3623. Special Requirements for Managing Mass Properties in Rail Transportation

Paper

Abstract

Two years ago I had the chance to visit a SAWE conference (Bad Göggingen -Munich) for the first time. I was really impressed with the large community of mass engineers existing for such a long time without being noticed by me and my colleagues in Germany. For us it is very important to see what others do in the same field. We all have more or less the same problems and can support each other to solve them.
During this conference I met some colleagues whom ask me why it is necessary to have mass management in railway industry. Finally all vehicles are so heavy. These opinions were the spark to write this paper and give the presentation.
But first let me introduce myself. I started my career as mass manager for Bombardier Transportation in 2001. Until that time mass management in Bombardier Germany was usually performed by engineers alongside their daily work.
So it was up to me to fill this position as a full-time mass manager with enthusiasm.
During the last 13 years mass management has become more and more important so the number of mass managers has increased constantly, from one in 2001 to up to 15 in 2014 in Germany only. There were similar developments for Bombardier Transportation worldwide. In 2014 we took a big step to harmonize mass management. A global function (Centre of Competence) was set up with special mandates to harmonize processes and tools for mass management.
To give you a better feeling for how mass management in the railway industry works I will explain shortly the different product types and where the requirements come from.
The general tasks of mass management are also similar so we have many things in common.
Similar to the aerospace industry we consider different mass type definitions which I will shortly discuss.
So let’s start to bring the railway industry into the SAWE and make them an important part of it.