Visions - Fall 2012 - (Page 6)

MACHINERY & POWER BUSINESS GROUP Chicago Metra 28 r s! Yea S umitomo Corporation of America (SCOA) has had a long and successful history of providing various types of passenger rail cars in the United States. While our close working relationship with the premier carbuilder Nippon Sharyo has provided us the capability to build and deliver cars, much of our success to date can also be attributed to the close business relationship we have had with the Chicago Metra. Chicago has traditionally been a center for rail transit, using commuter trains almost as long as the city has had trains running through it. Rail service experienced great success in the 1930s, when Chicago had the largest public transportation system in the world. In 1983 Chicago’s Regional Transit Authority was reorganized, and the Commuter Rail Service Board was created to oversee commuter rail operations. Since 1984 Metra has served as the moniker for the commuter rail service in the Chicago area. Hideyuki “Hugh” Ninomiya, Director of Sumitomo Corporation of America’s (SCOA) Transportation Systems Unit, explained that our association with Metra and the Illinois rail community harkens back to the early 1980s when SCOA teamed up with Nippon Sharyo to enter the U.S. rail market and established a relationship with Metra as a supplier of railcars that we still enjoy today.“Sumitomo has enjoyed a long relationship with Metra as a prime contractor in supplying passenger rail car projects, mainly handling the overall project management and commercial aspects of the project,” said Ninomiya.“We have a 30-year relationship with Nippon Sharyo, as they take care of the design, manufacturing, warranty, and other technical aspects.” “We first entered the North America market with a contract with Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (NICTD) in 1982,” Ninomiya said.“This was a single level Electrical Multiple Unit (EMU)”. Pictured from left to right: Arlene Mulder, Secretary, Metra Board; Alex Clifford, CEO, Metra; Takashi Kano, President and CEO of SCOA and GM of the Americas; and Akira Koyasu, President & CEO, Nippon Sharyo USA, attend the Metra commemoration ceremony. Mr. Kano presents Mr. Clifford with a ceremonial key to commemorate the delivery of the first car of the New Metra Electric Highliner. SCOA’s relationship with Chicago Metra started in the early 90’s as a carbody shell supplier for gallery-type passenger cars to Morrison Knudsen (MK), the prime contractor to Metra and also the final assembler. MK had financial problems at that time, and there were concerns that the cars would not be delivered, but we managed to complete the MK contract for the engineering, with Nippon Sharyo’s support. This was the beginning and the foundation of a strong relationship with Metra. Ever since then, our biggest customer has been Metra having delivered over 500 cars. Overall deliveries to Metra include 479 gallery type bi-level passenger cars and 26 gallery type bi-level electrical passenger cars and all rolling stock, another 85 cars, used by Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District. This means that the Sumitomo/Nippon Sharyo team has supplied the majority of commuter rail cars departing and arriving in Chicago during this period. “In our 30-year history in the North America market, we’ve delivered approximately 900 cars, and we have never been late in delivering any of these cars,” said Ninomiya. In our execution of past Metra contracts, including the delivery of 300 Gallery-type passenger rail cars in 2005, SCOA and Nippon Sharyo, Ltd. have consistently met Buy America requirements and also have made use of the contents and the workforce of Illinois thereby supporting the creation of local area-oriented work. Both companies are committed to a continued enhancement of such contribution to local employment, a move that reflects Sumitomo’s multi-tier commitment to corporate social responsibility within its businesses. 6 v i s i o n s F a l l 2 0 1 2

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Visions - Fall 2012

Visions - Fall 2012
Contents
Trust: The Foundation Of SCOA’s Longstanding Businesses
Union Pacific & Canadian National Railway
Chicago Metra
Treadways
Smithfield Foods
SMS Equipment Inc.
Robroy Industries
Osaka Titanium
Hamilton Sundstrand

Visions - Fall 2012