More than one hundred customers, area business leaders, employees, and city officials celebrated the opening of Graham White’s newest facility in Shreveport, La. at an open house held May 1. The 14,000 sq. ft facility is the third Graham White remanufacturing center now in operation, strategically located to serve the product and service needs of customers in the Midwestern, Southwestern and Southern states. The facility added 15 new jobs to the area.

Shreveport city officials were among the guests who enjoyed plant tours, hands-on demonstrations, and a buffet lunch as part of the festivities at the center. Included in the tour was a glimpse of the 4,000 sq. ft. climate controlled air dryer, air brake and GW valves assembly and test area, the expansive product warehousing storage area, areas designated for tear down and remanufacture of air brakes and other products, as well as product demonstrations. Some of the door prize winners included Matt Long, Progress Rail (plasma TV) and Johnny Davis, Spring Ride Rail (Weber grill).

According to Travis Lawrence, manager of the Shreveport location, the new center has been in operation for nine months, completing its M-1003 certification audit in Sept. 2005, shortly after Hurricane Katrina left large areas of the region’s rail system under water and hundreds of freight cars and engines in need of overhaul.

“Fortunately, even though we experienced some delays, we were far enough along in our building process that we were ready to go soon after the storm,” says Lawrence. He says that the company’s first order of business was to help restore damaged equipment by remanufacturing parts such as valves for air brakes and air dryers and other products to good-as-new condition.

“Rail service was one area that was restored fairly quickly,” he says, adding that the center has seen steady growth as a result.

Lynn Cauley, sales/customer service team leader, said that the center’s central location was chosen to keep customer delivery times as short as possible.

“With our Carson City, Nev. facility in the west and our Salem, Va. plant serving east coast customers, the addition of the Shreveport site has made us more responsive to the needs of customers in three different time zones,” she says. “We pride ourselves of an average four to five day turnaround for most remanufacturing jobs, because we understand that every day that equipment (locomotives and rail cars) is down means lost revenue. The Shreveport facility is within same day to two days shipping of most customers in the Midwest, Southwest and Southern sections of the country.”

Cauley says that Graham White’s remanufacturing business is growing rapidly, as more companies outsource this service to specialists.

“Increasingly, companies are recognizing the cost effectiveness of remanufactured parts, particularly when they are done with the attention to detail that Graham White provides to its customers,” she says. “Our warranty—the same as with new components—speaks for itself.”

Also, Cauley notes that since recent FRA changes in regulations allow extending the maintenance cycle of the 26L brake systems for the locomotive from three to four years, maintenance of these air brake valves is more crucial than ever.

“With the new Shreveport location, we can complete these refits and meet the needs of our customers better and faster than ever before,” she says.

For more information on Graham-White products and services, log on to www.grahamwhite.com.

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Graham-White, headquartered in Salem, VA provides reliable transportation solutions. GW is a world technology leader in the drying of compressed air for locomotives and rail transit vehicles and a wide range of innovative products including the SafeSet™ Locomotive Parking Brake, Electronic Bell-E-BELL®, SludgeBraker™, Computerized Single Car Test Device and an assortment of heavy-duty pneumatic and electro-pneumatic valves and accessories to heavy rail, rail transit, military, truck & bus, and industrial clients.

At locations in Salem, VA, Carson City, NV and now Shreveport, LA, our 238 full-time associates provide the highest level of quality in design, manufacturing and customer service to customers around the globe. Our commitment to improve is evidenced by our ISO 9001:2000 compliance and our ability to meet the requirement of the American Association of Railways' M-1003 on all or our products and services.