GKC
CONSULTING COMPANY
george.clem@comcast.net
phone/fax: 219-926-1378
A career spanning over 30 years in the railway
industry has provided the means for the establishment of my own successful
business.
Experience has been gained from both sides of the
industry, as the Manager of Engineering with a railway supplier and the Manager
of Engineering with a railroad.
EXPERIENCE
Established my own business,
providing assistance with project management; developing new equipment,
enlisting people from various fields working together; capital development
plans; creating quality assurance procedures; technical training; proposals.
Holland Company
1985 – 1995
A manufacturer of rail welding equipment and freight car parts, and provider of rail welding contract service. Sales and services provided internationally. During 1989-95, gross income grew from $9 million to over $28 million.
Manager of Engineering
·
Directed all engineering administration, design, and manufacturing for
a new division, Equipment Development.
(1992-95)
·
Directed the activities of five departments: Engineering, Quality Assurance, New Product
Development, Manufacturing, and Service.
(1988-92)
·
Directed Engineering and Manufacturing for the Rail Weld Division and
Freight Car Parts Division. (1985-88)
A 90-mile freight railroad
and electrified commuter railway carrying 12,000 passengers per day and 10
million ton-miles of freight.
Manager of Engineering (Assistant Chief Engineer) 1978 – 1985
·
Directed strategic planning,
new projects, assisted overall administration.
·
Directed the
construction and maintenance of all facilities including track, buildings,
bridges, electrification system, power sub-stations, and computerized
supervisory control.
· Responsibilities included the selection and maintenance of all track equipment, catenary equipment, and fleet vehicles.
· Managed 78 people, all maintenance of way equipment and inventory. Prepared department's annual budget.
Engineer of Maintenance of Way & Structures 1968 – 1978
(Also
held positions of Engineer, Engineering Aide, Chainman)
·
Started as
temporary employee for the summer as college student and worked both full and
part time while attending
·
Learned
surveying, project management, budgeting, estimating, drafting, and civil
engineering.
·
Became full
time Engineer in 1972.
Involved in long range planning; capital projects; maintenance of way equipment, track and structures; stations; and the design, construction, and inspection of all of these.
·
Project
Manager
Designed and managed the addition of a second mainline track and the relocation of the existing track.
·
Strategic
Planning
I prepared a 5 year maintenance plan for this 90 mile electrified, rapid-transit railroad; allocating over $23 million. The plan includes track, structures, signals, overhead power distribution, M/W equipment, fleet vehicles, and materials. I am involved in this continuing project, participating in regular meetings and creating annual plans, which include required manpower, timelines, and associated costs.
·
Innovative Design for Elevated and Handicapped Platforms
Working to upgrade its passenger stations, a new concept of elevated and handicapped passenger platforms had to be developed to accommodate the wider freight trains that also use the track. Two different concepts of moving platforms had to be created. As Project Manager, part of my work includes revising, approving, and supervising the design, manufacture, and installation.
· Route Study for Railroad
Completed a rail line route study to assist my client in obtaining support and funds for an additional service area. I will be involved with this project until its completion, which is expected to take 5 years and cost $150 million.
Engineered and supervised the manufacture of a prototype track vehicle - a high speed rail tribometer - used to help manage track lubrication by measuring the coefficient of friction of rail, while traveling at speeds up to 30 mph. I coordinated the development and testing with the client and the AAR/TTC (the AAR/TTC wanted this technology developed). The HSRT is now performing contract service to railroads, and I am assisting with the marketing,
Client - Steel
Mill
Developed quality assurance programs, and instructed
their staff and crews on track maintenance, derailment prevention and
investigation, repair welding of frogs and turnouts; designed new track layouts
for plant, and inspected the track construction.
The first year following my planning and training, this client (with 100 miles of track and 800 turnouts) saved $500,000. I produced a customized track quality assurance manual, standards for installation and maintenance practices, and trained personnel. Derailments were reduced by 50% within three months. Additional training was provided to determine the causes of derailments and eliminate them.
Client - Rail Welding Company
Developed quality assurance program and assisted
with the startup of new contract services.
Trained their staff in the methods necessary to maintain the quality standards.
Wrote and produced two 20 page marketing brochures containing concise explanations and photographs of their intrack rail welding and cut-and-slide processes.
Client -
Trackwork Manufacturer (
Working to restore the
hardness of rail after welding and forging.
HOLLAND
COMPANY ACHIEVEMENTS
Designed Track Lateral
Restraint Measurement Vehicle
Built a hi-rail truck to measured lateral displacement and vertical load. To do this it had a running axle that generated up to 12,000 lbs. lateral load, while applying 15,000 lb. vertical load. The vehicle was also equipped with track geometry measuring sensors. All data was output to a strip chart and computer database.
The existing electric flash-butt welding technology
could not make in-track closure welds.
This accounted for 90% of the available business. I conceived and developed a system of
auxiliary cylinders and a force monitoring system, which enabled the welding
machine to make these welds. This increased
utilization by 100% and annual sales by $5million.
Using 3D geometry and mechanics, I created an inverted grinder with a swivel contact
point, resulting in sales of $300,000.
EDUCATION
1969
Minor: Electrical
Engineering
ASSOCIATIONS
American Railway Engineering and Maintenance of Way
Association (AREMA)
Committee 4:
Rail Welding and Rail Manufacturing
Committee
27: Maintenance of Way Work Equipment
Roadmasters and Maintenance of Way Association
American Welding Society
Committee 15D: Rail Welding
Maintenance of Way Club of Chicago (past president)
PATENTS
#4,751,794......In Track Rail Base Grinder
#4,854,088......Method for Rail Grinding
#6,192,736…..High Speed Rail Tribometer
ADDENDUM – Experience with Maintenance of Way Equipment
For the last 6 years I have had annual contracts as a consultant with Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District to assist them with the maintenance of way of their electrified railroad. Among the projects have done, or am currently working on, include:
·
5 Year Maintenance of Way Plans
·
Annual Maintenance of Way Plans
·
Following U.S. Federal Procurement Guidelines, I aid in obtaining
equipment. These guidelines require that the specifications can be met by most
bidders. They can not be focused on a specific vendor. I have assisted in purchasing the following:
-
Locomotives
-
Ballast cars
-
Switch tamper and liner
-
Production tamper and liner
-
Ballast regulator
-
Track stabilized
-
Track undercutter
Client – International Transportation Service
This company provides support for the needs and requirements in all
modes of transport.
This railroad's country in
Among
my duties during 9 years with the Holland Company as Manager of Engineering:
·
I responded to domestic tenders, as well as international tenders for:
·
I designed and built a Track Strength and Geometry Vehicle for the BNSF
to efficiently direct their track maintenance program.
As
Manager of Engineering at the South Shore Railroad, one of my
first assignments was to transform the manual track maintenance force into a mechanized track maintenance force.
To accomplish this, I developed a maintenance
of way plan to upgrade the railroad and the forces that perform the track
maintenance. Some of the points of this
plan are as follows:
·
Evaluate, justify, and purchase maintenance of way machines that best
matched the work that needs to be done.
·
Annual training of machine operators - it is necessary to train the
personnel to properly operate the new machines purchased to improve the productivity
of the track forces.
· Production gangs were setup to do the following work:
-
Tamping and lining
-
Tie replacement
-
Rail replacement and joint removal welding
-
Tracking undercutting
-
Switch undercutting
-
Rail grinding
The size of the track force was reduced, and the cost of maintenance was reduced, while the quality of the track structure was improved.
American Railway Engineering
and Maintenance-of-Way Association (AREMA)
Committee 27 – Maintenance of Way Work Equipment
I have been member of AREMA since 1972. AREMA is responsible for writing the industry standards for railway maintenance that is published in the Railway Engineering Manual, which is updated annually.
For the last 22 years, I have been an active member of Committee 27, which is comprised of people in the railway industry with experience and knowledge in maintenance of way equipment. We write the “Specification for On-Track Machinery” for the Railway Engineering Manual.
NOTE:
Specifications that I write are performance
based. I explain what the machine must
do, not how to do the work. This opens the bidding process to all
manufactures that can meet the performance requirements.
In my 30+ years of railroad experience, I have developed an extensive contact network of railroaders, vendors, and experts that I can rely on to obtain detailed technical information on any aspect of the railway industry.