Insights - March/April 2017 - 4

IANA NEWS
O&M Business Meeting Offers
Varied Agenda, Activities
IANA's Operations & Maintenance
Business Meeting will offer multiple opportunities to address the industry's most
pressing O&M issues. The event will be
May 2-4 at the Westin Lombard Yorktown
Center.
With support from relevant task
forces, four facilitated roundtables are at
the center of the dialogue on Wednesday,
May 3:
* Components of a Terminal Operations
Data Portal
* Roadside Inspection Exercise
* Driver Vehicle Inspection Reporting:
Are We Making Progress?
* Improving Intermodal Chassis
Mechanics Training Practices And
Procedures
On the same day, two early general
sessions featuring Intermodal Business
Trends, FMC and FMCSA will address
industry performance and the role
Washington plays in those results. A
third afternoon general session, led by
FMCSA, will look at intermodal equipment
provider and motor carrier audit reviews
and results.
Committee meetings, open to all, are
the Thursday focus, which follows the Annual Golf Outing, intermodal facility tours
and Supplier Showcase and Networking
Reception earlier in the meeting.
For roundtable descriptions and the
full program schedule, see the events
page at www.intermodal.org.

M&R Committee Emphasis -
Task Forces
The IANA Maintenance & Repair
Committee's 2017 activity agenda
embraces task forces that are targeted
to address tire maintenance, wheel end
safety and training as well as improving
the repair and maintenance of chassis
through enhanced inspection and repair
procedures and training for mechanics.
"We tie committee agendas and task
forces to our mission to promote safety
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industry that go beyond maintenance and
repair," said Cliff Creech, who chairs the
committee.
4 Intermodal Insights | March/April 2017

The Photographic Evidence Task
Force's deliverables are designed to help
motor carriers and equipment providers
by establishing how photographic
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to the current practice of determining
tire defects based on the mandatory
return of tire carcasses. This task force
was established based on a request
from the UIIA's Intermodal Interchange
Executive Committee to assist with this
issue. Creech said allowing photographic
evidence will advance a process that
doesn't currently take advantage of
electronic communication, and will provide
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The Wheel End Task Force has identiƒGFUVGRUVJCVTGRCKTXGPFQTUOQVQT
carriers and drivers can take to identify
warning signs of wheel end failures, a rare
occurrence that can have catastrophic
consequences when it happens. "One of
the biggest safety issues we have is wheel
ends because it touches every corner of
the supply chain," said Joey Frederick, a
committee vice chairman.
The Photographic Evidence and Wheel
End Task Forces are expected to complete
their activities this year.
'Big Step Forward'
Jordan Hunt, also a vice chairman,
said the shortage of mechanics for the
motor carrier, M&R vendor and container
yard operator is just as critical as the
much more publicized shortage of truck
drivers. "We and our partners are having
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adequate staff," Hunt said. "The task force
is a big step forward."
Training mechanics for intermodal is

especially important,
Frederick said. "We
want to do what
we can to raise the
level of training and
professionalism.
We want to create
a career path, and
not have the job be
a stepping stone
to something else.
There will be monuOGPVCNDGPGƒVU
once we complete
and implement the
task force's mandate." The task force is
currently looking at training guidelines and
options for moving forward with training
mechanics.
The Mechanics Training Task Force
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amount of its work this year by completing intermodal recommended practices
for the repair of intermodal chassis.
The development of these practices for
training mechanics is a far-reaching and
multi-faceted process which, once implemented, will have profound impacts on
the industry, committee leaders said.
Jon Poelma,
an IANA board
member who
is the liaison
to the committee, said it's
important to
develop training
materials that
emphasize
electronic comPoelma
munications
and e-learning instead of relying solely
on printed documents and classroom
delivery.
"We want to get to the point where a
mechanic touches the chassis as little as
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Creech said. "Steps like the task force help
to reach that goal."
Priorities Going Forward
Creech and other leaders of the group
emphasized the committee is focused
on safety and compliance with Federal
Motor Carrier Safety Regulations by using
IANA News - continued on page 6
http://www.intermodal.org
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Insights - March/April 2017
