WORKSHOPS, DEPOTS & LIFTING EQUIPMENT
Everything in its place, W
orld class engineering skills, equipment, tools, infrastructure and location are
critical to the success and sustainability of any railway depot. But what other factors need to be considered that can contribute to even greater
With train operating companies (TOCs) placing even greater emphasis on quality and reliability than ever before, gone are the days when a railway depot can make do with a historic layout and antiquated tool storage units. If everything, today’s railway depot and workshop environment has to demonstrate that they too can achieve lean operating standards such as those seen in the automotive and aerospace sectors.
The rail market is experiencing a period of rapid development and its growth and acceleration is are being ploughed into the rail sector, with innovation and technology at the forefront. Businesses and organisations that do not rise to the challenge of moving forward risk compromising on quality and delivery, as well as those all-too-precious supplier relationships, which will directly result in lost business.
Maintenance depots are large and complex, with throughput closely coordinated to train availability and location, so just as with the aerospace and automotive industries, careful control of downtime for a vehicle is vital. In a large depot, a common cause of over-run can be the additional time taken to bring needed parts, specialised tools and instruments to the vehicle; or, in a worse case, ‘shortcuts’ can be taken by not replacing a life-expired part, or
not using the correct tool and equipment, just to avoid a long trip to the stores and back.
Therefore, the decision of storage type, arrangement and proximity of tools and equipment to the engineer based on the principles of a lean workshop and maintenance culture is of high importance and should not productivity and quality must be factored in, and in fact, tool storage and lean operating principles must be at the heart of any depot planning or refurbishment project.
learn from the experience of other sectors?
highly-specialised work environment where skilled engineers are required to work on new production aircraft in addition to undertaking routine repair and maintenance work. Ease of access to tools and components were a key tool storage system. And not only could lean environment, with some extremely valuable tooling and the need for protective storage, such as for precision calibration equipment (where accuracy is critical), this became more than just a tool and component storage decision – not to mention the essential requirement for traceability.
It is easy to see that there are some distinct similarities between this environment and the demands of today’s railway depot and workshop. To maintain and achieve exceptional standards in quality, productivity and reliability,
and a place for everything
Chris Hargreaves-Heap, Lista (UK) Ltd general manager, highlights how lessons learnt from the implementation of lean workshop principles and strategy in the aerospace and automotive sectors can be brought to the operating environment of the modern-day railway depot or workshop.
storage provision at the point of use cannot be taken as a secondary decision. It is a decision that must be taken to facilitate best practice based on lean maintenance principles, not to mention
This is why leading European rail business other rolling stock, has recently implemented a tool and component storage system as part of and quality.
organisation and storage management speed up the working processes and let you concentrate on what is most important: perfect processing and quality.”
There is already a growing trend of railway depots transforming their workspace into lean as part of a strategic decision to achieve best practice and to develop and improve working relationships with train manufacturers and operating companies.
This can only be achieved by working in partnership with organisations recognised for their expertise and success in striving to meet best practice based on the principles of lean derived.
E:
Chris.Hargreaves-Heap@lista.com FOR MORE INFORMATION
rail technology magazine Dec/Jan 15 | 77
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