Joining forces

Plasser Robel Services, the largest service organization in the Plasser & Theurer Group, was established at the beginning of the year. 250 employees at three locations now look after the Plasser & Theurer and Robel railroad construction machines in one company. Managing Director Karl Oberreiter explains the background and objectives of the merger.

bahn manager: Since the beginning of the year, Deutsche Plasser and the former Robel Business Unit Service and Customer Service have been united in the new Plasser Robel Services GmbH. What was the background to this merger of the two companies?

Karl Oberreiter: The clear aim is to strengthen the service we offer our customers. In the new structure with our network, with 32 service technicians, with our three locations, it is possible to bundle forces. In addition, of course, the original companies had overlapping activities, in extreme cases even serving the same customer with two different offers. As both units belong to the Plasser & Theurer group of companies, it made sense to seek synergies here and offer the best possible service for our customers.

Was there previously no clear separation between the activities of Deutscher Plasser and Robel, for example on the basis of the different machine types?

Originally, there was already a clear separation. Deutsche Plasser had previously looked after the Plasser & Theurer brand, and Robel serviced the Robel brand exclusively. But in recent years, there has been a mix here and there, partly because Robel has increasingly been able to acquire third-party business from components from other manufacturers – for example in the refurbishment of wheelsets and bogies. Incidentally, this is one of the pillars for the future: we don’t just want to look after the two brands Plasser & Theurer and Robel, even though these will of course remain our core brands. However, the idea of “one face to the customer” is at the forefront of our considerations.

What structure have you given the new company?

Plasser Robel Services is currently active in six business areas. Firstly, there is the classic spare parts sales, which currently still take place at the two locations in Munich and Freilassing and which we are gradually synchronizing and harmonizing. Secondly, there is the classic customer service, i.e. warranty work and repairs – for this we have our service technicians from Deutsche Plasser in Munich and eight service technicians from Robel at the Freilassing site. The third business area is the reconditioning of tamping units at the Munich site, the fourth is the reconditioning of wheelsets and bogies at the Freilassing site. The fifth topic is machine service, which deals with overhauls, retrofits and accident repairs, mainly at the Leverkusen-Opladen site, but also in Freilassing. We are now trying to make optimum use of both plants, so there is no clear allocation in advance. The sixth field is new and is called Uptime Service, where we acquire a machine pool. This allows customers to rent machines for a certain period of time during peak loads. We also handle used machines: we buy them from the market, upgrade and refurbish them and then offer them back to the market.

What is the demarcation to other locations in the Plasser & Theurer Group? Spare parts are also available at the manufacturing plants in Linz and Freilassing, as well as other service locations, for example in Purkersdorf, Austria.

We have a clear geographical allocation. Purkersdorf is primarily concerned with the Austrian market. At Plasser Robel Services, we look after the Plasser & Theurer brand in Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands as well as customers in Luxembourg and Belgium, while we are responsible for the Robel brand worldwide. As far as spare parts are concerned, we are definitely considering a central warehouse, but we are still at an early stage.

Where do you see the challenges for the next few years in the maintenance and servicing of the “yellow fleet”?

The availability of the machines is the most important issue. Many owners of railroad construction machinery have taken maintenance into their own hands in recent years. However, we have noticed that operators are increasingly turning to us again in recent months. Firstly, it is important to have qualified service technicians who really know the machines well. On the other hand, the operators are so busy that they do not necessarily want to or cannot organize the maintenance themselves. In addition, new technologies such as hybrid drives or digital elements are being incorporated into the machines, which also require corresponding expertise in maintenance.

What is changing in the workshops and in employee training as a result of technological advances in track construction?

It starts with the fact that the maintenance plans are different. Of course, we not only have to train the service technicians, but also our staff in the workshops when it comes to repairs or overhauls. We give every machine a brain ex works, which we will use to record machine data in future. This enables the operator to know what is actually happening with his machine, which is classic production data acquisition. But of course we can also use this data in maintenance – and when a larger number is on the way, we can also move towards predictive maintenance. It is important for us to see: What can we learn from how the machine is used? How does this affect the machine or certain components? Once this information is available, the entire approach to servicing a machine changes.

Availability is the top priority – what do you offer operators?

Operators realize more than before how tragic it is when the machine does come to a standstill. Nobody can afford that anymore. We talk to customers about taking the machines into our care, so to speak, and contractually agreeing an availability quota. In order to be able to fulfill this, however, we need to have a clear plan that allows us to access the machine at regular intervals. This does not have to be in our factories, we can also come to the customer’s premises or to the location of the machine. We are currently working on specific offers and are seeing a strong response from the market.

Railroad construction machinery is a very durable good. Is upgrading machines and retrofitting new systems also a field of activity for your company?

Yes, of course. Retrofitting is a huge topic. What you always have to think about, however, is the question of approval. So we have to clarify in advance what we can retrofit without affecting the approval. However, we actually speak to many customers who would like to give their 16 or 20-year-old machine a second life. The operators then want to install new state-of-the-art functionalities during a general overhaul. This combination of completely dismantling the machine and then rebuilding it with new features is definitely a field for us.

So your approach is to provide close support over the entire long life cycle of a machine?

Our top priority is: “You stay productive, we do the service” – and we want to be the service champion in Europe at least once for the two brands Plasser & Theurer and Robel. That is our aspiration and to achieve it we invest in locations, in plants, but also in employees and know-how. The operator should be able to provide his service on the construction site and rely on us to look after his machine. This applies to the entire period from the aircraft’s entry into service to its decommissioning.

Mr. Oberreiter, thank you very much for the interview.