Pratibha Kale

Have you ever wondered how cargo travels from port to port to get to the people who need it? Well, Pratibha Kale is one of the people who keeps cargo moving!

Pratibha Kale is a Customer Service Manager for shipping company APL Limited. She supervises eight Customer Service Representatives at APL’s Western District Office in Mumbai, India. Pratibha and her staff work with APL’s customers to help them calculate how much it will cost and how long it will take to ship cargo to other places. They also work with people and businesses in Mumbai who have received shipments from other countries: Pratibha and her staff made sure those customers come in to claim their cargo and fill out the paperwork that is required. And she and her staff help customers who want to track down cargo that might currently be almost anywhere in the world.

Pratibha has worked in the shipping business in India for 20 years. During that time, she has seen dramatic changes. When she began working in 1980, for instance, computers were not yet used in her office. Pratibha would use “carbon paper” and a typewriter to make eight to ten copies of the financial and customs documents each shipment of cargo needed. Then, because she had neither e-mail nor a fax machine, she would have to send that paperwork with a messenger to the place the shipment was going. Keeping track of paperwork and getting it where it needed to be was a real hassle!

In the mid-1980s, Pratibha worked on a team that successfully computerized the process of making payments for cargo APL shipped. But now, she has a new challenge. She and her staff need to find a better way to track dangerous and hazardous cargo — such as oil or chemicals — so that it can be handled safely. What should she do? Download the following case study and you can help her!