USA: The Greenbrier Companies and Sumitomo Corp have opened a jointly-owned axle machining plant in California. GBSummit is adjacent to an established Greenbrier Rail Services wagon wheelset maintenance facility at San Bernardino.
GBSummit uses advanced automation for axle machining, and offers comprehensive axle services including inspection and cleaning, finishing and machining. It can currently produce up to 12 000 axles per year, but production is expected to grow to 50 000 axles per year over the next 36 months.
‘Our new state-of-the-art facility is the first axle machining location on the West Coast’, said Rick Turner, Senior Vice-President and leader of Greenbrier's Wheels & Parts unit on April 27. ‘It supports the growth we see in intermodal rail activity, the largest of all rail loading categories, where loadings have increased steadily in 2017, up 2·4% year-to-date. GBSummit is in a prime location near major intermodal rail operations that serve two of America's busiest container ports, the Port of Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles (San Pedro). This facility creates value for our customers and partners and is consistent with our strategy of creating solutions for our customers over the life of the railcar.’
