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Baggage Belt Management System ✈️

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The Goal

  • Understanding the challenges & functioning of the baggage belt management system

  • Identifying key pain points

  • Empathising with the stakeholders & direct users

  • Ideating solutions

  • Identifying key metrics & KPIs

  • Designing the solution ~ Dashboard

Understanding the ‘Baggage’ life cycle 🧳

The baggage management takes place in 3 stages. Each step accompanied by it’s own set of challenges & responsibilities

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Understanding the problem

~SECONDARY RESEARCH~

26 million mishandled bags in 2022, costing the ATI $2.6 billion

- Transfer bags constituted the majority of mishandled bags in 2022.
- The rate of mishandled bags on international flights was found to be 8X higher compared to domestic flights.

 

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~SECONDARY RESEARCH~

Mishandled baggage rate escalated from under 0.5% of all passenger bags pre-pandemic to nearly 0.8% in 2022.

- Lack of proper operational infrastructure, shortages and softwares makes the travel vulnerable to baggage complications

- The gap in interconnected data flow and real-time tracking capabilities among airlines, airports, & ground handling teams often results in misplaces.
 

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~SECONDARY RESEARCH~

Mishandled baggage rate escalated from under 0.5% of all passenger bags pre-pandemic to nearly 0.8% in 2022.

- Lack of proper operational infrastructure, shortages and softwares makes the travel vulnerable to baggage complications

- The gap in interconnected data flow and real-time tracking capabilities among airlines, airports, & ground handling teams often results in misplaces.
 

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~EMPATHISING & STORYBOARDING~

To analysis the root cause it was important to respond to the Airport Manager's needs, responsibilities and pain points.

Empathised using the method of story boarding and building user stories of various day to day problems he might encounter.

Understanding the key stakeholders in this journey namely the AIRLINES, AIRPORT, GROUND STAFF & PASSENGERS.

Highlighting the usage of the dashboard in various scenarios

Identifying the key insights, data and metrics that might assist Mr. Rohit in bringing operational efficiency

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Stage 1 : Baggage check - in

RESPONSIBILITIES & TASKS
CHALLENGES

  1. Smooth functioning of the scanner /RFID machine

  2. Ensuring the correct flow of information (printing, information- flight no, airlines, to and from destination, etc).

  3. Handling for illegal/electronic appliance found in checkin bags.

  4. Staff and resource allocation

  5. Functioning of conveyors & tray tags

  1. Technical issues & disruptions

  2. Over crowding leading to delays & mismanagement

  3. Understaffing

  4. Security related problems

Stage 2 : Baggage Transfers

RESPONSIBILITIES & TASKS
CHALLENGES

  1. Guarantee the timely transfer of luggage from arrival to departure points

  2. Accurate Airline, Plane, destination & belt mapping

  3. Scanning each piece of baggage accurately

  4. Resource allocations & time chart formaulations

  5. Utilise technology ot automate handling

  6. Supervision & Monitoring

  1. Tail-to-tail transfers are notably labor-intensive.

  2. Technical malfunctions in conveyor belts, trays, tags, and machines

  3. Erroneous transfer of baggage

  4. Exceeding the conveyor capacity due to overloaded baggage

  5. Flight delays causing interruptions in luggage flow, impacting subsequent allocations (due to rescheduling/ weather coditions)

  6. Prioritising the sorting of high-priority luggage from standard items

  7. Vehicle breakdowns

Stage 3 : Baggage collection

RESPONSIBILITIES & TASKS
CHALLENGES

  1. Ensure the seamless operation of conveyor belts

  2. Inform passengers of their assigned belt numbers for effective communication

  3. Allocate conveyor belts to flights based on timing, gate proximity, and availability.

  4. Conduct capacity planning, distinguishing between free, assigned, and unserviceable belts

  5. Plan resources for manual tasks

  1. Technical issues (in terms of conveyor dis-functional, speed, )

  2. Lost and found baggage / Bag switches

  3. Handling of unidentified baggage found while off-loading

  4. Erroneous identification of baggage

  5. Failure to load

  6. Account for exceeding time allotted/ delays to charge fines

Assumptions

RFID technology is being utilised by the airport
There are 10 Belts in the airport
There is a control room with Web application, linked with email of the airport officer
The baggage is being put in conveyor trays with unique tags
The entire transit from check in to gate in automated
The offloading and loading in the craft is done via carriers with the help of ground staff
The airport officer may need to access the dashboard on mobile devices for on the go monitoring
The baggage belt management system adheres to security and privacy regulations.
The baggage belt management dashboard integrates seamlessly with other airport systems.
The airport's operational environment is dynamic, with frequent changes in flight schedules and baggage handling requirements.
The airport officer is technologically proficient and can adapt to new dashboard interfaces.

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The Key Stakeholders

Airport Counter

AIRPORT AUTHORITIES

Image by Toni Pomar

AIRLINES

Family in Airport

PASSENGERS

Planes

GROUND
STAFF

Understanding the user

With the help of a user Persona

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Ideating the dashboard

With the help of a user Persona

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Dashboard Design

With the help of a user Persona

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Key insights from the Dashboard

Real Time Flow Map
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The gives real time tracking of the luggage processed, technical faults and alerts on resource shortages, etc.

Resource Management

​Work & time schedule charts of the resources (carrier + employees) to know the availibility and better planning

Handling Health Monitor

​Accounts for processed vs mishandled baggages at a glance. Identifies patterns in the errors and insights to solve it

Belt Allotment Plan

​Displays the overall count of assigned, unassigned, occupied and broken belts, On click reveals the name, location, schedule of each

Detailed Reports​

All reports which can be exported and shared quickly with the concerned stakeholder

Alert Panel​

A section highlighting the alerts triggered by the system or ground staff for emergency issues

Operation Cost Analysis

​It helps calculate the additional cost incurred in maintenance, resource shortages, disruptions etc.

Flight Status Update

​A detailed view of the arriving & departing flights available at a toggle, with the timings, destination, status, belts & gate numbers.

Each bag is a accounted for​

All baggages are accounted for through the integration of scanners and software, updating with the real time count of the bags processed

Future Scope & Benefits

The benefits of this rising trend of Baggage management Trend
 

  • Reduction in operations cost

  • Enhanced passenger experience therefore, improving NPS of the airlines
     

  • Operational Efficiency

  • Better partnerships

  • Introduction of cross platform functional dashboards ~on the go tracking

  • Tracking interface for the passengers

  • Predictive Analytics: Anticipate potential issues based on historical data.

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Let's connect. 

I'm looking for newer opportunities & learnings!

Write to me at @priyal.j1309@gmail.com

or reach out on +49 179 3966405

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