BBM Railway Equipment Moves Full Speed Ahead
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – BBM Railway Equipment, a Youngstown-based railway maintenance and production equipment supply company, refused to be derailed in 2021 by obstacles thrown its way. In fact, the company says it had one of its most rewarding years since it was founded in 2011.
BBM Railway Equipment was established through a collaboration between Brilex Industries of Youngstown and Officine Meccaniche BBM of Italy.
“While 2021 did present a considerable number of challenges for BBM, we still had some positive outcomes that we will use to accelerate our growth into other product lines and sectors within the rail industry,” says James Beck, vice president. “We are hoping to carry that momentum with us into the new year.”
In 2021, BBM installed and commissioned its first two underfloor railcar hoist systems for two major transit authorities in the United States, Beck reports. The company intends to use these systems as examples of its expertise in an effort to become the top supplier for railcar hoist equipment in the United States and Canada.
Last year marked production of BBM’s first 15-ton electro-mechanical truck frame lifting and rotating unit that can accommodate three different truck assemblies, Beck says.
Previous iterations of this product used hydraulics for lifting, which can be loud, messy from a maintenance standpoint and a safety concern. This new design is a safe, quiet and low maintenance alternative to the previous hydraulic design, he explains.
BBM also performed a successful drive and idler bogie upgrade on a very old locomotive turntable for a key Class II railroad. The company’s spare parts and field service group was able to adequately support these systems, along with many other railway maintenance and production systems all over the country.
Technology has given BBM the ability to support its customers faster than ever before, Beck says. With new high speed cellular networks in place, BBM offers customers the option for a cellular industrial VPN router that can be integrated into the equipment control systems.
This allows BBM engineers to have remote access to the specific equipment control system over a secure and private connection, providing the ability to diagnose and troubleshoot an issue much faster than they could over the phone with an operator.
Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
