Contract Maintenance Specialist, Mech Svcs

About GATX: 

Founded in 1898 and headquartered in Chicago, IL, GATX Corporation (NYSE: GATX) is an industry leader with 125+ years of success—success that is powered by our people. We are proud of our high-performance culture, hard-working and enthusiastic management team, and beautiful office space in the Willis Tower.

At GATX, we hire the best and offer our employees a dynamic, energetic, collaborative environment to enable them to make an impact from day one. Enjoy the perks and benefits of a global company with the close-knit culture and community of a much smaller one. In the same way we strive to empower our customers to propel the world forward, we are dedicated to providing our people with the tools and resources they need to move forward in their careers. And, thanks to our employees, in 2023 we were named one of Chicago’s Top Workplaces by the Chicago Tribune for the fourth time!

Overview:

The Contract Maintenance Specialist is responsible for supervising mechanical field operations on ~ $40MM+ worth of assets with a maintenance budget of ~ $4.0 – $5.5MM per year of assigned contract maintenance activities within the United States, Canada and Mexico.  In addition, this position will be GATX’s primary contact for our customer service, which covers fielding calls and solving problems for customers, putting locomotives in service, remote troubleshooting. This position will also provide direction to maintenance providers to ensure locomotive service meets GATX’s expectations specific to quality, delivery and cost. The position is expected to provide analysis and reporting of these performance indicators and ensure that we are strategically managing our portfolio of Contract MRUs to best serve our locomotives and our customers. Depending upon location of qualified candidate, this position will either work remotely or be located in our Chicago office.

Responsibilities:

Contract MRU Management/Strategy 

• Evaluate performance and seek opportunities to develop Contract MRU network that meets both GATX SQDC and customer objectives.
• Responsible for ensuring compliance of periodic locomotive inspections including scheduling, monitoring and coordinating with the Contract MRUs and customers.
• Conduct periodic quality inspections (at least one per month) of the Contract MRUs; evaluate and seek opportunities to improve the quality of Contract MRU performance. Ensure Contract MRUs are performing maintenance per GATX mechanical forms.
• Prepare and analyze monthly SQDC metrics for Contract MRU network.
• Develop adhoc report as requested specific to locomotive or Contract MRU performance.
• Manage ongoing projects executed by Contract MRUs in the field.
• Conduct research, analysis and development of new maintenance providers.

Asset Protection, Reliability, & Troubleshooting 

• Provide technical support / problem solving to develop work orders for locomotive maintenance that meet SQDC objectives.
• Manage multiple projects at any one time, this position requires travel and the ability to navigate issues while working on the road.
• Work with mechanical and Commercial to assess, identify and develop locomotive specifications and processes to improve SQDC effectiveness and customer experience. Examples processes include the GATX Locomotive Inspection Form, In-Service Report, End of lease Report, and Periodic Inspection forms.
• Analyze and make recommendations regarding potential improvement orders (IOs) and reliability costs to support required investment analysis.

Customer Support / Admin Activities

• Field customer phone calls and troubleshoot when locomotives are out of service to determine correct path to restoring unit.
• Manage large flow of weekly invoices, ensuring accuracy from maintenance provider and manage billbacks for customer obligations, including consumables such wheel replacements and wheel trues.
• Coordinate completion of Out of Service Report with Operations team each month and support decisions regarding abatement.
• Work with commercial team to identify new opportunities for leases with or without contract maintenance.
• Must be able to travel to customer sites to assist when mechanical or electrical issues arise with locomotive.
• Train new & old customers to maintain/operate units as effectively and efficiently as possible.
• Review multiple leases with multiple customers to ensure all streams of revenue are recognized.

Requirements

• At least 3 years’ experience in the locomotive industry.
• Must have experience managing multiple complex projects at one time.
• Must have knowledge of locomotive schematics and electrical troubleshooting.
• Positive Train Control knowledge a plus.
• Have a moderate amount of computer skills particularly with excel spreadsheets.
• Must have knowledge of how locomotive contract maintenance providers function, locomotive operations, locomotive maintenance procedures and FRA requirements covering locomotives.

Characteristics

• Must be a self-starter, confident, persuasive and have the ability to perform multiple tasks at any given time.
• Must function well in a team environment.

Other

• Extensive travel all over North America – estimated 40%.
• Must be physically capable of climbing and stooping for locomotive inspections.

Benefits & Perks

As an organization, GATX offers flexibility, phenomenal benefits, and a casual work environment. Specifically, we offer:

• 401(k) with matching and a pension plan
• Premium medical coverage including dental and vision
• Generous PTO with 10 paid federal holidays and 2 floating holidays
• Education reimbursement
• Parental programs including parental leave and adoption assistance