Unipart’s CEO Darren Leigh highlights the shift towards end-to-end, data-driven supply chain strategies, emphasising collaboration, technology, and risk-sharing partnerships to navigate increasing volatility in rail operations.
Rail operators can no longer regard supply chain turbulence as a peripheral problem; it has become central to operational performance and a potential differentiator for those who manage it well. Darren Leigh, Chief Executive Officer of Unip...
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art, told delegates at the AusRAIL PLUS conference in Melbourne that the industry faces persistent unpredictability and that rail’s tightly coupled assets, maintenance and logistics make it especially vulnerable. Rail Express reported Leigh’s remarks to an audience of more than 7,000 attendees.
Unipart’s perspective is shaped by decades of work supporting mission‑critical customers across 22 countries, a vantage point Leigh described as a “watchtower” view of recurring pressures from Sydney to London and New York to Dubai. He warned that geopolitical shifts can abruptly upend trade routes, extreme weather is increasingly common, and post‑pandemic changes in passenger and freight patterns are reshaping demands on networks.
A central problem, Leigh argued, is the sector’s boom‑and‑bust investment cycle. Episodic funding, he said, undermines long‑term planning, encourages short‑term maintenance choices over renewal and can accelerate a loss of experienced staff seeking stability elsewhere. Those dynamics, combined with legacy processes, leave many operators exposed to poor demand forecasting, bloated inventories and siloed decision‑making, a diagnosis echoed by industry analysis from the Boston Consulting Group.
The supplier dialogue is shifting as a result. Where conversations once began “Can you supply this part?”, Leigh said they increasingly open with “How can you help us improve our performance and navigate this volatility?” That change signals a move away from transactional buying towards strategic partnership models aimed at shared performance outcomes.
Predictive maintenance is now well established in rail, yet Unipart urges the sector to go further by embedding predictions into logistics and repair processes so the supply chain responds automatically. The company calls this end‑to‑end approach the Condition‑Based Supply Chain, or CBSC. According to Unipart Rail’s website, CBSC combines real‑time asset data with broader information sources to deliver targeted maintenance, just‑in‑time parts delivery and continuous product and service improvement, addressing cost, carbon, customer experience and capacity imperatives.
In practice, CBSC links sensors, analytics and automated logistics so a forecasted fault triggers delivery of the right part, tool and technician to the right place at the right time. Unipart says this closes the loop from “sensor to insight, then into logistics, and through to component refurbishment”, reducing unnecessary interventions, shortening downtime and extending asset life.
Leigh offered tangible examples. He pointed to work with Northern Trains and Porterbrook on the Class 170 Turbostar fleet, where remote condition monitoring of oil pressure and coolant levels allowed earlier diagnosis, fewer faults and higher availability. He also highlighted a project with Network Rail in which Unipart refurbished point machines in‑house, achieving a reported 50 per cent cost saving compared with buying new, a 15‑month warranty that outlasted the original equipment warranty and faster return‑to‑service.
Technology alone, Leigh cautioned, will not resolve the industry’s vulnerabilities. He stressed culture and collaboration as essential foundations , a theme he linked to “The Unipart Way”, the company’s proprietary continuous improvement system that aims to empower employees at all levels to challenge standard practices. Likewise, Dr Dave McGorman, Unipart’s Managing Director – Rail and Technology, has argued that mastering supply chain complexity is no longer merely about cost control but about securing competitive advantage in an era when volatility is the norm.
Industry commentators and consultants urge similar reforms. Boston Consulting Group analysis highlights common failings in spare‑parts operations , from flawed master data to inadequate supplier governance , and recommends modernising processes and digital tools to cut costs and improve service. Those prescriptions align with Unipart’s CBSC proposition but underline that implementation will demand concerted changes in governance, data quality and contracting models.
Leigh urged the sector to abandon short‑term procurement mindsets and adopt longer‑term, risk‑sharing partnerships that facilitate open data sharing and joint investment. In his account, that shift is the prerequisite for turning the supply chain from a cost centre into a source of resilience and competitive advantage , a transition that, if realised, could improve reliability, reduce carbon and protect scarce operational expertise.
Source: Noah Wire Services
