A major global player in Specialty Materials, Arkema operates more than 100 production facilities in Europe. To transport its products between these sites and deliver them to its customers, the group uses, among other things, rail transport by means of insulated wagons of the RTC (Rail Tank Cars) type.
This type of transport was chosen because it provides a high level of safety for the transport of dangerous goods. However, it offers limited visibility on the date and time of arrival. After conducting a pilot, Arkema chose the Everysens solution to monitor its European fleet of 500 wagons.
Digitalising rail: A strategic performance lever
Rail is a strategic mode for Arkema. Some products can only be transported by rail because of hazardous materials regulations. In Europe, 10 sites use rail as a supply and/or shipping mode every week . Every year, about 3,000 railcars are shipped to serve customers in Europe, depots and Arkema plants.
Arkema is one of the main users of wagonloads. Most of our shipments originate in France, but travel throughout Europe. The company has long-term plans to promote modal shift and reduce its carbon footprint. It therefore plans to increase the share of rail transport in its transport.
By teaming up with Everysens to digitalise its rail logistics, Arkema is pursuing four major objectives.
1. Safety and Security
Arkema monitors the safety and security of the hazardous materials it ships from end to end, and therefore wants to be able to locate its wagons at any time. The Everysens solution allows it to easily access this information on a single platform.
2. Quality of service
In order to inform its customers of delivery dates and their possible delays, Arkema benefits from alerts sent by Everysens in case of anomaly in the routing, as well as from the calculation of the ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival), based on location tracking and artificial intelligence.
This system will soon be extended to the return flow of empty wagons, allowing Arkema to gain visibility on the forecast availability of its fleet, and thus better plan its customer deliveries.
3. Fleet productivity
By accurately measuring turnaround times and their segments, Arkema can assess the productivity of its wagon fleet and ensure that it is correctly sized.
4. Performance of railway undertakings
The accumulation of wagon tracking data, analysis of journey times and downtime enables Arkema to assess the performance of the railways and to work with them on improvements.
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