This multinational manufacturer of rail cars also had a many sites located throughout North America where rail cars were repaired and serviced. The company took on average 37 days to inspect a rail car, determine regulatory and other service work requirements, get approval for the work from the rail car owner, and complete the work. This long cycle time meant that the car was out of service for over a month, during which time lease payments could not be collected. In addition, the railway was charging the client for each day that a car was on their siding waiting for room in their plant.

SatiStar performed a cycle time reengineering project at the company’s two largest service facilities. The cycle time analysis revealed where time was consumed in their production process, and where time and production cost could be eliminated from their process.

The reengineering project reduced rail car service times from 37 days to 13.5 days and radically lowered the costs associated with servicing a rail car, all without the in­vestment of any significant capital. The total cost improvement impact was projected by the client to be in the order of tens of millions of dollars, and the client became recognized as a leader in terms of service responsiveness within their marketplace, a leadership position that they used to further grow the business.