Nakisa provides a view into CN Track Economics
The CN’s linage dates back to 1836. Today it is the only railway in North America to connect three coasts – the Pacific, the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico. The company operates a 24-hour a day, 365 day a year operation transporting a mix of goods for its customers including petroleum and chemicals, grain and fertilizers, coal, metals and minerals, forest, inter-modal and automotive products.
One of the most critical parts of CN’s asset base is its’ approximately 19,200 route miles of railway tracks. These essentially represent the company’s production line and keeping rail traffic flowing smoothly on this network is mission-critical to the company.
CN’s Engineering Group is tasked with monitoring all engineering activities on the company’s tracks and is responsible for ensuring the reliability and speed of the railroad’s network. Track maintenance is a complex and costly activity due to the geographical spread of the network. A properly thought out track Maintenance Program is essential in company planning as it feeds down to CN’s bottom line.
“It can cost anywhere from $10,000 to $100,000 a day to keep a team working on a maintenance project,” said Gary Monaghan, Manager Engineering Network Operations at CN. “It is critical that we make the best use of their time to maximize productivity – while also ensuring the safety and velocity of our tracks.”
Maintenance activities involve work crews, or ‘Gangs’, that perform essential tasks including installing, repairing or replacing tracks, track ties and broken rails. Benefits from a well-planned maintenance program include exceeding industry safety standards and lowering train resistance, which means faster times of freight across the network and less wear and tear on equipment. When track maintenance is not optimized, velocity can be undermined.
“With a well-maintained track network, trains can get over the line faster, so we don't need as many locomotives and cars to haul the same tonnage,” says Mr. Monaghan. “Fuel tanks don't run as low. There's less wear and tear on equipment. Customer service improves because shipments can move faster.”
Getting a view into CN’s Track Economics
The trick for CN was to fully understand the economics of their network and to translate that data into a track maintenance program that would optimize performance and minimize costs for the railroad. CN needed to get a view into the status of their tracks and into the work being performed by Gangs across different projects on the network. With this information, CN would not only be in a position to properly plan their work but also be able to make real-time decisions and adjustments to maintenance programs allowing them to minimize costs and maximize railway activity.
With such a complex system, CN knew that technology would be critical to managing the problem. The company outlined requirements for a web-based solution that could be used on-demand by Foremen in the field for data entry and by Management for reporting and data analysis. Nakisa was able to deliver on these requirements through implementation of a CN Reporting and Measures Internet (RAMNET) system.
Improving the Bottom Line with Nakisa
Today RAMNET is one of CN’s business critical systems running 24/7 to provide the essential reporting data needed to ensure Management can budget and plan for maintenance and move the company toward a preventative rather than a reactive maintenance environment.
The integrated system allows for capturing of specific activities performed on CN track assets. Foremen report daily Gang productivity information from the field through RAMNET’s self-service, web-based interface. In cases when they are in remote locations, Foremen can use the phone to upload data, which is then downloaded by RAMNET into its database.
RAMNET automatically generates specific reports on a daily basis that allow CN to monitor track maintenance, measure Gang production time and gauge inventory levels:
- RAMNET data is utilized to calculate key performance indicators and to generate the CEO’s dashboard view into the performance of his enterprise,
- Executives and Gang Supervisors receive daily email reports from RAMNET in MS-Excel that track Gang performance and track maintenance,
- All authorized users can quickly access daily, 10-day and year-to-date web-based reports online.
Benefiting from Data Visibility
With this new visibility it is much easier for CN to identify problem areas and make faster, more informed capital planning decisions. It allows them to receive real-time information so they can react better and do their jobs more efficiently to make their train flows smoother and more reliable.
“CN has seen cost savings as well as improved rail performance since implementation of the solution by Nakisa,” says Mr. Monaghan from CN. “Data is more accurate, is accessible immediately, and provides a basis for more cost-efficient planning of track repairs and HR assets.”
Gang Foremen and Supervisors are also benefiting because the time they spend on administrative functions of their work is minimized through the speed with which they can report in daily productivity metrics and their ability to leverage this data to maximize field performance. With RAMNET’s web-based interface they can login to see if they are meeting their goals and stacking up to other Gangs working on the network. If their crew is coming up short they can take immediate action to drive better performance from their teams.
From CN’s Executive perspective, an up-to-date view into their Maintenance Program is proving to be a competitive advantage. By making Gangs more productive and tracking global maintenance plans, the business is seeing productivity gains and labor cost savings. Management also benefits from having accurate data about its maintenance efforts to comply with standard railway safety regulations, and in the unfortunate case of a derailment, to be able to report back on specific track maintenance.
RAMNET has helped CN reach efficiency gains. Data on track repairs is up-to-date and accurate. People across the company, from Foremen, Executives and the Engineering Group have a real-time view into the status of the network and all maintenance-taking place on company tracks. This is enabling CN to make informed and proactive maintenance investment decisions.
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