The Siemens Mobility Port Melbourne site has been the ideal pilot program for Project i-TRACE before the global organisation rolls it out company-wide.
Siemens Mobility has adopted GS1’s Project i-TRACE in its Port Melbourne manufacturing facility to test its feasibility and potential implementation across its international business.
Project i-TRACE has helped Siemens increase the traceability of its supply chain end to end, as well as the efficiency and reliability of internal warehousing.
At its core, Project i-TRACE uses GS1 standards to identify and track assets, parts, and components in the supply chain through the adoption of digitisation in rail operations.
GS1 is the standards body selected by the Australasian Railway Association (ARA) for the project, bringing its global supply chain experience to the venture.
Eric Bougeois is the head of products for Australia New Zealand at Siemens Mobility and has 20 years’ experience in rail. With a passion for the industry, he is working out of the Siemens Port Melbourne facility and has had a big role in the Project i-TRACE rollout.
Bougeois said Siemens Mobility’s global headquarters has been interested in trialling the project and has provided the support needed to help it thrive in Melbourne.
“In a world of digitalisation, it was a choice we made to move in this direction,” he said.
“Rail can sometimes be slow to catch up to these things, but we saw a perfect opportunity to move forward and advance the industry. It is a journey, and it doesn’t happen quickly. We had to dive deep into our processes to understand where we can be a part of this adventure.”
Bougeois noted that the organisation needed to work through its national product catalogue.
Since undertaking the project, Siemens Mobility has cut its stock accuracy variance in half, showing the success and traceability of the program.
Rolling it out
Bougeois said that Project i-TRACE is a consistently evolving program. As a pioneer in Australia, it is taking both its team and many of its partners on the journey.
When Siemens embarked on this journey, its first point of call was to bring employees onboard. Bougeois said that, while this was initially met with some hesitation, now, the team sees the benefits of the system.
“The implementation period was a big change, but now the team cannot imagine going back to how it used to be,” he said.
The application of the GS1 standards onsite has also excited visitors, especially Siemens’ customers.
“We often welcome customer visits to our site to explain the benefits of Project i-TRACE and they get really excited as they can see the benefits in action,” he said.
“With Project i-Trace, we can achieve traceability for asset management which is a major focus for the industry and is fundamental to our success. Having a tool to help customers achieve this is what excites me.”
Bougeois explained that as the project has grown, multiple benefits have emerged – some that were not initially obvious to the organisation such as the barcode being able to be connected to a document.
Scanning the code, as opposed to contacting Siemens Mobility for the same information, can streamline processes for customers and partners.
“The code simplifies the process for our team and for customers, where they will be able to access a manual with all the information required, whenever it’s needed,” he said.
“This was a strong contributor to cutting down the time spent during the annual stocktake from a week to two days, which reduces the time the team cannot service our customers.”
Looking to the future of project i-trace
Siemens views the implementation of Project i-Trace as the start of its journey, and remains committed to continuing its development.
“We want to work both upstream and downstream to expand this approach throughout the rail industry. We still have some work to do but it is all part of the journey.
“We are starting with a pilot supplier upstream to establish the practice, and eventually we will begin engaging other partners.”
Bougeois said the ARA has been a strong advocate of Project i-TRACE from GS1 and is pleased Siemens Mobility has come along for the journey.
“From the beginning, the ARA has strongly encouraged rail organisations and partners to use this system,” he said.
“We of course have competitors in this sector, and we have market share in the industry, but we believe this will be beneficial for the whole sector. Moving forward, we need to modernise and digitalise, and it is time for the industry to embrace Project i-TRACE.”
Bougeois also noted that the benefits of Project i-TRACE could also help to harmonise the rail industry across state lines.
“Australia is well known for its fragmented markets with different states using different standards, which often complicates processes and interoperability efforts,” he said.
“Project i-Trace is a perfect opportunity to uniformise the industry and work towards a common understanding.”
