This article first appeared in the Railway-News magazine Issue 5 2021.
To fully appreciate the impact of this new approach we first should consider traditional ancillary system design and the issues that can arise as a result.
The typical traditional approach with ancillary system design has been to design a bespoke solution almost project by project. Some efforts have been made to utilise a common system across a vehicle platform, but even then, project variations can lead to system variation and modifications to designs.
Trying to force the use of a common system without any flexibility to alter its design can be both technically and commercially challenging with the possibility of ‘off system’ additions being required, or conversely component redundancy. This traditional design approach also doesn’t drive a common spares catalogue with the possibility of different components being used on a project-by-project basis, thereby adding to logistic costs and spares management complexity.
The documentation requirements to support the development of a new system design are significant and include the technical file for the design but also the required manuals, drawings, LCC/RAMS and contractual documentation. With bespoke designs on a project-by-project basis this documentation can consume significant time and result in one off non-recurring cost charges.
Everything discussed so far has cost implications both in terms of system procurement cost and indirect costs for engineering. However, there are other less visible impacts such as the training requirements for different bespoke systems, the different maintenance requirements and activities and even installation methods and time.
The transformational new approach from Parker has system configuration flexibility absolutely at its core, drawing on a common range of rail industry standard products to ensure standardisation of products and spares across multiple contracts – it looks to address the traditional issues discussed above.
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