Vanderlande
Industries and IBM has helped
Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport create a smarter baggage system and a more precise
ability to manage the growing amount of baggage expected to pass through the
airport in the future. The new baggage handling hall is part of the airport's
70 Million Bag program to increase the capacity of the airport by 40 percent to
70 million bags in the future.
Airport
Schiphol is carrying out this project in collaboration with KLM,
Vanderlande Industries
and IBM. Vanderlande, IBM and Grenzebach Automation designed, built and tested
this system, considered to be an advanced baggage handling facility, featuring
space efficient applications such as robotized loading of baggage.
Through
an interconnected, synchronized system every single bag can be located at any
point in its journey. A 21 km transport conveyor contains innovative technology
including AS/RS (Automated Storage and Retrieval System) bag storage with 36
cranes operating a fully redundant storage of over 4,200 bag positions and
DCV-technology (Destination Coded Vehicles), as well as six robot cells for the
automated loading of bags into containers and carts. It is expected that up to
60 percent of all baggage in the South hall will be handled by robots, which
will increase productivity as well as improve the ergonomic working conditions
for operators.
After
check-in bags go directly into the bag storage, waiting to be loaded. Robots
enable this process by pulling bags from the bag storage on-demand, and releasing
baggage on the conveyor belt only when needed to prevent overload of the
system. This way, the airline can handle more bags in less time, with lower
cost, energy efficient and in a limited space. It enables the airport to
maximize its efficiency, cost effectiveness and service levels, as well as to
meet increasing sustainability demands.
According
to Greg Sikes, director of systems offering strategy and delivery for IBM
Rational, what stands out about this application is the just-in-time process. Not
only is the system able to deal with baggage, taking it from the traveler and
setting it aside, it's also able to access it and pull it for the flight when
it's needed. The result is more efficiency and productivity.
"Certainly
the software continues to show it's more and more the key part of being the
innovation behind the system," says Sikes. "Whether it's the embedded software
in the robotic devices, the scheduling program that has to deal with gate
changes, the logistics and communications software, or the individual device
embedded software that's dealing with individual pieces of luggage, it all
shows what's possible with a very complex system of systems."
 |
IBM
Rational is providing software applications for the project that support
requirements management, change management and software configuration
management. They have been working with Vanderlande Industries for a number of
years, which took an application lifecycle management approach and a
requirements-driven approach towards this application. Another key is that the
requirements management software lets the user to understand, not only the
requirements, but then also to look at them from the test side and how many of
the requirements are actually being tested against.
By
integrating the baggage control system with passenger check-in information, the
Amsterdam airport has streamlined the process for the airlines of baggage
tracking and reconciling passengers with their bags. Linking into real-time
flight information allows for quick off-loading of baggage when a passenger
misses his flights and for redirection of bags on alternative flights when
connections are missed.
The
integrated system also provides accurate, up-to-date information and metrics to
monitor baggage handling performance, helping managers resolve issues quickly
and identify areas for improvement. Heavy baggage is handled automatically by
robots that work around the clock.
Click
here
to see how Amsterdam Schiphol Airport is increasing capacity and improving
baggage flow using smarter software.
Tweet This
0 
