Annual Program Honors Those Who Made a Difference
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THE EMPLOYEE MAGAZINE OF TEAM BNSF MAY/JUNE 2008 2007 Employees of the Year Annual Program Honors Improving Our Safety Vice President, Safety, Training and Operations Support Mark Schulze reports on BNSF’s progress against its safety goals Those Who Made a Difference for the year and reviews two safety focus topics, In 2007, nearly 400 BNSF Achievement Awards were presented to members overexertion and summertime safety. Page 7 of Team BNSF. Of those, 24 outstanding individual and team achievements, Meeting Around Safety representing 105 employees, were selected as best reflecting BNSF’s Vision BNSF’s Transportation leadership team, safety coordinators and Values and strategic initiatives last year. These employees, along with and labor leaders continue a safety dialogue by hosting six Safety Employees of the Year and representatives of 26 work groups roundtable discussions. The leaders recently met to address demonstrating Best of the Best in safety last year, were honored during the and seek solutions to safety issues. Page 8 Employees of the Year Program in April. Closing in on 4,000 Inside this issue of Railway, read how your co-workers’ efforts are making BNSF’s Grade Crossing Closure team manages a crossing- BNSF a better, more efficient and safer place to work. closure program that leads the industry. The team is approaching the closure of the 4,000th crossing since the initiative began in 2000. Page 10 Congratulations to 2007 BNSF Employees of the Year Our vision is to realize the tremendous potential of BNSF Railway Company by providing transportation services At BNSF, people make the difference – whether it’s the foreman who designed that consistently meet our a device to make a work process safer or the team that helped the company to customers’ expectations. save millions of dollars. These are but two of the outstanding accomplishments for which BNSF people were honored with Achievement Awards last year and whose accomplishments were recognized during the 2007 Employees of the RAILWAY STAFF Year (EOY) program. VP, Corporate Relations The two-day annual EOY event was held in early April in Fort Worth Mary Jo Keating and honored 137 employees, including BNSF’s top 105 Achievement Award General Director, recipients, six Safety Employees of the Year and 26 representatives from teams Internal Communications who showed exemplary safety performance in 2007. Kristen Rabe “The year 2007 was a year of challenges and successes. In a difficult economic Editor environment, the strength of BNSF was evident as our dedicated employees once Susan Green again delivered reliable service, captured market opportunities and controlled costs,” said Matt Rose, chairman, president and CEO, during an awards Contributing Photographers Jeff Buehner and Anthony Johnson ceremony. “Our success rests on the quality of our people and our sensitivity to the needs and concerns of our shippers, our investors and our communities. GOT A STOry IDEA? I credit your dedication, focus and resilience for our successes in 2007.” Send story ideas to BNSF Railway Editor, via Outlook to: Communications, Corporate, or send by Internet to: [email protected] or mail to: BNSF Corporate Relations Achievement Award Winners P.O. Box 961057 Most of the employees recognized at the EOY program were selected from those who earned a 2007 Fort Worth, Texas 76161-0057 BNSF Achievement Award, which is the highest form of recognition at BNSF. Developed in 1999, Achievement Awards honor employees who go “above and beyond” to ADDRESS CHANGES Employees: To review your address, demonstrate BNSF Vision and Values. The 105 Achievement Award winners at this year’s EOY event call company line 435-3345 or dial represented 24 individual and team achievements. 1-800-274-6739 or review and For the 2007 EOY program, the BNSF Leadership Team reviewed all Achievement Award winners change your address online via and selected those who best represented BNSF’s Vision and Values. Those teams or individuals selected BNSF‘s Intranet site at employee.bnsf.com. Go to the by the Leadership Team were then presented to the Executive Team for review and approval. A total of My Self page, click on Life Events, 387 employees received Achievement Awards in 2007. (For more information about the Achievement Personal Changes, then Change Award program and the nomination process, please see the Q&A on Page 12.) of Address. Or you may complete The successes honored were as varied as the individuals. Not all team members were able to attend, and return a Personal Information Change Form (#12796) to the so team representatives are indicated in some of the larger groups. Here are the top Achievement Award administrative office; mail it to recipients honored at the 2007 EOY by Strategic Focus Area category (franchise, service, return, people Human Resources Information and community): Systems, P.O. Box 961055, Fort Worth, Texas 76161-0055; or fax it to 817-352-7109. Franchise Retirees: Send address changes and Balance resources to promote growth and requests to receive Railway after you support stable products and services retire to BNSF Corporate Relations, Develop new products and services P.O. Box 961057, Fort Worth, Texas 76161-0057. Please include your Enter into relationships, partnerships, alliances former employee ID number. and mergers that improve our company ON THE COVER Some of the 2007 BNSF/CSXT Haulage Agreement Employees of the Year honorees As the world’s largest intermodal carrier, BNSF Top row, L to R: provides the quickest and most direct routes and Front row, left to right: Doug Gruben, Dan Rigdon, June Arnold, systems engineer is a dependable transportation network supplier. Sarah Bailiff, Carlos Reyes and Robert Moore; Back Brian Berreth, carman BNSF is a leader, in part, because of the men and row: Aaron Cook, Kyle Ross, Darrell Coffey, Steve Ed Herrera, project manager women who work daily to keep our railroad at Salzman and Bob Hart. Terry Nies, trainmaster the forefront. Middle row, L to R: Through the cooperative efforts of a Developing one of BNSF’s most complex Brett Petersen, foreman John Plucinski, foreman cross-functional team, BNSF completed and haulage agreements thus far, this team worked to Joel Reagor, truck driver implemented a new haulage agreement with negotiate the agreement, integrate the CSXT Bottom row, L to R: CSX Transportation (CSXT). Because of that and BNSF systems, establish the physical Carlos Reyes, senior systems developer II agreement, BNSF now has a high-volume rail operation in Atlanta, and tackle a host of issues George Rocha, safety assistant corridor that covers the southeastern region of including service standards, hub operations, Ken Sears, commuter train conductor the country. liability, economics and many more. The result signal safety assistant Gerald Urfer, The assignment was not easy. This team is a seamless experience for customers, and faced many challenges and had a very aggressive now BNSF is the only railroad to offer single-line timeline, beginning in 2006 and finishing in service between the West Coast and Atlanta. January 2007. 2 RAILWAY I MAY/JUNE 2008 The 21 team members are: development, this tool now incorporates The team set out to improve the accuracy Waleed Alattas, senior systems developer II, macros, buttons and embedded calls to the of and reduce the time spent in selecting Technology Services, Fort Worth Data Warehouse. fleet replacements. With assistance from Linda Auge, director, Cost & Profitability Systems, Finance, Fort Worth The DRT also service provider ARI, the team developed a Sarah Bailiff,* (formerly) senior general attorney II, Law, Fort Worth queries operations comprehensive vehicle replacement analysis Fletcher Bornschlegl, senior systems developer II, testing data and model, or V-RAM for short. Technology Services, Fort Worth Chuck Burriss, regional director, Marketing, Kansas City, Kan. compares the results Dave Cinotto, senior manager, Service Design, with testing initiatives. Marketing, Fort Worth The reports also Darrell Coffey,* manager, Product Plan and Development, Marketing, Fort Worth help BNSF measure Aaron Cook,* manager II, Technology Services, Topeka, Kan. progress against Don Foltz, manager, Equipment Utilization, Marketing, Fort Worth Jeremiah Rooks, left, strategic safety Doug Gruben,* manager, Intermodal Systems, and Ron Johnson. initiatives. Just as Marketing, Fort Worth importantly, these Bob Hart,* manager II, Technology Services, Fort Worth Richard Kolnberger, manager, Revenue Management, reports also open communication between Finance, St. Paul, Minn. division leaders and front-line supervisors on Rhianna Lydick, analyst, Car Accounting, Finance, Topeka, Kan. preventing accidents and incidents. Robert Moore,* manager, Hub Operations II, Marketing, Atlanta Karen Rekieta, director, Product Plan and Development, Front row, left to right: Steve Fluck, Ed Herrera, Marketing, Fort Worth Brenda Thowe and Tom Neeser; Back row: Doug Carlos Reyes,* senior systems developer II, Perry, Ron Radika and Scott Maddox. Not pic- Technology Services, Fort Worth Service tured: Greg Dunaway. Dan Rigdon,* terminal manager, Transportation, Birmingham, Ala. Meet customer expectations (damage-free, Kyle Ross,* director, Technology Services, Fort Worth ease of service, etc.) Steve Salzman,* director, Network Strategy, Using V-RAM, BNSF now evaluates Maximize velocity to increase capacity Network Development, Fort Worth each vehicle in the fleet based on various Dan Sanders, senior manager, Car Accounting, Finance,