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by Joshua Greenbaum, Contributing Editor   Hidden in the bad press about oil prices is a little-known fact: Rail freight is the hottest sector in the transportation industry. And one of the reasons it is so hot, $3.50 per-gallon gas prices notwithstanding, is that just-in-time manufacturing is pushing the railroads and shipping companies to pick up the slack for trucking -- which is suffering from a lack of drivers and serious fuel economy problems. What's ironic about this upsurge, considering the high-tech nature of the rest of the supply chain, is that railroads are notoriously under-automated. There is literally no easy way to accurately track a freight car, not to mention its contents, across the entire 200,000 miles of track in the U.S. And there is no definitive way to know, without getting dangerously close, whether the tanker that just derailed is carrying mineral water or highly toxic chlorine gas. In many ways this is an industry that's rolling blind. And it's not just the railroads that don't have a clue. It turns out that manufacturers themselves are also left in the dark, despite the double stake they have in creating a more enlightened view of their logistics chain. Not only do they need to keep their plants running lean and mean, but they own a significant number of the 1.6 million railcars that move their supplies and finished goods from plant to plant. At a maintenance cost of $10,000 per car, per year, this double trouble, or double opportunity, has a lot of dollar signs associated with it. [Click to continue] |