Thinking outside the boxcar
More than 40% of all U.S. freight moves by rail. Railroads are vital to the nation’s economic success. Yet today, in the face of a softening economy and stagnant freight growth, the industry is grappling with critical issues that include threats of re-regulation, demands for forced access, lack of investment in new rail capacity and technology, rising fuel costs, and safety, security and environmental concerns.
The fallout impacts railroad vehicle fleets in the form of directives to improve efficiency and cut costs. As the leading vocational services provider in North America, ARI has considerable experience helping railroads maximize fleet utilization while minimizing costs. We have built our success on a foundation of carefully nutured client relationships, innovation and service excellence. We create cost-saving solutions through:
- Fleet Policy. We work with railroads to establish and communicate an enforceable fleet policy that facilitates enterprise-wide behavioral changes in support of company objectives.
- Insightful Management. ARI blends innovative consulting and strong account management in a practical, proactive approach to managing fleets for optimum productivity.
- Advanced Technology. ARI insights®, our web-based fleet management system, integrates seamlessly with railroad enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, ensuring data integrity and consistency. Its state-of-the-art business tools manage all vital fleet information and processes in real-time.
- Asset Management. ARI lowers total cost of ownership by fleet right-sizing, identifying, and keeping or disposing of vehicles according to actual utilization, by consolidating and standardizing vehicle specs and orders, and by prioritizing fleet replacement needs with a focus on spending only what's necessary to optimize ROI.
- Operating Cost Management. Best practice methodology enables us to deliver railroad-specific fleet value and hard-dollar savings by cutting expenses in all facets of fleet operation from acquisition to remarketing.
ARI's core competencies, culture and implementation practices align to create productive relationships that help railroads master today’s challenges. Working with our clients as an extension of the fleet team—not just an external supplier—ARI is committed to continuous investment in the service resources necessary to meet and exceed expectations.
It pays to know the business
We learn everything we can about our customer’s business operation, the role of vehicles, and how fleet performance affects business. The more we know, the better we can ensure that the fleet is working and contributing to the company's success. For one railroad company, we had the challenging assignment of reviewing the remaining life expectancy and eventually remarketing medium- and heavy-duty trucks that had been in service for 10-15 years. This “iron” was ready to be retired, having reached the end of its useful life.
If there were any potential buyers, they surely were few. Faced with limited resale options, we went the only way we could: GLOBAL. We extended the market worldwide through specialized equipment auctions that offered competitive bidding and Internet viewing. Did our team’s creativity and railroad knowledge pay off? It generated an overall increase of 22.4% in the resale proceeds.