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Aurora's Been Working on Its Railroad
New software, operations and crews get railcars in and out much faster
With 29 miles of track and 850 to 1,100 railcars on site each day, the rail yard operation at Aurora is a logistical wonder. Getting shipments out quickly and reliably has always been a top priority at the site, so when an alternative to simple pen-and-paper recordkeeping came along, the North Carolina facility took advantage.
Previously, paperwork could slow shipping times by as much as two days. Sometimes, railcars found to be in need of repair would show up for product loading unrepaired. That all changed with some major innovations implemented at the beginning of 2006.
First, a new rail software system called @Plant Manager from Quality Transportation Services was installed. It was so effective that by the end of the first quarter of 2007, Aurora was able to cut in half the time it took to bring in, clean, load and ship out a railcar.
This new system means billing — the process by which information about a car could be applied to an order and passed on to a railroad — can be accomplished in seconds by simply dragging and dropping a file on one's PC or laptop, said Mike Pressgrove, Aurora's Assistant Superintendent, Shipping.
Using handheld scanners, operators in the yard transmit railcar status back and forth between the distribution department and loading areas. Now employees always know where a car is and what stage it's at.
The new system also helps prevent dirty or damaged cars from being loaded. And if a car is discovered to be damaged, Aurora now has a fully operational repair shop to get it back into service fast.
"We can do repairs inside and out on tank cars," said Pressgrove. "With hopper cars, we can do almost any repair on the lower half, such as gates, safety appliances and holes and cracks in the body."
To make the railyard even more efficient, the plant leased two locomotives and hired a switching crew to facilitate inbound and outbound railcar movement. Pressgrove noted that the switch crews are "getting cars to customers much faster than we ever have."
As to the next improvement, he anticipates the installation of gate readers some time in 2008. "With gate readers, our switch crews will have even more time to physically move cars because they'll no longer have to scan and move data," he said.
Proven so effective at Aurora, a similar rail system is expected to be up and running at White Springs by the end of the year. |
