Railinc®’sTransmetriQ brand has launched a new Shop Locator tool designed to reduce freight car out-of-service time for car users, owners and lessors.
“Shop Locator helps fleet managers to quickly find repair shops when cars require service and enables better, more efficient communication with those shops,” TransmetriQ said. “Many owners, lessors and shippers of small-to-medium-size fleets often must use time-consuming, informal internet searches, emails, phone calls or intermediary services to find repair shops when cars unexpectedly need repair. This can be frustrating for fleet managers and ultimately lengthen a car’s out-of-service time.”
During manual repair shops searches, users “often make multiple follow-up contacts to confirm and compare capabilities and costs,” the company noted. “Plus, they often miss opportunities to schedule opportunistic repairs, that reduce trips to shop the car. With consolidated fleet health information already in TransmetriQ, users can quickly scan fleet alerts and identify opportunistic work, reducing shop trips. And, Shop Locator immediately identifies and contacts shops equipped to handle the needed repairs, and tracks and compares estimates within an electronic shopping request. Its database already includes the North American railcar repair shops needed by current users and can quickly be updated when new users are added.”
The module’s key features:
- Identification of shop options based on the car’s current location, serving railroad and repair needs.
- Initiation of a shopping request including railcar health alerts and additional service requests from customers.
- Shop quote comparisons.
- An option to provide supporting documents or pictures in the request for a quote.
- A shop portal for the shop to submit quotes and estimates.
- Automatic auditing of repair estimates once a car has been inspected at the shop.
“Fleet managers must pay attention to capabilities, transportation costs, and labor rates when selecting a repair shop. The TransmetriQ solution helps identify the best options for the repairs and even provides quote comparisons,” said Gregg Phillips, Product Manager, TransmetriQ. “With more than 1.6 million freight cars in service across North America, Shop Locator’s ability to reduce repair turnaround time by three or more days can significantly reduce supply chain costs for rail shippers.”
“The release of this solution exemplifies our commitment to partner with car owners/lessors, shippers, and railroads to expand freight rail use—the most competitive, safe, and green mode of transportation,” said Mika Majapuro, Vice President, TransmetriQ.
