Josh M. Yates

Josh Yates is a Senior Consultant with ESi. His experience in the Class 1 rail industry spans more than two decades, specializing in mechanical operations management, rail equipment incident investigation and cause finding, LEAN systems, and regulation oversight. He offers a broad range of specialization regarding compliance to the American Association of Railroads (AAR) billing and repair practices, and Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) 49 CFR parts 215, 231, and 232 regulations.

A Carman by trade, he has practical experience in freight car maintenance and a deep working knowledge of railroad wheels, trucks, draft systems, air brake components and safety appliances. Mr. Yates has extensive experience in the development and training of the inspection, measurement, and repair of railroad freight cars.

Past responsibilities included Go Team response, accident investigation, incident command, derailment causal analysis and prevention and collaboration with both the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

Mr. Yates was heavily involved in nation-wide, and location specific LEAN initiatives focused on derailment prevention, injury reduction and productivity improvements.  He has leveraged the tools of eight step problem solving (A3), 5S, value stream mapping (VSM), visual controls (VC) and standard work (SW) development using the job instruction breakdown (JIB) method.

Mr. Yates is a results-oriented leader, practical problem solver, skilled presenter and an expert in mechanical operations and freight car inspection and repair. He is committed to delivering sound technical expertise and a well-communicated product to ESi’s clients.