Investing in the future Davis Wagon Services and 3Squared

26th April 2018

Davis Wagon Services, a maintenance provider to the UK rail freight industry, is to invest in its staff competence technology by licensing RailSmart EDS, the employee development system from digital software company 3Squared.

Davis Wagon Services joins, among others, South Western Railway, East Midlands Trains, GB Railfreight, ScotRail and Bombardier as customers of 3Squared and users of EDS. James Fox, Commercial Director at 3Squared, said: -I am delighted that Davis Wagon Services has become a customer. James explained that EDS was designed initially in 2014 by 3Squared in collaboration with East Midland Trains as a digital record of drivers' competency assessments. It swiftly became an established part of competency management not only for EMT but also for South Western Railways and GB Railfreight. By the end of 2017, EDS has recorded over 211,000 assessments and facilitated nearly 3,000 support plans, doing away with inefficient paper-based assessments. John Hall, Davis Wagon Services Managing Director, said: -The EDS package is no secret within the industry. Several of our customers and stakeholders had already engaged with 3Squared and we had seen the benefits brought to their business. -The freight industry needs to move into the 21st century; with technology and software becoming more tailored and affordable to businesses, now is the ideal time to invest in this software for the future. -From the initial meeting with 3Squared to understand if EDS would fit into our business, we have never hesitated in moving the project forward as this software aligns with our future business objectives.  -Due to the safety critical nature of our business, staff competency is at the core of our values. We cannot deliver our service without our staff being trained and assessed correctly. -Our current practices are adequate but are somewhat archaic. The EDS software allows our assessors to carry out more frequent assessments on our staff; this improves the quality of our workforce, which has an overall effect on delivering the levels of service that our customers require and is the primary reason we signed up to EDS. -We are aware that the software has the potential to do more and that opportunity will be explored further as our business develops post implementation. James concluded: -Our experience so far suggests that the railway has a way to go down the path to full digitisation, but with the commitment of organisations such as Davis Wagon Services, the industry is clearly going in the right direction.