Designing an Operating Plan to Respond to the Customer's Needs

ME01.1 Designing an Operating Plan to Respond to the Customer's Needs Bruce W. Patty, Dharma Acharya --- MCGI, 185 N Redwood Dr., Ste. 200, San Rafael, CA 94903 , (bruce@mcgi.com)

CSX Transporation has recently developed a new operating plan in¨ order to respond to the needs of the customer. While railroads¨ continuously adjust their operating plan, this development process¨ started with a 'clean sheet' of paper. We will discuss how the¨ customer's needs were identified, the process used to develop a new¨ operating plan, the tools used to support this process and lessons¨ learned.

ME01.2 Determining Customer's Needs: The Railroad Dilemma John J. Gradek, William H. VanMarter --- Canadian Pacific Railway, 401 9th Ave. SW, Suite 4047, Calgary, Alberta, T2P 4Z4 , Canada

Canadian Pacific Railway is undergoing a major transition in its¨ operating plan development process. The traditional planning process¨ typically involved the railway operating functions transportation¨ and field operations with the resulting product being offered to the¨ commercial functions for advice to the railway process requires a¨ thorough understanding of customer expectations and subsequent¨ design of a plan supporting the specifics of demand...