WMATA - Optimizing Inventory at Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority

As we maintain over 8,000 rail vehicles around the world, we have developed many tools to help us do this work better every day. One of the solutions that we began using in 2006 was a software called the Xtivity Inventory Optimizer (xIO). The xIO essentially measures material consumption (demand) and vendor delivery performance (supply) and adjusts ordering values so that we have the right part at the right time. Without the xIO, we would need to manually adjust the Order Point and Order Quantity of more than 100,000 part numbers on a regular basis. We have deployed the xIO at a number of our sites around the world and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority (WMATA) was the first transit agency outside of Bombardier to use the xIO.

In the first year of using the xIO, WMATA reduced their inventory investment by more than $5M, while their demand for material from their various maintenance departments increased by more than 24%. In short, they improved material availability while significantly reducing the amount of cash invested in their inventory to support this effort.

NJ Transit - Transforming Learning & Development

While we all claim that "our people are our most important asset", NJ Transit is leading a resurgence of improving the knowledge and skills of their rail maintenance team. Faced with an aging workforce, skills shortages, and complex rail equipment, we developed a turn-key eLearning solution for NJ Transit that is centered on improving the reliability of their most critical electric locomotives.

NJ Transit modified an existing training room into a dedicated eLearning Training Center with their Executive Director officially dedicating the facility in the fall of 2009. The program was embraced by all staff, managers and the leadership of the Unions at NJ Transit.

While there have been many successes with this program, it has created an environment where people want to learn, want to contribute and want to grow their transportation careers at NJ Transit.

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NJ Transit - Fortifying the Supply Chain

While we all see the value of the supply chain and materials management in an organization, many transit leaders do not see the impact that the supply chain can have on equipment reliability, costs, and vehicle up-time.

As part of our reliability mandate at NJ Transit, we were tasked with identifying strategies and concrete actions that could be undertaken to improve material availability and throughput. One example of this work is the Parts Identification Guide which we developed to improve the starting point in any supply chain - getting the correct part number that a technician requires from Stores.

The Parts Identification Guide documents the 100 most used items in the maintenance department and includes photos, revision levels, and critical information for maintenance and storeroom personnel. The end result? Lower costs, improved quality, and equipment back in operation quicker.

GCRTA - Raising the Bar at the Cleveland RTA

Cleveland is home to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and some of the best transit managers in the country. Every day the people at the RTA look for ways to do more with less and have developed some of the most innovative transit solutions in our industry. It is one of the reasons that the RTA was selected as America's Best Transit System by APTA in 2007. While the RTA is an award winning organization, even the best can get better. It is why the RTA continuously seeks to "raise the bar" in everything that they do.

We were invited to help the RTA develop a strategic road map for their rail maintenance organization. While our team is not your typical group of "consultants", we are very good at spotting opportunities to improve equipment reliability, up-time, and using "Lean" concepts to maximize throughput of a maintenance organization. We deployed a team of seven experts to Cleveland for thirteen days and nights covering all facets of rail on all three shifts. The work ended with a six hour Q+A session with the RTA's senior management team and became the foundation for a strategy of continuous improvement.

NJ Transit - Improving Equipment Reliability

In the 21st century, maintaining rail equipment has become more complex than ever before. The days of learning the craft "on the job" are a thing of the past. Working in concert with NJ Transit's Rail Equipment group, our team supports NJT's maintenance program with a host of technical service solutions. These solutions range from implementing 5S and creating "work cells", to deploying Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM), Root Cause Analysis (RCA) and Lean maintenance concepts.