Director, Corporate Fleet Management - Overland Park, United States - Watco
Description
With over 2,500 pieces of rolling stock and over 8,000 miles of railroad track within the Watco Network there exists a need for a champion to assess Watco's current means and methods concerning critical asset maintenance, repair, rotation, and eventual retirement / replacement. Individual pockets of equipment subject matter expertise reside throughout our organization and the opportunity is for this individual to explore, bring forward, and optimize the best of that knowledge, along with evolving industry best practices, to create a corporate program targeted to maximize operational efficiency while reducing total operating costs.
OBJECTIVE / PURPOSE
This role is a newly created position. One which will require a working knowledge of rail, locomotive, rail rolling stock, construction and material handling equipment, or large highway vehicle fleets. Even more importantly, the team member will possess a keen understanding of the financial impact equipment efficiencies have on safe rail and material handling operations as well as up-time service to our customers. They will command the ability to craft and explain business equipment recommendations for not only ongoing operations, but also new commercial endeavors. They will work collaboratively with Operations, Procurement, IT, Engineering, and Commercial Sales teams to garner internal support and gain consensus. Role will be a key business process facilitator for the full "acquire to retire" asset cycle.
PRINCIPAL ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
The Director of Asset Management will:
• Serve as a key resource to senior operational leadership and asset subject matter experts in the development of strategy, including long term capital planning, new technology evaluations and wide scale best practices deployments.
• Identify and document key business processes related to Watco's key operating assets, working towards more standardized budgeting, procurement, maintenance, and asset retirement/transfer processes across the organization.
• Investigate, gain organizational support for, and pilot new technology solutions across the asset class, providing technical expertise, project management and site level support as needed.
• Maintain a full network-wide view of organizational assets across operating segments, ensuring consistencies in best practices and standard procedures, optimal asset utilization across the full fleet and identifying opportunities for redeployment or retirement that works to improve Watco's ROIC.
• Drive Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) acceptance and usage to capture and quantify true costs of ownership, completion of recommended PM tasks, and regulatory compliance, prioritizing Watco's mission critical assets.
• Serve as a key resource to new commercial activity to deploy assets in a manner that maximizes Watco's ROIC.
• Support baseline carbon emissions metrics for key sites and help quantify milestones and identify reductions for internal score carding efforts (e.g., diesel tier upgrades, diesel to electric conversions)
• Work closely with industry and internal compliance teams to understand policy changes and/or specific regions or operations which may take priority.
• Collaborate with Operations Support and Procurement to ensure Watco harnesses our equipment buying power while realizing the full potential of OEM relationships
SKILLS & PERSONAL QUALITIES REQUIRED
• Strong understanding of, and commitment to, Watco's Customer First Foundation Principles
• Operational experience with a wide variety of equipment within the railroad, material handling/construction, or commercial highway vehicle space.
• Demonstrable ability to drive forward work on own initiative, dealing with and sorting through high levels of ambiguity.
• Experience in the management of complex, multi-stakeholder projects and achieving goals on time and on budget.
• Ability to lead significant change management efforts through a service-oriented style.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Strong computer skills with the ability to effectively gather, report and communicate technical information.
• Innovative and Proactive personality