Siemens Mobility has placed a focus on supporting customers and community with its service centre based in Mackay.
While the weather in Mackay is slightly different to what Steve Garnett knew in Liverpool, England, he has grown to love central Queensland since joining the team at the Siemens Mobility Service Centre in Queensland’s harsh and demanding Mackay region over 13 years ago.
The centre’s service operations manager, Steve explained that the centre was established to bring the international OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) to the regional level.
“We want to support our customers as best we can. Being located in central Queensland and focused on servicing locomotives close to customers is critical to the business’ success. We needed a local presence to ensure our customers are supported in this region,” he said.
The first service centre in Queensland was located in Sarina and was used as an aftersales shop for storing components and parts. But in 2014 the strategic decision was made to move 30 kilometres to a bigger premises in Mackay where the service centre could be at the centre of operations. The move catered for the increasing need for repairs and maintenance of locomotives, specifically the E40AC fleet. Today, the team supports a large fleet of Siemens locomotives.
Garnett explained that the decision to move to Mackay and expand the organisation’s support was customer driven but was also something the company had always intended.
“With such large fleets in the area we always envisioned that additional support would be needed,” he said.
“We didn’t want to be one of those suppliers that sold a solution and then took off and left customers to fend for themselves. It began with overhauling components and then customers asked us to take on more, as result, our scope evolved relative to the lifecycle of the fleet, which has been well received.
“The subject matter expertise of our team has grown immensely, which has enabled us to provide the local service required to keep trains online. We have an open-door policy for our customers to come into our centre or just pick up the phone and speak to the local team; we even have one of our technical service managers embedded in a customer’s depot to provide the additional technical support they need.”
Garnett said the feedback from its customers in the region has been overwhelmingly positive.
Supporting customers with co-operation
The curiosity when working in a remote region such as central Queensland is how to support locomotives operating in these harsh environments. Garnett said the key is open lines of communication, innovation, and agility to respond quickly.
“Our technical services manager is working out of the operator’s depots and has that face-to-face contact,” he said.
“I travel down to Brisbane once a month to receive feedback from customer management teams on things we are doing well and what we need to work on to ensure we are doing what is needed for our customers.”
Garnett said two critical parts of the business ensured success for the Siemens Mobility team in Mackay. One is the team, the other is maintenance strategies.
Being locally based, the team at the centre is adjusting its maintenance strategies to suit the unique landscape. Garnett explained that critical systems and components are exposed to an environment with harsh humidity, temperatures and dust. The condition of components can degrade quicker than scheduled, which requires Siemens Mobility to act fast to ensure timely repairs with minimal loss of availability. The team also explores how it continuously improves its approach, working with customers to extend the life of components and reduce costs for both maintenance and operations.
He said the team undergoes extensive product training and continuous mentorship to ensure quality standards remain at their highest. Garnett explained that Siemens Mobility’s investment in research and development in technology has informed much of the upskilling efforts as obsolescence becomes more of an issue.
The team is one of the service centre’s greatest strengths and Garnett said Siemens Mobility is focused on supporting them to ensure success.
“We have a very flexible, co-operative approach with our team,” Garnett said.
“We adjust starting times to suit what our people need. For example, those who need to do school pickups or drop offs can adjust their hours to suit their needs. Our team also has the option to start and finish earlier to avoid the intensity of the summer heat or to manage their preferred work-life balance. Being flexible with these things creates a happy environment so they can thrive.
“We make sure workshop conditions are managed closely year-round, but especially in the heat, so that the team isn’t feeling it too much. We place a strong emphasis on safety and putting people first, which we achieve through the trust and co-operation our staff have with one another.”
This team first focus ensures the Mackay service centre proudly retains its staff to ensure continuity and the experience needed to support the rail industry.
Enhanced customer service with new wheel press
In a strategic move to address customer needs and bolster regional investment, Siemens Mobility is set to install a new wheel press at its Mackay service centre.
This new addition is poised to significantly enhance support for local customers by integrating cutting-edge technology and precision engineering to ensure the highest standards are achieved. The onsite installation of the wheel press aims to boost efficiency, cut costs, minimise downtime, and prevent potential axle and wheel damage.
“We have listened to our customers’ pain points over the years, applying them to our thorough discussions with our partners in Germany, which led to our investment in this essential equipment,” Garnett said.
The wheel press features advanced software, and a wheel carrier designed to transport wheelsets and axles into the press, ensuring perfect alignment and continuous monitoring of both the wheel and axle during the pressing process.
“We focused on investing in technology to improve reliability. The testing has been completed in Germany and its arrival is imminent.”
The excitement was evident in Garnett’s voice as he spoke of the arrival of the wheel press. He explained that the expense is justified by the customer feedback, which has highlighted the critical need for the new addition.
“The nearest wheel press from us is over 400 kilometres away, which has been really frustrating for our customers,” he said.
“Our whole focus is to ensure the service centre is designed with our customers in mind. By installing our own wheel press onsite, we aim to significantly reduce locomotive downtime and expedite turnaround times.”
This investment underscores Siemens Mobility’s commitment to leveraging technology for enhanced reliability and customer satisfaction in the region.
“So many of our customers are also looking to improve their carbon footprints and by removing the transport needed to get these wheels pressed in other locations then delivered to their sites, we are investing in a solution that caters to this need too.”
Driving decarbonisation efforts
While bringing the wheel press into the Mackay service centre will support its customers decarbonisation goals, Siemens Mobility is also looking internally to drive decarbonisation efforts.
Garnett said that the new wheel press will require greater energy needs for the service centre, but rather than installing bigger cables, a larger transformer and running the equipment on the mains power, Siemens Mobility is looking to renewable energy.
“We have engaged with local suppliers to install solar panels and batteries that provide the energy we need and more,” he said.
Siemens Mobility understands it has an important role to play in the rail sector’s decarbonisation journey and supporting regional customers to work towards more sustainable practices.
“We have begun transitioning our vehicle fleet to hybrids. While it is challenging to find a hybrid or battery ute to meet our specific needs, we have uncovered one that should meet our requirements.”
“We are seeing a big push from our customers to decarbonise locomotive engines,” Garnett said.
“We are looking at different approaches, like battery and hybrid power sources, which are being developed in Germany at the moment. Our team is well prepared for this transition, they have the core skills required to continue supporting our customer base. We expect the majority of the systems to remain the same so these transitions to new power sources should be relatively similar for the team.”
Utilising local content
To minimise lead times for components, where possible, Siemens Mobility utilises local suppliers, products and services.
Garnett said the local team understands the locomotives and their needs, which they can enhance further by turning to local businesses, ensuring that knowledge and experience is simple to pass on.
“We engage local engineering firms when possible to manufacture specialist equipment and workshop tools, such as bespoke and engineer certified axle stands, to minimise lead times,” he said.
“This relationship also allows us to make specific requests for our components. Things like bigger bases, paint in a specific colour for safety, all of which is easier to do with a local business.”
While the connection to local suppliers is important for Siemens Mobility, having a team that is local to the region is also vital to the organisation’s success. Garnett said that the majority of the service centre staff are recruited and employed from the local area, but the team has representation from at least five continents all living and residing in the Mackay community.
“A lot of the team come in with trade-specific experience and then we train them in the Siemens way and give them that rail-specific knowledge,” Garnett said.
“We provide team members with experience out on site in the operating environments under close supervision from experienced staff to see how the locomotives operate to give them a better understanding of how the work they do affects these machines.”
Diversity plays a key role in the Siemens Mobility service centre team, which also has a strong representation of women.
“We always strive to find the best fit for each role. It has been an organic process where we’ve had people from all walks of life with strong, desirable qualities come through the door, resulting in a workforce that is 35 per cent women,” he said.
“Fifty per cent of our management team are women, which gives us a great diversity balance and we are proud of that.”
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