Case Study: Enterprise Asset Management Software for Rail Right of Way
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Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA), Georgia Case Study
Power in the Palm of their Hands
How the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority utilizes AssetWorks Software and Handheld Devices to Transform its Maintenance-of-Way Operations
The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) is the ninth-largest transit system in the U.S. Over 450,000 passengers use MARTA every single day. In order to keep that many citizens moving, it takes 4,000 MARTA employees to ensure that its bus, rail, and paratransit service runs safely, smoothly, and on time.
Although MARTA has always been innovative, with time and growth its asset management challenges increased. The authority needed to replace its legacy asset and maintenance management system, a "green screened" mainframe, and improve reporting across all departments and assets. MARTA also needed improved labor tracking, project and warranty tracking, better identification of high cost parts, improved rail track inspection capabilities and deployment of analytics to better manage the business.
When MARTA sought out a more technically advanced, integrated enterprise asset management (EAM) solution, the authority conducted a series of focus group meetings for all of its stakeholders and hired a consultant to facilitate an in-depth request for proposal (RFP) process. MARTA was looking for superior EAM software capabilities coupled with the ability to manage fleet, rail, stationary, and linear assets in the same program. The Technical Evaluation Team, after many vendor demonstration and exhaustive reference checks, determined that AssetWorks' FASuite was the ideal solution. FASuite is a comprehensive, browser based, enterprise asset management system that can track an unlimited number of assets and support an unlimited number of workstations in multiple locations, and is utilized by many leading transit authorities.
MARTA's bus maintenance, rail car maintenance, facilities, maintenance-of-way (MOW), and technology teams now manage all of their assets within the AssetWorks FASuite application. They use FASuite/FleetFocus to manage 1520 vehicles including bus, paratransit, non-revenue, and track work vehicles. MARTA's Rail Car Maintenance has approximately 340 cars managed by FASuite/RailFocus. Facilities and Maintenance-of-Way maintain over 30,000 assets 38 rail stations, 104 miles of mainline track, 3 major yards, and 300 turnouts (switches) within FASuite/LinearFocus.
The system enabled major improvements particularly in the area of linear assets. AssetWorks LinearFocus is the only enterprise asset management application on the market to be specifically written for the needs of maintenance-of-way, with fully integrated mobile PDA software developed for the needs of MOW. AssetWorks made it possible for MARTA's Track & Structure department to better collect track inspection data from day one. With FASuite, 21 Track Inspectors now walk the tracks with mobile handheld devices and either batch process data back into the system or report problems in real-time so that they are dealt with immediately.
"As a member of the Technical Evaluation Team, I can only offer my point of view. AssetWorks was chosen for its functionality and its versatility," said Tim Elsberry, Assistant Director of Track & Structures for MARTA. "Our former CMMS, like many applications on the market, was originally developed for a manufacturing operation and though we did an excellent job customizing it and being creative, AssetWorks had a rail transit solution that fit our various types of equipment right out of the box."
By choosing the AssetWorks fully integrated EAM solution, FASuite, MARTA was able to integrate bus, rail, track, and MOW management within one flexible and scalable database that also integrated with MARTA's (Oracle) ERP system. Additionally, MARTA adopted handheld wireless technology with mobile PDA units to increase efficiency across the organization. This was made easier due to AssetWorks' extensive, proven success working on large-scale transit implementations over a 25-year product history. MARTA employees were quickly trained to use the software and have consistently reported that it is easy to learn and simple to use.
"While Track & Structures did a good job of this with the former CMMS, I have much more confidence in the data that we are receiving from AssetWorks FASuite," said Elsberry. "The costs are now associated at the job task level instead of at the work order level, as we had in the former CMMS. This helps us measure productivity by task and make important decisions considering cost and time. We have automated reports through AssetWorks that are emailed to management staff daily at 1800 hrs informing us of every defect that was reported, as well as labor and maintenance operations information."
Mobile employees utilize wireless handheld units and folks in the shops use kiosks; labor became easy to track in real-time and efficiency gains could be made across the organization as needed. MARTA can now account for 98% of the labor it pays out. Identifying high cost parts has become more accurate as well. MARTA's 21 Track Walkers (Track Inspectors) walk in pairs and cover 8 miles each day, with trains running unrestricted at 70MPH. It is important for their focus to be on safety. FASuite allows both inspectors to be "jobbed-on" to a work order utilizing the same hand-held device to capture labor costs. Once the inspectors are jobbed on, one inspector's sole function is to serve as a lookout while the other records the inspection findings. Prior and during MARTA's implementation, the AssetWorks Management Team met with MARTA and asked what changes would improve productivity. MARTA offered several suggestions including multiple user log-in. The feature was added in one month, ready for go-live.
MARTA's efficiency was also improved by the interface between AssetWorks and MARTA's graphical track maintenance tool, purchased in conjunction with FASuite. Automated track geometry data is captured via a computer and sensors on a revenue-service vehicle. It is loaded into the graphical track maintenance tool which automatically interfaces with AssetWorks for defect and work order creation. "I estimate this has already saved 70% of the time it took to perform this task prior to the AssetWorks implementation," stated Elsberry.
MARTA has undergone three audits since implementing AssetWorks FASuite, with the regulatory agencies giving it high marks.
"By utilizing AssetWorks for Track Inspection, we now have visibility and accountability from the time a defect is discovered until it is repaired, and it's all in one system," said Elsberry. "AssetWorks truly has superior linear capabilities coupled with the ability to manage fleet, rail, stationary, and component equipment units in the same program. Other systems had some of these capabilities, but AssetWorks satisfied all our requirements. While the story is one of improvement throughout Bus, Rail rolling stock, and Facilities, I think the gains made in managing our linear assets to be exceptional," said Elsberry. "I would recommend that any other transit embarking on this effort take the time and make the investment in putting subject-matter experts on their selection and implementation teams. This is how we came to choose and to utilize the AssetWorks solution and I believe this to be critical to our success."
