Train to the Future

18/02/2020

Wintersemester 2019 - ÖBB Technische Services

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

ӦBB Technische Services GmbH (TS) is the largest Austrian company involved in the maintenance of rail vehicles. With its 25 locations throughout Europe, 22 of which are in Austria, and joint venture cooperations, it generates an annual turnover of more than € 500 million. TS is the leading provider of maintenance and further development of rail vehicles and their components in Austria as well as other smaller target markets.

Initial situation

Markets are an ever evolving and developing place, in general and even more so in the train vehicle maintenance industry. For ÖBB TS to keep up with their strong market position they need to have their finger on the pulse of time and tailor their product range and services to their customers’ needs. The project’s goal was to prepare ÖBB TS for the challenges and opportunities in the industry they operate in, that will come upon them in the following five years.

Methodological Approach

Starting with the identification of trends secondary literature was used to gain insight and familiarize ourselves with the topic at hand. There had also taken place a focus group together with ÖBB TS employees to substantiate our knowledge. Input on customer knowledge was also given. Databases like “Qualtrics”, “Orbit” and “MarketLine” were used to find the latest articles and news on the development of trends. Four major trends were identified during this research.

To identify customer needs, several expert interviews were conducted. The target group of the interview partners are the customers and potential customers of ÖBB TS. After concluding our research, ten customer needs were identified. The ten customer needs were evaluated according to a scoring model, based on factors such as number of mentions, capital requirement, lead time, sustainability and coordination effort. By this, five of the ten needs were chosen to be analyzed more carefully. All of these steps were necessary to make a sound recommendation for action possible and ensure a suitable preparation for ÖBB TS.

Student team

  • Alexander Gerstendörfer

  • Michael Hofreither

  • Simon Lampl

  • Lenka Mirdová

Cooperation partner

  • Jörg Schirnhofer BSc
    ÖBB Technische Services

Lecturers

  • Linn Kretzschmar, M.Sc.
    Tuong-Vi Sophie Quach, MA