Rail Service Work Doubles at Siemens Leeds
Rail servicing contract work has almost doubled in 12 months and continues to grow at Siemens Process Industries & Drives in Leeds.
The success story comes as the Stourton site celebrates the start of its second year of servicing rail gear units, including motors, gearboxes and couplings, since the significant £1 million investment Siemens made in the site just over a year ago. The investment expanded capability and improved efficiency; most of the rail service work now involves full overhauls for some of the UK’s biggest names in rail transport rolling stock, such as CAF Rail and Network Rail.
Several of the rail service contracts at Leeds have up to 30-year lifespans, so long-term employment for the 60-strong workforce at the Siemens site is assured.
A number of specialised rail personnel were taken on at the beginning of the year to work on assembling and servicing rail motor units, and two new engineering apprentices at the Leeds site are also spending time working in the rail section.
Paul Hawkin is section support manager for rail at Leeds and he commented: “With the investment we have been able to expand our rail servicing capabilities and we are now doing more full overhauls than top end, or light, overhauls that we were previously doing. We have also adopted a number of lean factory techniques to bring down the service time per unit and this again has extended our capacity. We are hoping to carry out service work for the Thameslink and Eurostar gear units once these new fleets come into service in the future, too.“
The lean techniques have almost halved the time it takes to rebuild a Desiro City motor to specification and Siemens Leeds has delivered 100 per cent of its rail service contract commitments to customers to date.
The Leeds rail unit has already won an internal Siemens award for its innovation, localisation, high service levels and the energy and success of the team. In addition, last month the site hosted a visit from Siemens‘ Russian rail colleagues, looking at setting up best practice rail techniques in St Petersburg.
See more about the range of Siemens solutions for industry at www.siemens.co.uk/rail
ENDS
PHOTO-CAPTION: Patrick Clegg of the Siemens team in Leeds works on a rail motor
For more information and photos please contact Bridget Summers on 01723 447424, email bridget@footprintpr.org.uk or Paul Addison on 07808 823011, email pauladdison@siemens.com
About Siemens
Siemens is a global technology powerhouse that stands for engineering excellence, innovation, quality, reliability and internationality. The company is active in more than 200 countries, focusing on the areas of electrification, automation and digitalisation. One of the world’s largest producers of energy-efficient, resource-saving technologies, Siemens is No. 1 in offshore wind turbine construction, a leading supplier of combined cycle turbines for power generation, a leading provider of power transmission solutions and a pioneer in infrastructure solutions and automation and software solutions for industry. The company is also a leading supplier of medical imaging equipment – such as computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging systems – and a leader in laboratory diagnostics as well as clinical IT. In fiscal 2013, which ended on September 30, 2013, revenue from continuing operations totalled €75.9 billion and income from continuing operations €4.2 billion. Siemens has around 362,000 employees worldwide on the basis of continuing operations. Further information is available on the Internet at www.siemens.co.uk.
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