ARKEMA, FRET SNCF AND EVERYSENS PRESENT THE FIRST RESULT OF A 3-MONTH PROJECT ON SINGLE WAGONS

At the initiative of Arkema, Fret SNCF and Everysens have compared their respective data in order to identify areas for optimisation of its rail flows.

From pooling comes optimization

Rail transport is strategic for Arkema, which uses it to ship nearly 4,000 insulated railcars operated by Fret SNCF every year. This mode of transport provides a high level of safety and helps us achieve our objectives in terms of reducing our carbon footprint.

However, visibility on the date and time of arrival remains limited. Arkema, one of the main users of insulated wagons in France, is starting a collaboration with Everysens in October 2020, in order to manage all its rail logistics in real time. Everysens is equipping Arkema's entire fleet with GPS beacons in order to build a reliable ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival) that is updated in real time for its customer.

Fret SNCF and Everysens have different and complementary data on Arkema's transports.
Fret SNCF has declarative data from the field and the business, while Everysens has automated data in real time. "What if by pooling this data, we could unlock a margin of productivity in rail traffic? It was this question that gave rise to the project.

Improve visibility and objectify performance measurement

The project focused on 3 months of data from the Gent - Saint Avre flow, and was carried out in several phases.

Initially, Arkema decided to open its real-time GPS data to Fret SNCF to compare with its own data and help it to manage flows and react more quickly in the event of a problem. At the same time, this made it possible to compare.
Fret SNCF's declarative data with Everysens' real time data. The second phase focused on measuring theoretical vs. actual performance results. By cross-referencing the GPS points of the wagons with the areas of interest crossed by the wagons (stations, hubs, workshops, etc.), the operation made it possible to measure the actual transit time and to identify the patterns of immobilization in each area.

“Everything that can be measured can be improved. Following this analysis, Fret SNCF has set up an action plan on this flow with our local entities and service providers”, explains Pierre Boutin,Director of the Single Wagon Transport recovery program at Fret SNCF. “Our objective is to find the causes of wagon immobilization and reduce these waiting times”.

Extend the project to all Arkema flows

For Yves Antoine, Director Global Logistics Procurement at Arkema, “The results are promising. We are getting the return transports transmitted by SNCF to Everysens, which gives us complete visibility of the flows. This project will enable us to implement proactive operational management with our partners, to identify the locations impacting the performance of the transport and to have reliable and contextualised data”.

"For Fret SNCF, offers and solutions in single wagons and groups of wagons are at the heart of our strategy and represent a major lever for achieving the objectives of doubling the rail freight market share” says Edouard Laverny, Fret SNCF Sales & Marketing Director.
“The partnership with Arkema and Everysens allows us to improve the management of wagonload flows, and provides us with the tools we need to reduce transit times and improve performance and reliability in order to meet our ambitions for growth and customer satisfaction."

What is the future of this project? Dr. Youness Lemrabet, CEO of Everysens, explains: “This project demonstrates the tremendous potential of expanded collaboration in rail freight. We are already discussing the possibility of industrializing this project for all Arkema’s flows, thus making single wagon transport more reliable and attractive. We are fully aligned with the ambitions of the national strategy for rail freight and decarbonation.”


ABOUT ARKEMA
With its unique expertise in materials science, Arkema has a portfolio of leading technologies to meet the accelerating demand for new, sustainable materials. With the ambition of becoming a pure player in Specialty Materials by 2024, Arkema is today organized around three complementary, resilient and highly innovative segments dedicated to them and representing 85.5% of the Group's sales in 2021: Adhesives, Advanced Materials and Coating Solutions, and a competitive and well positioned Intermediates segment. Arkema offers cutting-edge technological solutions to meet the challenges of new energies, access to water, recycling, urbanization and mobility, and is committed to ongoing dialogue with all its stakeholders. 9.5 billion in 2021 and is present in nearly 55 countries with 20,200 employees.

ABOUT FRET SNCF
As part of Rail Logistics Europe, the SNCF group's activity that brings together rail freight and logistics companies, Fret SNCF offers freight transport solutions in France and Europe, whatever the sector of activity of its customers. Fret SNCF serves more than 600 sites in France and provides regular, high-capacity connections on the main economic corridors. With its services for the automotive, chemical and petrochemical, metallurgy, construction and public works, minerals, agricultural and consumer goods industries, the company meets local, national and international transport needs. With its 5,100 employees, Fret SNCF is the leading rail freight operator in France. It transports 17 billion tonne-kilometers each year and has a turnover of €735 million in 2021. By offering innovative and competitive services, Fret SNCF is committed to increasing the share of rail in European freight transport to combat global warming.

ABOUT EVERYSENS
Decarbonizing transportation, one train at a time. Everysens offers the first Transport Visibility & Management System (TVMS): a TMS specialized in the predictive planning of your transports thanks to the integration of real-time visibility in your processes. This collaborative tool simplifies exchanges between the logistics operator, shippers, carriers and customers for a better execution of transport flows.