railcar 101 the basics of railcars: car types, components and rules maintenance and shipment...

Railcar 101 The Basics of Railcars: Car Types, Components and Rules

Maintenance and Shipment Management Importance to Assets

Charlene Martinez

May 21, 2008 DTE Rail Services, Inc Maintenance Management Seminar

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Auditing

Maintenance

Tracking

Administration

ProblemResolution

Today’s Fleet Manager

Has many tasks

to juggle…


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Technology

For help, many railroads, private car owners, shippers and receivers are turning to technology.

Technology can facilitate utilization in Fleet Management.

Today, there are many choices of Fleet Management tools.


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Railcar Asset Management

Two main areas of asset management are: Shipment Management

Managing Railcar Shipments Maintenance Management

Managing Railcar Repairs


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Shipment Management

Why should I track my fleet? You know when your loaded cars will get to destination You know when empties will arrive for re-loading You know what cars are in exception status You know what cars are experiencing delays Measure how many turns your cars are making You can be pro-active in problem resolution


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Shipment Management

What technologies can I use to track my fleet? Use the railroad’s websites Use industry supported tools, such as Steelroads Utilize third party logistics companies to track your trains and

cars for you on their tracking systems and you handle the problem resolution

Outsource the entire process to a third party logistics company to handle not only tracking, but problem resolution and measurement


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Shipment Management

Advantages of using the Railroad’s Website

No cost to you Most up-to-date reporting of

cars current location as reported by the railroad the car is moving on

Ability to show remaining schedule for movements on their line

Disadvantages of using the Railroad’s Website

Only reports moves on their line

Does not retain history Does not show a complete

picture of shipment movements

No ability to create management reports


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Railroad Website Examples

ShipCSX BNSF


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Shipment ManagementAdvantages of using Steelroads

Low cost

Disadvantages of using Steelroads

You have to run the process to get the car location information

Does not retain your fleet information

Does not keep historical CLM data for car movements


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Steelroads - Track & Trace


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Shipment Management

Advantages of 3rd Party Tracking Systems 24/7 CLM information Complete CLM information for

entire trip Retain history of CLM’s Have all your cars in one place Some 3rd Party system have

the ability to track Unit Trains Ability to group cars

Disadvantages of 3rd Party tracking Systems Can be expensive Many choices with different

levels of data integrity Can be labor intensive Training required


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Shipment Management

Advantages of 3rd Party Tracking Systems & Problem Resolution

Use the expertise of Transportation/Logistics specialist

Use their relationships with the railroads to get problems solved

Leaves you the time to focus on your core business

Disadvantages of 3rd Party Tracking Systems & Problem Resolution

Decrease knowledge of your plant operations

Loss of autonomy


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Shipment Management

How can I manage my fleet? Develop an exception reporting process to identify when trains

are delayed and new ETA’s Actively push or expedite your delayed cars with the railroad’s

customer service reps Maintain log of problem resolution communications Update plants and customers of ETA’s Be “proactive”, don’t let problems linger Create cycle time and average transit reports


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Cycle Times and Average Transit Components of Cycle Time:

Loading Time Load time in transit Unloading Time Empty time to return for unloading


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Average Cycle Time - Overall by Fleet

All Origin – Destinations

10.27

13.1

15.7

11.58

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

January February March April

Days

EntireFleet

Cycle Time Measurement


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Average Cycle Time – By Segment Origin (Big Coal Mine) to Destination (Utility)

11.1

16.61

21.33

13.09

0

5

10

15

20

25

January February March April

EmptyPlantLoadedMineTotal

Cycle Time Measurement


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Tracking and Cycle Time

What good is all this tracking? Service reviews with railroads Identify performance problem area Provide solid historical transit estimates for planning Document service guarantee failure or success For private car owners/lessees = more accurate fleet size

requirements


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Maintenance Management

Why do I need a maintenance management system? Audit Repair Bills Receive repair bills from data exchange Highlight exceptions on the repair bills Submit Counter Bill Authority through data exchange View your EHMS windows Retain car repairs in history


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How can I maintain my assets? Use alerts and windows to shop cars for repairs under

Predictive Maintenance Dispute charges for second repair resulting from an Unclosed

EHMS Window Dispute charges for Exceptions on Car Repair Bills Run analytical reports on railcars, contract shops and railroads


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Mechanized Auditing Benefits: Consistency to ensure that all subscribers comply with AAR

pricing procedures as dictated by the AAR/Railinc Pricing Program and Price Master File

Data Exchange minimizes the need to manually enter BRC’s prior to internal audit

Potential revenue recovery increase from improper billing charges

Facilitates paperless Re-billing Extends the auditing capability to more types of audits with

greater accuracy Allows automatic separation of data required by industry for

analytical purposes to identify repairs where owner’s permission is needed


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Maintenance History Benefits Support decision to repair or scrap cars Support decisions to shop car(s) Provide a research databank to support technical and cost

benefit studies Increase the flexibility of retrieving data for special studies


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Maintenance Management System Considerations for designing a MM System

Use of Railinc Data Exchange Procedures Method for identifying exceptions Retention of all repair detail Method to include machine generated exception letters Integration with other asset management systems


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Conclusion

Railcar fleets are expensive Through Proactive planning and management

Costs can be planned for and budgeted Cars can experience higher utilization Emphasis on railcar ownership is changing Private companies will have to own or lease cars There are new rules in the industry, such as ATSI Effectively managed, the private car owner can get the most

value from their investment in railcars

railcar 101 the basics of railcars: car types, components and rules maintenance and shipment...

Documents

maintenance management

management reports

shipment management

shipment management

dte rail services

railcar asset management

rules maintenance

main areas of asset