Bags of innovation, embracing the power of data in baggage handling

Last year you announced an innovation partnership with Vanderlande to automate the last mile of the baggage handling process, a process that has remained unaltered for more than 50 years and which accounts for 50% of costs related to baggage handling! What are the two solutions that you have been testing?

The first part of this was the new baggage handling system of BEUMER, which was a new design in the baggage handling world. We installed a much more efficient early bag storage (EBS) baggage hotel and we installed load cells instead of traditional laterals, carousels or bins. This was quite new in the market. The importance of this is, using these load cells enables us to further automation and that’s where we could bring in Vanderlande with the test of a robot and an automated guided vehicle (AGV). Robots have been in this industry for several years and have been used at Heathrow and Schiphol. But these were robots from the car industry, not particularly made for these types of industries. Now is the time to see if we can push it further, and this robot is now being installed in Oslo Airport in mid-summer this year.

So far, we see that the efficiency of the robot is much greater than we saw with the previous robot. We see that the grip is getting more mature technology-wise. We also see that the fault rate of this robot is coming down to, for us, an acceptable level. There’s still a bit of a journey to go, but it’s a promising test so far.

You have a project test centre at Oslo Airport. What else is going on inside that space?

That’s my playground! It’s 1,600 square metres – we call it a tent. It’s quite robust because we can use it through production, but it’s also where we test the new concepts. For our side, we put up installations, which is new for us. A load cell has been built there, which is then connected to the baggage handling system so we can send baggage up there. By doing this, we can invite the users, the handlers and the airlines to show them the system, the concepts and they can actually be trained there. And with this lab or test environment we can do live tests without interfering much with a live operation. It’s a privilege for us to have such a playground.

How are you embracing innovation in your department? What technologies are you implementing?

Norway and Oslo are a high-cost region. When visitors come in, they always tell us about the prices of beers in Oslo! “Wow, this is so expensive!” From our side, this means that for us to be a player in this market, we need to be efficient. We must be the front-runner of new technologies. We’re trialling and looking to make huge investments within artificial intelligence (AI) for example. We are embracing the power of data. We’re building infrastructure, we’re building connections and we’re building systems to see how we can make use of this different data on all different levels.

What are you doing to make the job of the baggage handling agent safer, easier and more enjoyable?

That’s at the core of what I’m working on now, looking at the handlers. The jobs have not changed much in my lifetime. We’re installing lifting devices and the automated baggage handling project which we’re running now is giving them new tools of operations. They will be promoted from doing a lot of manual work and train to be supervisors, they will have apps to help them with their daily tasks and also the introduction AGVs and robotics. I believe the role of the handlers will be quite different in the future than it is currently.

It’s not replacing the workers, is it? It’s just empowering them. It’s replacing the lifting, but there will still be the need for supervisors to guide the system. I believe that the baggage handlers will move to a control room, they will supervise the system as we’re doing in different areas today. But the heavy lifting and back injuries will hopefully be a thing of the past in the coming years!

When implementing technologies such as robotics, there will always be fear from your employees and it’s important to take them on that journey. How are you managing that?

With all the projects I’m running now and we are running in Oslo, we always include the handlers and ask them how they want to do this, essentially transferring the ownership to them. They’re then able to guide us and tell us how they would like this system to be, because they will be the users. So far they’ve embraced all the developments we’ve done and they recognise that automation and robotics will help their daily work.

There’s not much profit in ground handling today, so there is a need for greater efficiency. The ground handlers have been embracing these innovations and being the ambassadors of these systems.

What is new and innovative in the world of baggage and what are the three trends or technologies in baggage you’re keeping your eye on for 2024?

Autonomous driving is, for sure, one of the big ones. We’ve been doing trials in Oslo and I know they’ve been doing the same trials in Heathrow, Schiphol and in Shanghai.

AGVs are coming, so all these shorter transport distances inside the walls can also be done by AGVs. We don’t yet know what sizes these AGVs will be, whether it will be single transport or single bags, if it will be AGV transportation of dollies? However, we know that AI will definitely have a part in these new systems and components. Can we use AI to help our processes be smarter? Autonomous driving, robotics and AI, those are the three focus areas that, I think, will be a top priority in the years to come.