Global airport logistics solutions Siemens

GLOBAL AIRPORT

LOGISTICS SOLUTIONS

The global giant Siemens’ Logistics and Airport Solutions Division provides its complete baggage handling, air cargo and mail sorting systems to clients throughout the world. But that is not all: the company also remains present after installation to ensure the smooth running of its clients’ facilities. Victoria Hattersley talks to Jörg Ernst, CEO of Business Unit Logistics and Airport Solutions, to find out more about its state-of-the-art systems and the major projects it has been involved in.

Headquartered in Konstanz, Germany, Logistics and Airport Solutions Division (LAS) is active worldwide with its main locations the USA, Singapore, China and the Middle East. Its current comprehensive offering stems from the introduction of its first tray system for baggage handling in the early 1970s. Today its baggage handling systems and other products can be found in many of the world’s leading airports. Alongside this, it is a leader in the mail business, with about 23,000 mail sorting systems installed worldwide in more than 50 countries.

Logistics and Airports Solutions (comprising both Airport Solutions and Postal and Parcel Services) currently employs more than 3000 people in R&D, production, installation and after-sales services. But it is not just the installation of baggage handling, mail sorting and parcel logistics systems that the company offers today: it is able to assist its clients with the smooth running of their facilities long after its various solutions have been installed.

Complete solutions

Siemens believes in the importance of offering clients a total service from installation to after-sales support – hence its strong global presence. As Mr Ernst says: “In this business it’s important to focus not just on manufacturing but also to be very close to customers. We have set up a global supply chain network for this purpose.”

The ‘complete solution’ offered by Siemens covers every step of the processing chain. This includes: baggage handling technology; air cargo control systems; mail sorting systems; parcel logistics (from truck unloading to identification and sorting); optimised software solutions to oversee the entire logistical infrastructure; and post-installation customer services.

The company’s global IT team is particularly important for enabling its clients to manage their airports and increase productivity. For example, Siamos (Siemens Airport Management and Operations Suite) software is a state-of-the-art, modular IT solution designed to support airport operations. It includes applications for airport performance management, flight planning, resource management, statistics, reporting and billing and flight information display systems. The advanced system is highly customisable so it can be tailor-made to suit the needs of any client.

Mr Ernst explains: “Our offerings comprise project management, design, simulation, engineering, IT and state-of-the-art mechatronics components and systems. Our systems and information technology solutions include software modules, material flow optimisation, supply chain management, e-business, warehouse and cargo management systems.”

Global leaders in mail sorting

LAS has been operating in the mail business for over half a century: following the introduction of postal codes in Germany in 1960, it developed its first letter sorting system in 1962. Another milestone came in 1984 when the US Postal Service made an order for 406 of its OCR (optical character recognition) address letter readers. Today LAS is a world leader in this segment, with its activities covering parcel sorting, reading and coding, the production and installation of sorting machines, and the development of logistics software.

LAS can provide its advanced solutions to its clients wherever they are in the world. For example, in 2010 it won a contract with Nanjing Air Hub to install 10 parcel sorting systems and a central control system. It also installed 12 loops of the Variosort EXB model cross-belt sorter, measuring 4800 metres over two levels. This was completed in 2012.

In the area of mail sorting solutions, LAS has also recently received an order from Swedish Post for a culler facer canceller (CFC) and open mail handling systems to be installed. The former, for those of our readers not familiar with the term, is an automated system that faces mail into the correct position for date stamping or stamp cancelling. When the project is completed, four of these will have been installed to preprocess, sort and sequence standard letters and flats up to C4 format.

The company has also been developing its customer services in this segment on a more general level. For example, its team is currently implementing several system enhancements worldwide involving reading, weighing and X-ray technology. Furthermore, it works on third-party hardware, for example the updating of proprietary control systems with Simatic PLCs.

LAS has developed a number of new postal and parcel sorting solutions, such as the environmentally friendly Variosort parcel sorter it recently installed at the UPS Hub in Cologne/Bonn. This has increased the hub’s output from 110,000 to 190,000 parcels per hour. Another groundbreaking parcel sorting solution is its Variomove system for parcel bulk unloading – winner of a 2011 Postal Technology award. Finally, it has introduced a new flexible flyer sorter in order to meet the demands of the growing market for small parcels and packets.

Innovative baggage systems

As can be seen from the above, R&D has always been a strong focus for LAS, with activities in this area mainly driven by customer demands and feedback. For example, it is constantly working on new solutions to improve the overall performance of its airport

baggage handling systems. Many of the new products have been developed and tested at the Siemens Airport Centre in Furth, Germany. The company showcased many of these products at Passenger Terminal Expo which took place on March, 25. - 27 2014.

Mr Ernst gives us some recent examples of this: “We have been running our new tray system for baggage handling which is the heart of an airport. Furthermore, we have developed a new self-check-in bag drop solution which has got great feedback. It’s an all-in had one system that allows passengers do the self-service check-in and bag drop at the same location, as opposed to other systems that involve at least two steps.”

LAS has also developed early bag store systems, such as the one it has installed at Dubai Airport Terminal 3 where around 5000 luggage trays can currently be stored. “This is like a small warehouse that allows passengers to store their luggage safely and enjoy their time at the airport.”

Major airport projects

In the Airport Solutions segment, LAS continues to win high-profile contracts for some of the world’s biggest airports. In early 2014, together with the South Korean company

Posco, it won a contract to install a baggage handling system at the new Terminal 2 of Incheon Airport. This will cover the layout, engineering, assembly, commissioning and integration of the system, as well as connecting it to the existing baggage handling system. The entire project, which will allow for throughput capacity of more than 22,000 items of baggage per hour, is due to be completed by 2018 in time for the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

Mr Ernst says of this contract win: “Incheon is a masterpiece – one of the highest quality airports in the world. It is expecting more than 40 million passengers per year and it will be served by more than 88 airlines.”

The company has also just completed, on time, a huge air cargo project at Hong Kong airport. It was designed for a throughput of 2.6 million tonnes of freight per year, thereby increasing the annual capacity of the airport’s existing terminals by 50 per cent to 7.4 million tonnes. The contract involved the installation of modern storage and conveying systems. The handling processes were specially adapted to the requirements of Hong Kong International Airport because particularly large quantities of transit and export cargo are handled there in comparison to other hubs.

Furthermore, LAS has recently received an order from Emirates SkyCargo to expand its cargo capacity with a new terminal for its freighter operations at Dubai World Central Al Maktoum International Airport. The company’s brief is to equip the new cargo terminal with modern storage and conveying systems to achieve a throughput of 700,000 tonnes of freight per year. By 2015 this is expected to increase by a further 300,000 tonnes. Work will commence on this project at the start of May 2014.

Temporary terminals

Another growing aspect of Airport Logistics offering is the installation of its CapacityPlus temporary terminals. Mr Ernst explains what this involves: “If airports are going to be handling unusually large amounts of passengers, for example for a major sporting event, then they may want a temporary capacity increase. Our systems are highly flexible and perfect if a client has limited money and only wants a terminal for a certain period. The solutions come with high security features, air-conditioning, screens and everything needed for smooth check-ins. We have already had excellent feedback on this and it has huge future potential.”

To use one example, Siemens recently installed four modern temporary terminals in Angola in a very limited time frame. These were in the regional airports of Soyo, Dundo, Saurimo and Luena.

Positive outlook

Looking ahead, Mr Ernst sees strong prospects for growth in both the airport and logistics sectors. “This is a good business to be in long-term. If you just look at the order books for the two biggest airline builders – Airbus and Boeing – you can see how full they are so, there are going to be a lot of goods and people transported around the world in the coming decades. This means the airports are going to need ever-more sophisticated systems of the kind we can provide, as well as increased capacity.”

But this will not be its only focus for the future. The aim is to be close to its customers wherever they are in the world, providing them with a total solution.

Mr Ernst concludes: “We want to be responsible for the systems we deliver throughout their whole lifetime. We work closely with our clients on each project, to tailor it to their needs and help them make the right decision for the future. We don’t just want to complete a project: we also want to leave a good name behind us. This is what makes us stand out in our field.” n