Digital Officers across the organization to drive towards a common objective.
TRACKING THE JOURNEY OF EACH STONE FROM SOURCE TO INSTALLATION
A specific query from the Jury was about the digital technology used in the construction of the Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir to complete the project on time. Involving preparing & installing 25,000+ carved stones, the process starts with identifying the raw stones, specifically sourced from Rajasthan, cutting them to size, carving and finally dispatching the stones to site for installation. “Our Stone Tracking App digitally monitors the journey of each stone through the various stages using QR codes,” explains Mahesh. Pre-defined, auto-generated IDs & QR codes are attached to the stones, which are linked to a Trimble Connect platform for tagging, packing, dispatching, receipt, pre- & post installation inspections. The GUID (Globally Unique Identifier) and the updated status of the selected stones are updated automatically in the Trimble Connect platform via APIs for automated real-time updates through a Digital Twin.
“The key benefits of this App were real-time data dashboards, element history tracking, and insightful analytics for optimized production with streamlined workflows in addition to reducing manual work, paperless checklists, and more efficient inventory management,” explained Mahesh to a suitably impressed Jury.
Another digital solution that caught the imagination of the Jury was WISA (Workmen Induction Skills Application) for workmen onboarding, attendance, skill assessment and workmen database management, etc. that tracks approximately 5 lakh+ workmen pan-India.