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Customer:

Göteborgs Spårvägar 

Göteborgs Spårvägar digitalizing maintenance of light rail fleet

With 160 kilometers of track and more than 250 light rail vehicles, Göteborgs Spårvägar is the base for mass transit in Gothenburg, Sweden. Because there is so much to keep track of, the company has invested in a new and future-safe maintenance system.

As early as the 1980s, Göteborgs Spårvägar introduced its first digital maintenance system, largely using in-house resources. It has been complemented and expanded over the years, but it became increasingly difficult to manage and the limitations became increasingly obvious. On the initiative of the maintenance technicians, work was begun in 2012 with procuring and implementing a digitalized and future-safe maintenance system.

“We had a good perception of the needs in our operations,” says Khenny Hermansson, production planner at Göteborgs Spårvägar. “Among other things, we wanted to increase traceability to keep track of who had done what. We wanted to move away from manual work and printed lists. It should be simpler and more fun for our people.”

After a tendering process, Göteborgs Spårvägar decided to go with Infor EAM, which is the market's largest cloud-based maintenance system. Prevas is the Nordic distributor of Infor and was engaged to handle the implementation. From Prevas’ side, Håkan Sjöberg was responsible for the project.

“It was no longer possible to efficiently work with the existing system,” says Håkan Sjöberg. “Our customer was having problems in extracting the data they needed. Infor EAM is easy to deploy and use. At the same time, it’s scalable. New functionality can be added to deal with future changes and challenges.”

Traceability and mobility make things easier
Göteborgs Spårvägar has three maintenance and repair shops – Rantorget, Majorna and Slottsskogen. To be able to receive the new M33 vehicles, which will be delivered during 2019, a fourth shop will soon be constructed on Ringön. The maintenance system must be able to keep track of more than 250 vehicles, along with materials and spare parts. Infor EAM provides traceability on the component level and facilitates work orders for more than 270 technicians who use the system.

“We've become more efficient in turnovers,” says Khenny Hermansson. “We might previously have lifted in a motor, for example, that still needed to be properly torqued. Someone had begun the job but hadn't had time to finish before the end of the shift. The technician who took over wasn't sure of what had been done and thus had to begin by checking the previous steps.”

All jobs are now registered in Infor EAM – with what has been done and the tools that have been used. The responsible technician signs off each step digitally, and the next one can continue from where the previous one stopped. The cloud-based system also provides entirely new opportunities for mobile solutions.

“We have special vans that we use in making repairs to in-service vehicles,” says Lalla Fondin, system administrator at Göteborgs Spårvägar. “Within the immediate future, our technicians will be able to prepare fault reports via a mobile app and even append photos and videos. Preparations are made in the shops for larger repairs and maintenance, and work can begin immediately when the vehicles come in.”

Broad support in the organization
Establishment of the new maintenance system began as an initiative among the technicians at Göteborgs Spårvägar. There has been a renewal in management at the company in recent years, and management's engagement has increased. Ideas and questions – as well as demands – are now coming from management. Development is also being driven by an internal work group with personnel from several of the company's units, both technicians and supervisors.

“There are many people with suggestions and ideas, both from above and among our technicians,” says Lalla Fondin. “Working together in the group, we can more easily determine how we should prioritize our efforts and what is feasible to implement. It’s a good way of working, providing both understanding and transparency.”

Göteborgs Spårvägar has a 4-year, general agreement with Prevas. The agreement encompasses expertise and activities regarding the implementation of Infor, but Prevas is also providing assistance when capacity is strained due to operational peaks.

“The personnel from Prevas are knowledgeable and creative, and they regularly come with suggestions and ideas for how our approaches can be refined,” says Khenny Hermansson. “For simpler questions, we’ve been able to get answers quickly, and when we've needed to discuss larger development packages, the dialog has been excellent.”

Continuous development
Despite implementation of Infor EAM being completed, there are several development projects underway, including integration of the new M33 light rail vehicle. When the new cars are put in service, they have to be entered in Infor EAM. Maintenance must be handled as efficiently as possible and a structure must be created for administration of warranty cases.

“Bombardier, who will be delivering the M33s, will be working directly in Göteborgs Spårvägar’s system,” says Håkan Sjöberg. “This means, among other things, that the approximately 200 components subject to the supplier’s warranty will be added automatically.

This will give Infor EAM the potential to continuously collect large amounts of data in the future. It can be, for example, the number of kilometers that each vehicle has travelled, and further on, the total number of door openings, starts, stops and so forth.

“This is information that will form the basis of our maintenance activities,” says Lalla Fondin. “We the can take action before a particular part wears out or fails. We've already taken a giant step forward, and we're now seeing major opportunities for adding more functionality and value.”

About Infor EAM

  • An installation of Infor EAM takes about 4–6 weeks, depending on the resources the customer can make available.
  • Prevas has completed more than 80 installations to date for customers in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland.
  • Previous installations show that maintenance can be made more efficient by up to 50 percent – freeing time for planning and preventive measures.

Do you want to know more about this project or find out what Prevas can do for you, please contact us.

CONTACT US
Ylva Amrén, Region Manager West, e-mail

Maintenance system, Göteborgs Spårvägar, case study
Maintenance system, Göteborgs Spårvägar, case study
Maintenance system, Göteborgs Spårvägar, case study

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