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78 Part One Organizations, Management, and the Networked Enterprise

INTERACTIVE SESSION: TECHNOLOGY

SCHIPHOL INTERNATIONAL HUB

Theoretically, baggage-handling is quite simple. being able to minimize loss or damage in that 0.01%
Baggage input is connected to merely two events: an of time it doesn’t!
airplane lands or a person checks in. However, it’s The following simple scenario summarizes the
risky business. Baggage handling is the second most operations of the Schiphol baggage conveyors net-
important factor in having a pleasant trip, according to work. You arrive at check-in desk, and your bags
a 2009 IATA CATS survey. Moreover, mishandled bag- are tagged. The tags contain your flight information
gage is a $2.5 billion problem for industry every year. and a bar-code/RFID that all of the computers in the
Just think that this problem may annually affect about baggage-handling system can read. When computers
51 million passengers travelling through Schiphol air- in the system scan the bar code/detect the RFID, they
port alone. process the information it contains and determine
In 2004, IBM Corporation,Vanderlande Industries where to send your bag. After being scanned (at least)
and later Grenzebach Automation Systems, jointly once, the system always knows where your bag is
took up the challenge of renewing the Baggage at any point, and is able to redirect it based on three
Control System for one of the biggest airport hubs in parameters: (a) time of its flight; (b) priority; (c) size.
Europe, and one of the busiest in the world: Schiphol Bags for immediate embarkation are considered “hot”.
International Airport, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. These are sent immediately to aircraft stands while
With an investment of around $1 billion over a period “cold” baggage (i.e. low priority, distant flight time)
of about 10 years, Schiphol’s goal was threefold: (a) are quickly rerouted away from the main “highway”
realize a monumental 1% maximum loss of transfer tracks, directed towards various storage points in the
baggage (against the initial 22 million lost baggage); network. DCVs are unmanned carts that can load
(b) increase capacity from 40 to 70 million bags; (c) and unload bags without stopping movement. These
reduce cost per bag without increasing wait-times. carts move on tracks like miniature roller coasters
Most of the job involved Schiphol’s gigantic baggage along the main “highway” tracks that span the airport.
conveyor network: 21 kilometers of transport tracks, 6 Buffers and hot/cold storage areas are used to avoid
robotic units, and 9,000 storage capacitors, all behav- overcrowding. Computers throughout the system keep
ing as one system. Also, extending the system with track of the location of each bag, its destination, and
more surfaces is not possible, given the land condi- the time it is needed at that destination. The system
tions surrounding the airport. The baggage conveyor can optimize the routes taken by the carts to get the
network has a simple goal: the right bag must be at bags needed most urgently to their destinations fast-
the right place at the right time. To pursue this goal est. Because DCVs move at high speed and do not
the network must perform several key roles: move come to a full stop to receive baggage, the conveyors
bags from the check-in area to the departure gate, must be extremely precise, depositing bags where
move bags from gate to gate, move bags from the they are needed at just the right time for maximum
arrival gate to the baggage claim, and plan and control efficiency. Once bags reach the gate, they enter a sort-
peripheral hardware and software. In addition, these ing station where airline employees use computer
roles involve a wide variety of sensors, actuators, terminals to send bags to the correct plane. To make
mechanical devices, and computers. The network sure that baggage is not lost, the system “reconciles”
uses over 3 million lines of source code. Some of baggage with its owner, i.e. it checks if the baggage
the advanced technology used in baggage- handling and the owner are actually on the same plane!
systems includes destination-coded vehicles (DCVs), However beautiful and harmonious this process
automatic bar code scanners, radio-frequency identifi- may seem, there are still many things that can go
cation (RFID) tags, and high- tech conveyors equipped wrong. For example, what if baggage is mis-tagged?
with sorting machines. Baggage should move from its What if the tag is unreadable? What about schedule
current location to its destination before travellers do. changes?
To add further complications, all of this must be avail- Baggage handling systems can be extremely expen-
able and robust, i.e. operate 99.99% of times while sive, but if implemented successfully, they pay for

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