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ROLLING STOCK


ZF Services UK explains its quest to put reliability and lower whole-life costs at the top of the agenda for its rail customers.


wholly-owned subsidiary of ZF Frie- drichshafen AG and a part of the ZF Group, ZF Services UK Limited operates from facilities in Nottingham and Crick, providing technical, commercial and after- market support for ZF products in the UK and Ireland.


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The core business of ZF Services UK in the rail sector is overhaul, repair and preven- tive maintenance services for all train op- erating companies (TOCs) and OEMs using ZF rail drives in the UK. The company is also the global Centre of Competence for non-ZF rail drive systems, championing best practice and promoting awareness of known issues and engineering solutions for non-ZF drives among other ZF sales and service organisations worldwide. The Nottingham plant has specialist workshop and testing facilities, including warranty inspection areas employing root cause analysis methodology as a continuous im- provement tool. Of its 150 employees, 80 are technically qualifi ed to ZF’s stringent OE manufacturing level, and many to the ZF Master Technician standard.


Fast turnaround on overhauls


Recognition as the global Centre of Compe- tence for non-ZF rail drive systems intro- duces the potential for TOCs and OEMs op- erating such drives to achieve time and cost savings. Where the original manufacturer does not provide UK aftersales support, these rail drives are usually returned to re- pair centres elsewhere in Europe. This can keep them out of service for two months or


104 | rail technology magazine Jun/Jul 11


longer, whereas ZF Services UK can have them back into service within weeks. As a result, a number of train operators have already engaged Nottingham to undertake overhaul work on other manufacturers’ rail drives, gaining considerable cost and turn- around benefi ts without compromising on the quality of work.


Quality workmanship


There is a signifi cant cost to the rail in- dustry for vehicles being out of service, including loss of revenue and fi nancial penalties from rail regulators. Reliability is paramount, so it’s reassuring to note that warranty costs on Nottingham-overhauled ZF rail drives in 2010 were zero, confi rm- ing not only the inherent reliability of ZF drives but also that of ZF Services UK’s overhaul work. A non-ZF rail drive is treat- ed with the same meticulous attention as a ZF drive and rebuilt to the specifi c manu- facturer’s tolerances using OE quality parts throughout.


Lower whole life costs


While local support delivers immediate benefi ts, ZF Services UK is also committed to reducing whole life costs in the longer term for operators. With strong links into the ZF Group structure and its associated global purchasing power, ZF Services UK’s technical procurement specialists ensure that parts supply is fast and reliable and costs are contained.


When planning maintenance on a particu-


Merged organisation enhances cus- tomer support


From July 2011, ZF Services UK’s Notting- ham and Crick sites will be fully fi nancially merged to form ZF Services UK Limited. While synergistic product and service of- ferings have been grouped together, no range rationalisation has taken place, therefore product availability is unaffected. Benefi ts for the customer include: • A single telephone number for ZF Servic- es UK, to speed the answering and rout- ing of calls and enable fast, easy access to all departments;


• Allocation of a service team with its own dedicated contact details and customer service, technical service and account representatives, tailoring support to in- dividual needs;


• Customer service and technical support teams from both sites reinforce each others’ knowledge and experience, pro- viding an unrivalled level of expertise across a broader range of ZF products and systems.


FOR MORE INFORMATION Visit www.zf.com/uk


lar drive for the fi rst time, a condition as- sessment is undertaken to enable the true rather than theoretical point of overhaul to be established. Experience has shown that such an assessment can enable the fi rst overhaul mileage to be safely extended by up to 50 per cent in some cases, sig- nifi cantly reducing the operator’s mainte- nance costs.


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