Transportation-156

The Situation:

A Class I railroad providing Intermodal services to domestic and international shippers was experiencing very low customer service ratings due to poor service levels.  The situation had escalated to the point of picketing and protesting.  The Highland Group was asked to quickly develop and implement changes that would reduce the turn time through the yards.

The Driver Goal:

• Decrease the driver dwell time on property to 30 minutes on average during peak season
• Increase lift performance of contract terminal operators as evidenced by a lower average number of lifts per container

• Adjusted staffing levels required to maintain a smooth flow of gate traffic on and off property based on hourly flow patterns.
• Adjusted staffing levels, shift start/stop times and break times of lift equipment operators to match train load and unload needs, and driver arrival patterns.
• Implemented direct gate-to-car container loading of trains for particular origin-destination pairs.
• Implemented a “pre-mount” reservation process where customers communicate units for pick-up the next day.
• Implemented policy for “walking” of containers to improve safety, reduce maintenance and improve lift-per-hour performance.
• Reviewed yard design and layout and made changes to traffic flow, equipment placement (mounted/trailer parking, bare chassis areas, bad order areas, etc.), gate placement, yard markings, etc.
• Designed and implemented a system to manage all the above activities at terminals via new metrics, reporting and accountabilities.
• Consolidated all improvements and the System For Management into a “Yard Operating Model” for the company to use as a standard for gauging terminal operations.

• All targets were met prior to goals. The pilot terminals achieved the driver dwell targets within the Highland time on site and 4 months prior to season peak.
• The increased lift performance on behalf of contractors gave the railroad the ability to negotiate lift rates from a much stronger position.