CASE STUDY: SCHIPHOL INTERNATIONAL HUB

1.    How many levels of complexity can you identify in Schiphol’s baggage conveyor network?

·         There are 4 levels of complexities for Schiphol’s baggage conveyor network:

o   Schiphol's involved gigantic baggage conveyor network that includes 21 kilometers of transport tracks, 6 robotic units and 9000 storage capacitors, all behaving as one system. Extending the system with more surfaces is not possible given the land conditions surrounding the airport. The baggage conveyor network goal is to have the right bag must be at the right place at the right time.

1.       The first level of complexity with Schiphol’s baggage conveyors network is where the bags are moved from check in area to departure gate. There was less coordination between software and hardware levels (e.g. conveyor belts, scanners, security checkers, etc.)

2.       The second level of complexity is at the level where the bags are moved gate to gate the place where the bag are handled by human support and aid the work (e.g. human baggage handlers) and also human-to-human relations (e.g. security officer with conveyor technician).

3.       Third level of complexity is at movement of the bogs from the arrival gate to the baggage claim where owner claim their bags from the security officers and conveyor technician.

4.       The fourth and last level of complexity is to plan and control peripheral Hardware and Software handling area where the conveyor network is large and intricate.

 

2.    What are the management, organization, and technology components of Schiphol’s baggage conveyor network?

·         Management

o   In terms of management, there are few elements to talk about. Setting the right goal is one of the important elements to ensure the business is on the right track and being manage well. The conveyors networks have a very simple goal, which is the right bag must be at the right place at the right time.

o   To run the network smoothly, human resources are playing an important role. In every department or section, there must be allocating a person in charge to control, manage and handle the baggage just in case if there are any emergencies.

·         Organization

o   Just like the other organization, Schiphol is made up of many different departments and they work together to make sure the business run smoothly. For instance, the information technology department to look over the network and system to make sure it is updated and running smoothly to avoid mistake while the human resources department ensure the people working with the company is happy and working efficiently to reduce mistake and increase productivity. The rest of the departments such as the finance department and marketing and sales department are also working together to ensure the business is on the right track and profitable

·         Technology

o   The networks involve variety of sensors, mechanical devices, actuators and computers. It also uses over 3 million lines of source code. As for the baggage-handling systems, it includes destination-coded vehicles (DCVs), automatic bar code scanners, radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags and high-tech conveyors equipped with sorting machines. All of these technologies are used for the normal operation which is to move bags from the check-in area to the departure gate, move bags from gate to gate, move bags from the arrival gate to the baggage claim and plan and control the peripheral hardware and software. 

3.    What is the problem that Schiphol is trying to solve? Discuss the business impact of this problem.

·   From the case study, I found that the most critical problem that Schiphol was facing is the mishandled baggage problem. Schiphol was trying to increase the efficiency in baggage handling in the airport. Mishandled baggage was bringing huge impact to the company, it is a $2.5 billion problem for industry every year and about 51 million passengers traveling through Schiphol alone may be affected annually. With an investment of around US$1 billion over a period of about 10 years, the Baggage Control System has been renewed. With the new system, the manager of Schiphol estimated that this system will be able to minimize 0.01% loss and damage when it operates 99.9% times. Although this system is expensive but if it is being implemented right, it can save 0.1% of $2.5 billion.

 

4.    Think of the data that the network uses. What kinds of management reports can be generated from that data?

·       Data items used by the Schiphol Conveyors Networks comprise of 4 items, which are scheduling data; hit/failure reports; delays and usage information. All of these data was being used to plot the cost-per-baggage reduction progressions.

Data Network	Reports
Number of baggage	Total number of business handling by the airport every year
Total loss	Profit and Loss Report
Capacity of the baggage	Actual capacity for the baggage
Automatic Data Scanner	Efficiency of the Data Scanner
Defect System	Risk Management report / Improvement System