O&M Feedback on BHS Design
Mike Conner - Chief Financial Officer, JSM & Associates
The IABSC’s monthly Members meeting for August was held on Thursday the 13th, holding to the traditional placement of “2nd Thursdays”. The meeting was held in what has become the new COVID-19 tradition of a virtual, on-line Zoom meeting. This month’s meeting was arranged as a panel discussion entitled “O&M Feedback on BHS Design”. We organized this topical discussion to fit nicely within the Association’s overarching theme for 2020/2021: “Changing the Industry Standard”. Unlike many of our monthly programs, this session targeted the downstream effects of BHS projects’ design & installation elements on the Operation & Maintenance of the baggage system.
The panel was comprised of experienced experts from major service providers and airport authority employees with system oversight responsibilities. We were privileged to have BHS Program Administrator Lee Katchen and Operations Manager- BHS/PBB Dave Deans from Denver International and Orlando International respectively. Daifuku ELS’s Gary Zarycki (SVP) and Vanderlande Industries Markus Wiedemann (Operations Service Director) rounded out our panel.
The panel discussion was broken up into three major topics:
- Feedback from Operation Maintenance on Design
- Sharing Best Practices within BHS O&M
- Impact of COVID-19 on O&M, present and future
- Perhaps the most extensive portion of the discussion, the panelist championed a number of areas for improvement in Design and Installation. Some of the recommendations are capture on the slide below.
The panel discussed at length various options for including this design feedback/input in the procurement process, including TCO as a category in OEM system evaluations.
Highlights of the conversation around Best Practices included how various airport O&M programs has implemented Predictive Maintenance. Key attributes included a rugged adherence to practicing the “four senses” as part of routine system observations.
The discussion concluded with panelist’s insight into multiple safety protocols that had been implemented in BHS O&M programs since March. While most of these protocols were specific to COVID-19, the panelists all expected these practices to remain in place for a year or more. Additional discussion included identifying new technologies like UV-C sanitizers and thermal cameras being implemented into airports in and around the BHS which would affect the daily lives and work loads of O&M staff.
As the discussion wrapped up, panelists and attendees alike voiced recommendations to have similar future conversation. The panelists and the Association are considering publishing a white paper that incorporates the feedback and suggestions for designing BHS with O&M in mind.
As moderator for this discussion, I was pleased to see sizable attendance throughout the session and strong interactions during the Q&A period. I’m thankful to have had the opportunity to coordinate this August program as well as moderate the event. I’m definitely looking forward to the next IABSC panel discussion.
