Welcome to OnTrackNorthAmerica's Industry Action Plans
Where stakeholders in Canada, the United States, and Mexico redesign our industrial systems for sustainable life.
You are invited to participate. Our first Industry Action Plan is VitalRail, focused on optimizing the use of railroads as the backbone of an integrated, balanced multimodal transportation network that serves all industries. Progress relies on genuine collaboration across sectors, addressing the fragmentation in our industrial systems—from natural resources and agriculture to production, distribution, consumption, and recycling.
We employ a proven inquiry-based methodology, IntelliSynthesis®, that facilitates:
- Comprehensive information gathering
- Innovative brainstorming
- Actionable decision-making among diverse stakeholder groups
Enter the Industry Action Plans
What do we mean by industrial systems?
We use the term “industrial systems” to encompass the complete set of commercial, policy, and planning activities involved in delivering materials and products for modern civilization’s survival and satisfaction. Industrial systems include all inputs and impacts, including land use, transportation, recycling, and disposal. What occurs between properties is often as significant as what happens at a property.
What do we mean by redesign?
Redesigning industrial systems through our Collaborative Industrial Optimization framework transforms fragmented supply chains into cohesive, sustainable networks through a stakeholder-driven process that respects existing investments while boldly reimagining infrastructure placement and connectivity. This approach begins with establishing shared goals and performance metrics, then progresses to strategic reconfiguration—as demonstrated in our mineral supply chain work, where we optimize the positioning of extraction, manufacturing, and recycling facilities to maximize efficiency and minimize environmental impact. Beyond physical infrastructure, our redesign process addresses the crucial human dimension by creating compelling incentives that align individual and organizational success with system-wide sustainability, ensuring that technical solutions are supported by the social and behavioral changes needed for lasting transformation..
Who are the stakeholders?
You are the stakeholders. Forging sustainable industries demands the collective wisdom of stakeholders across North America's vast industrial ecosystem—from corporate executives and policy makers to community leaders and frontline workers whose lives are directly shaped by these systems. OnTrackNorthAmerica has meticulously identified over 32,000 stakeholders spanning our continent's industrial, political, and geographic landscape, yet we continuously expand this network to ensure truly comprehensive representation. Each Action Plan we develop actively recruits diverse voices from eight critical sectors: academia contributing research and innovation; advocacy groups championing environmental and social concerns; businesses providing market expertise; community representatives articulating local impacts; funders enabling implementation; government officials shaping policy frameworks; labor organizations protecting workforce interests; and media partners amplifying our collective vision—all working in concert to transform fragmented industrial systems into models of sustainable prosperity.
How do we work together as stakeholders?
At the heart of our collaborative approach lies the pioneering IntelliConference Series®, powered by our proprietary IntelliSynthesis® methodology—a revolutionary dialogue system designed to harmonize diverse perspectives from expansive stakeholder groups with remarkable efficiency. This carefully orchestrated process begins by assembling representatives from every sector within a given industrial ecosystem, each committing to engage with sequential rounds of strategically crafted questions that progressively deepen collective understanding. Our expert facilitation team distills these contributions into comprehensive digests that respect participants' time while preserving the full spectrum of insights, including valuable outlier perspectives that often catalyze breakthrough thinking. As shared understanding emerges, our process seamlessly transitions from exploratory dialogue to concrete action planning and decision-making, transforming diverse viewpoints into unified strategies for industrial transformation—a methodology refined through decades of implementation across North America's most complex industrial challenges.
What do we mean by sustainable life?
Sustainable life is the long-lasting, harmonious co-existence of humans and nature.
Why include Canada, the United States, and Mexico?
Canada, the United States, and Mexico already engage in extensive cross-border commerce and can greatly benefit from improved coordination. Industry Action Plans are crafted for specific industrial systems and geographic regions while maintaining vital connections to all related plans, rather than producing isolated solutions. Unlike conventional studies that typically sit on a shelf, our dynamic process generates immediate, tangible outcomes through ongoing stakeholder engagement.
