Ground_Support_August_2020 - 12

INDUSTRY EXPERT
COLUMN:

GROUND HANDLING

Optimizing Ground Handling with Advanced
Container and Dolly Tracking Solutions
How technology can improve manual processes to help ground handlers
improve operations and maximize asset utilization.

G

round handlers have long been
challenged by how best to track
their containers, unit load devices
(ULDs) and dollies. Specifically,
they have had difficulty staying informed
as to where a dolly is situated on the airport
apron; its status; maintenance requirements; and how the total dolly fleet is
being utilized.
Without being able to gain the real-time
status of a dolly and know if it is empty
or loaded, or which ULD is loaded, leaves
ground handlers with little control over
this equipment. Consequently, ground support equipment, manpower allocations and
productivity, as well as related costs and
profit margins, are also negatively affected.
To help address this problem,
INFORM GmbH and Blumenbecker
Technik GmbH joined forces, each
lending their unique technical
expertise and ingenuity. Together,
they created the industry's first

All photos courtesy of INFORM and
Blumenbecker Technik

By Alexander Wendorff, Ralf Herzog

12 GROUND SUPPORT WORLDWIDE

AUGUST 2020

solution for optimizing the management
and maintenance of dolly fleets by providing real-time answers to the key questions
of: Where is a dolly located? Is it empty or
loaded? And where is the container/ULD?
Through the combined information
regarding both the dolly and ULD locations, ground handlers can readily identify
the location of every ULD on the apron.
Additionally, they gain full control over the
capacity utilization of each dolly thereby
facilitating the more efficient use of their
fleets and, when possible, the ability to
reduce the number of dollies and associated costs.

Replacing Manual
Processes

By merging telematics with data drawn
from ground handling processes, the
solution is able to eliminate the blind spots
regarding equipment located on the apron.
Each company's technology has a specific role. INFORM's real-time allocation
solution's role is to manage an optimized
allocation and assignment of ULDs and
dollies to a specific loading or unloading
task. Through the solution, a complete view
of the process regarding a ULD's warehouse
position and its destination location is provided. Ground handlers can access, in realtime, all of this pertinent information about
a specific ULD.
Where the Blumenbecker Technik technology comes in is on determining the
dolly's status. Specifically, its technology
complements the INFORM solution by
adding a next-generation tracking system
that both tracks a dolly's location, and also
identifies whether or not a dolly's status
relating to whether it is loaded, intact or



Ground_Support_August_2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Ground_Support_August_2020

Business Buzz
Protect Equipment from Abuse
Industry Expert Column – Ground Handling
Don’t Sleep On the Dangers of Fatigue
How Ground Handling has Adapted During the Pandemic
AviationPros Special Report: How the Industry is Working to Combat COVID-19
Case Study: TPPL Batteries Bolster American’s eGSE
A Hybrid Approach to Deicing
Product Hangar
Editor’s Note
Ground_Support_August_2020 - 1
Ground_Support_August_2020 - 2
Ground_Support_August_2020 - 3
Ground_Support_August_2020 - 4
Ground_Support_August_2020 - 5
Ground_Support_August_2020 - Business Buzz
Ground_Support_August_2020 - 7
Ground_Support_August_2020 - 8
Ground_Support_August_2020 - 9
Ground_Support_August_2020 - 10
Ground_Support_August_2020 - 11
Ground_Support_August_2020 - 12
Ground_Support_August_2020 - 13
Ground_Support_August_2020 - Industry Expert Column – Ground Handling
Ground_Support_August_2020 - 15
Ground_Support_August_2020 - 16
Ground_Support_August_2020 - 17
Ground_Support_August_2020 - 18
Ground_Support_August_2020 - 19
Ground_Support_August_2020 - Don’t Sleep On the Dangers of Fatigue
Ground_Support_August_2020 - 21
Ground_Support_August_2020 - 22
Ground_Support_August_2020 - 23
Ground_Support_August_2020 - How Ground Handling has Adapted During the Pandemic
Ground_Support_August_2020 - 25
Ground_Support_August_2020 - 26
Ground_Support_August_2020 - 27
Ground_Support_August_2020 - AviationPros Special Report: How the Industry is Working to Combat COVID-19
Ground_Support_August_2020 - 29
Ground_Support_August_2020 - 30
Ground_Support_August_2020 - 31
Ground_Support_August_2020 - 32
Ground_Support_August_2020 - 33
Ground_Support_August_2020 - Case Study: TPPL Batteries Bolster American’s eGSE
Ground_Support_August_2020 - 35
Ground_Support_August_2020 - Product Hangar
Ground_Support_August_2020 - 37
Ground_Support_August_2020 - 38
Ground_Support_August_2020 - 39
Ground_Support_August_2020 - 40
Ground_Support_August_2020 - 41
Ground_Support_August_2020 - Editor’s Note
Ground_Support_August_2020 - 43
Ground_Support_August_2020 - 44
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