UTC News

UTLX Sweats the Details to Help Stepan Maximize its Shipping Efficiency

Union Tank Car engineers work with a team at Stepan to design the "perfect" Optimiser® car for polyol.

The little things can add up to a big difference. At least that's what Stepan Company learned when it recently decided to expand its polyol
fleet with 42 new UTLX Optimiser® cars. Everyone from logistics executives to plant production and loading personnel worked with Union
Tank Car engineers to make the first polyol cars designed for 286,000 lbs gross rail limit (GRL) service as user-friendly as possible.
Stepan's Millsdale Plant, located in Elwood, Illinois, is the largest U.S. producer of aromatic polyester polyol, a specialty chemical used to
make foam insulation for buildings, appliances and other markets. Since first producing polyol almost 20 years ago, the plant has shifted from
trucks to mostly rail for shipments, and the tank car fleet has grown accordingly. The latest step was 42 new 286 GRL cars. "Union Tank Car
builds a Cadillac in their industry," declares Stepan Traffic Manager Meredith Foster. "They have a good reputation for not only quality, but
on-time delivery. We needed these cars by May to coincide with the beginning of construction season, and that's when we got them."

High as Stepan's expectations were, they were surpassed by the commitment of Union Tank Car Engineer Tom Rybarczyk and Senior Designer
Carl Carney who customized the cars to the exact needs of plant loaders and external customers. For example, one Stepan customer noted that the hot water his crew pumped into tank car heater coils to warm the thick product for unloading tended to bypass the coils. Many tank car products are heated with steam which easily travels through the coils, but steam could damage the polyol. So, UTLX engineers created an orifice at a critical juncture that directed the water to the coils so effectively that Stepan specified the design on its latest order. One other significant design change came from Carl Carney at the on-site pre-production meeting. Mark Chelios, Stepan PA/polyol loader, and Todd Jones, PA/polyol supervisor, suggested that the piping should be to the side on the car so the unloader didn't have to crawl under the car to hook up the unloading line. Carl came back shortly after with the modified design for the new polyol rail cars.

Another small but important change was a specially-designed housing for plastic tubes to hold Stepan's MSDS documents that accompany each
shipment. Union Tank Car welded a special plate with pre-drilled holes to each car, so Stepan personnel could easily attach and remove the
tubes. Union Tank Car even asked whether Stepan was satisfied with the shape of the dome bolts, and PA/Polyol Loader Scott Peterson was glad they did. "With UTLX cars, you know that all the bolts we have to open are always going to be the same size, and we can use one fitting on our air gun for all of them," he reports. "Union Tank Car engineers made a point to come to our plant and talk to our loaders to make sure that we had exactly what we wanted on these cars," adds Todd Jones.

Finally, the coatings applied to tank interiors by Union Tank Car's East Chicago, Indiana, lining and coating shop had to be perfect - and they
were. "Stepan tries to distinguish itself by offering the highest quality polyol on the market," notes Polymers Team Leader Jim Fordonski.
"We use very pure raw materials, and we take care to formulate our grades for the most efficient use by our customers. An important part
of our effort is delivering our product in a tank that won't contaminate our product with pinholes in the coating, and a car that is easy for
them to unload. These utilitarian features in the newer cars can be used to our marketing advantage."

With the new additions, UTLX cars now account for about two-thirds of Stepan's total polyol fleet, and all are on full-service lease. "After
analysis, we determined that when you add the cost of administration and maintenance manpower for these cars, leasing is more cost effective,"
explains Foster. "And at the end of the lease, we can get a new car with any improvements we may have determined that we'd like."
Those improvements are likely to continue to include moving up to more 286 GRL Optimiser tank cars in the future. Stepan has calculated that
the larger cars will increase loading efficiency by almost 13%, which is significant for polyol.

"We're pretty excited about it," says Stepan Traffic Supervisor Barb Murray. "We're working internally and with our customers toward being
able to take full advantage of the extra capacity, so we can really max out our fleet."

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