Saw this on a license e-group and thought it was pretty interesting. A letter from the UP president to all UP employees. No mention of model railroading, but still interesting from a prototype standpoint. Don
Message: 1 Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2005 09:36:59 -0700 From: "Beckert, Shawn" Subject: FW: President's Letter to ALL Union Pacific Employees Fellow Listers, While not exactly related to the trademark/license issue, I think some of you might get a laugh with your morning coffee reading this little bit of cheerleading from Jim Young - especially if you've experienced first-hand how well all these "plans" are working. I kept looking for the "Beat Up on The Model Railroad Hobby" Plan, but apparently it's not a discussion point. Yet... Shawn Beckert -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, August 10, 2005 7:31 AM To: UP Dave Willoughby; UP Craig Cherne; SP Tim Kline; SP Soupy Arizona Campbell; SP Richard Honea; SP Poop Shoes; SP Mike Odonohoe; SP Mike Kuzman; SP Mike Jarel - Hogger; SP Mike Cude-Trainmaster; SP Mike & Robbi Hoffman; SP Larry Spearman-Retired; SP Larry Fredeen; SP Lance Broderson; SP John Strube; SP John Edwards; SP Jeff Stein; SP James A. Escalante; SP Charlie Henry; SP Cal Fujiwara; SP Byron Henry; SP Bo Golson; SP Brian Black; SP Big Spitter; SP Benny Cardone; RR Stan Garner; Beckert, Shawn; RR IMT Terry; RR IMT Randy; RR Bob Huston; Metrolink Rick; Metrolink Larry; Metrolink Kenny; Metrolink Barb; F&W Pullman Porter; F&W Jeff Trimble; F&W Hoghead; F&W Dean Francuch; F&W Dale Wyant; F&W Dale Bolms; F&W Conductor; F&W Brakeman; C&NW Kevin Christians; Starship Conductor Subject: President's Letter to ALL Union Pacific Employees President's Letter to ALL Union Pacific Employees August 8, 2005 Fellow Employees: With the recent release of second quarter earnings, I want to provide you with a midyear update on our financials and our efforts to handle continued record volume. For the first time in six quarters, we started to see success in converting the top line - an all-time quarterly record of $3.3 billion in operating revenue - to bottom-line profitability. Our operating income of $468 million was the highest reported since the fourth quarter of 2003. That's good news, but our second quarter operating ratio came in at 86, the highest among the Class I railroads. More is not better when it comes to operating ratio, which measures efficiency based on how much revenue is needed to cover expenses. (A ratio of 80, for example, indicates 80 cents out of each revenue dollar is consumed in operating expense.) During the second quarter, several railroads reported operating ratio in the mid-70s. Operations Are Improving But Behind Goals We have proven we can grow our top line through price and volume. The key to our success, however, is improving our operational efficiency. Clearly, we have much further to go. In comparing second quarter results against yearly goals, the average system train speed was 16.4 mph compared to 18.1 mph; freight car dwell hours were 27.4 compared to 26.5, and the recrew rate was 8.7 percent compared to 5.1 percent. Building our operating momentum will be helped by fully implementing the Unified Plan. For many months now, our Service Design and field Operating employees have worked to craft the plan, focusing on reducing main line work events and terminal switch events to minimize congestion, decrease car dwell and increase velocity. (hahahahahaha!!!!) The major Unified Plan implementations began in late March and April with the automotive plan, followed by the manifest plan in May, June and July. It continues into early August with the intermodal plan. Most Efficient Overall The thing to remember is we can't just "flip a switch" when changing railroad operations. The implementation requires refinement over a period of weeks, as changes work through the system and issues are resolved. Correctional adjustments to the network-wide plan, however, are different than "ad hoc" decisions made at local levels. We must avoid this. We need to become dedicated about following the plan to the best of our abilities each day. If properly implemented, the Unified Plan will help us overcome our performance inconsistencies by simplifying operations and enabling us to run the same schedules day after day. Over the second half of the year, as we adapt and refine the Unified Plan, we should start to see its full impact. Moving in the Right Direction A quick look at progress shows we are moving in the right direction. Employees implementing the Unified Plan have: * Reduced switch events by 5 percent * Reduced main line work events by 6 percent * Reduced car dwell by 10 percent * Added 15 percent capacity in North Platte * Reduced terminal volumes in Topeka, Kansas City and Parsons * Simplified the intermodal network, resulting in 22 fewer trains per week between Global 1 and Global 2 * Reduced failure costs from decreased off-plan events and recrews ยท Created capacity in terminals and the main lines Progress Noted Elsewhere In addition to the Unified Plan, we are continuing our aggressive hiring and training programs, and we estimate this year's hiring will total about 4,700 employees. The $2.8 billion investment we're making this year in track, equipment and physical plant will add capacity and improve our infrastructure. Our Lean continuous improvement initiatives are helping larger terminals such as Los Angeles and Houston become more efficient. Employee teams are working on projects to streamline train flow and locomotive management, improve car and locomotive servicing, and speed call times to departures. We're still a long way from where we want to be, but we are making progress. We have added resources across the board, and we are well positioned to execute on our second half objectives of leveraging the Unified Plan. Now, we need to make this railroad as efficient as possible. Please do your best to "run the plan" and work safely. <https://employees.www.uprr.com/emp/exec/graphics/signatures/jim.gif> Jim Young - President - Union Pacific Corp. Searching for the PLAN. To REPLY to the list, use REPLY ALL; to reply to the sender, use REPLY. For those of you on DIGEST mode, all REPLY messages go to the list (remember to edit the SUBJECT of your message). Change message settings, use our CALENDAR or LINKS, view shared files or photos, view the list archives, GO TO http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ Yahoo! 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