Here's How Siemens Is Bringing Service 4.0 to Baggage Handling Systems

Brought to you by WBR Insights

Logistics are the blood vessels of business, making sure everything companies and consumers need makes its way to them in a manner that is both efficient and rapid. One area where the need for superior logistics capabilities is felt more keenly than almost anywhere else is at our nation's airports.

Airports and airlines, as well as the various other stakeholders—such as parcel companies—who rely on them, need to ensure that all business-critical assets and systems are kept maintained and running to the highest possible level. Unplanned downtime, emergency maintenance, or other productivity-halting factors cause a ripple effect which impacts every department and service involved—costing both time and money.

In order to combat this, Siemens is bringing its Service 4.0 philosophy to increase both the effectiveness and service life of baggage handling systems.

Siemens

Recognizing that present maintenance strategies were limited, Siemens knew that streamlining these processes was crucial for achieving the high levels of system reliability that airports and airlines required.

"To meet the demand for digitally supported maintenance, Siemens established the Service 4.0 program, which makes full use of the progress in systems technology in an increasingly digitalized industry," said Siemens. "Service 4.0 increases the productivity, availability and reliability of assets and systems through targeted system data gathering, evaluation and failure prediction."

Usage- or time-based maintenance programs were no longer suitable and, by switching to a data analysis driven system, increased efficiency, productivity, competitiveness, and lowered costs could all be achieved.

At the core of Service 4.0 are Siemens' condition-based monitoring systems—an essential component for achieving its own brand of predictive maintenance.

"Data processing with predictive algorithms provides end-of-life information of components," continued Siemens. "Service providers benefit from predictive maintenance planning and execution with just-in-time equipment servicing, balanced workload for the service team and the optimized utilization of spare parts, as well as stock management. These key highlights are part of a Lean Service Approach that enables higher equipment reliability and improved system availability."

The ability to detect problems when they are in their very early stages is an essential component of the switch to modern maintenance and can prevent large scale shutdowns. This method means you need fewer engineers spending less time at each job. Lean and predictive maintenance means engineers arrive on site already aware of what the issue is and armed with all the tools and components they require to fix it.

Applying these practices to airport and airline baggage systems is leading Siemens to make serious roads in the industry. The company has recently been contracted to completely overhaul the infrastructure in multiple global locations.

"With Service 4.0, we help our customers to enhance the performance of their baggage handling systems," said CEO of Siemens Logistics, Michael Reichle. "Airports and airlines benefit from more efficient processes, putting themselves in an excellent position to meet growing passenger and baggage volumes."

Service 4.0

Spain's Palma de Mallorca Airport and Munich Airport have recently awarded contracts to Siemens Logistics to upgrade and optimize their baggage handling systems.

In Spain, Siemens will integrate new screening units, install six of its tilt-tray sorter units (VarioSort TTS), add 60 check-in counters, and install 79 baggage carousels. With its own equipment in place, Siemens will then be perfectly positioned to implement its Service 4.0 program and establish a long-term service and maintenance relationship with the airport.

"As a proven partner for integration projects, we are pleased to continue our successful cooperation with [airport operator] Aena," said Reichle. "With our decades of expertise and innovative airport solutions, we will make sure that our customer matches today's demands and tomorrow's challenges."

Under the contract with Munich Airport, Siemens Logistics will replace the existing X-ray equipment in the baggage handling system with explosive detection systems based on Standard Three of the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC). In the modern landscape of airport security and the threat of terrorist activity, the need to balance security with service is one that all airports and airlines are striving for.

"We are pleased to carry on the excellent collaboration with the Terminal 2 Gesellschaft and to support Munich Airport in further increasing its efficiency and competitiveness," added Reichle. "This is why we count on Siemens' many years of experience to help us achieve the goals we have set—secure, rapid, and smooth baggage handling."

Final Thoughts

Siemens proprietary Service 4.0 program is helping airports and airlines make sure that their baggage handling systems are kept running in the reliable, efficient, and secure manner that modern brands and consumers demand. By getting in at the ground level and establishing installation and service relationships with global airports, Siemens continues to cement itself as a powerful field service force.

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Predictive maintenance is set to be a hot topic at Field Service Palm Springs 2020, taking place in April at the JW Marriott Palm Desert Resort & Spa, CA.

Download the agenda today for more information and insights.