DALIAN, People's Republic of China--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Electro-Motive Diesel, Inc. (EMD) recently established multiple warehouse operations in China to support their growing fleet of 6000-horsepower diesel locomotives. These warehouses are located in the Northeast section of China, within close proximity of Customer maintenance operations, and are configured to meet both the Customer and EMD’s needs. The Customer measures locomotive fleet performance based on the amount of time each locomotive is not available to move freight thus swift and efficient parts supply is necessary to minimize down time. It is EMD’s mission to keep locomotive availability at the highest level.

Each of the warehouses is designed to fit within the structure of EMD’s global materials management and finance operations and as such, each utilizes EMD’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. This system allows for immediate access to inventory information such as the location, and routing of parts. These warehouses thus become an extension of EMD’s established parts distribution network worldwide. Material managers at EMD’s headquarters in the USA can view how many pieces of a particular material part number are on hand in any EMD location and move said material with the click of a mouse. Each of the EMD China material planners are trained in the use of EMD’s ERP system and materials management processes and these skills continue to be enhanced and refined through periodic refresher training.

Electro-Motive Diesel, Inc. (EMD) headquartered in LaGrange, Illinois, USA was awarded a diesel locomotive contract for 300 locomotives from the China Ministry of Railways in September 2005. These locomotives are designed by EMD specifically for the China heavy-haul market and the completion of testing and production in China has seen the fleet growing with a good number in service now.

As the locomotive fleet grows in size and the locomotives are operated over a greater expanse of China, EMD envisions the warehouse operations and locations to further expand to meet the fleet needs.

Founded in 1922, Electro-Motive Diesel, Inc. is one of two U.S. original equipment manufacturers of diesel-electric locomotives. Headquartered in LaGrange, Illinois, with additional facilities in London, Ontario, Canada, EMD designs, manufactures and sells diesel-electric locomotives for all commercial railroad applications and has sold its products in more than 73 countries worldwide. The Company is the only diesel-electric locomotive manufacturer to have produced more than 70,000 engines and has the largest installed base of diesel-electric locomotives in both North America and internationally. In addition to its locomotive manufacturing activities, EMD has an extensive aftermarket business offering customer’s replacement parts and a range of value-added services for its locomotives. The Company is also a global provider of diesel engines for marine propulsion, offshore and land-based oil well drilling rigs, and stationary power generation.

Additional information may be found at www.EMDiesels.com.