In January, ground services provider Menzies confirmed that it had inked a new contract with Smarter Asset Management (SAM) for its Gen3 telematics system. And the move is being welcomed across the handler’s global network…
Menzies has long partnered with SAM (a company until recently known as Smart Asset Manager), this latest contract being an extension of the collaboration between the two companies that dates back to 2015. Steve Rick, Menzies Aviation’s senior vice president of systems and transformation, enthuses: “The capabilities we have developed with SAM in their telemetry platform have unlocked tremendous value in our business.”
SAM and Menzies have worked hand in hand over the last three and a half years to develop a version of SAM – SAM G3 Aviation – he says, that is truly an aviation GSE-based solution designed to meet the needs of an operator working in a high-risk and rapidly changing environment.
Rick came to Menzies back in December 2014, with a background as a pilot as well as many years in industry, much of that time spent in senior technology and transformational leadership roles. One of his first insights on joining Menzies, he remembers, was that the handler was somewhat unsophisticated in the way it went about selecting and deploying its manpower; it was lacking in a systemic approach that would optimise the benefits of its greatest assets.
So, one of the first changes was to introduce what Rick describes as a “robust, industrial-strength” human resources and resourcing (HR) systems that would support Menzies’ candidate selection and management processes.
The next step was to improve Menzies’ work allocation and rostering processes and so, at the beginning of 2015, the handler began working with air transport communications and IT systems supplier SITA to develop its existing rostering and airport management product to better suit Menzies’ requirements.
The end result was WorkBridge, which now handles Menzies’ rostering and real-time staff allocation processes; forming part of SITA’s Airport Management suite of integrated software applications designed to ‘support and enhance airport operations from landside to airside’, WorkBridge is in use across the handler’s global station network, and continues to be upgraded and rolled out on an ongoing basis.
The information from these various HR and ‘people’ systems are tied together with Menzies’ aircraft operations management and messaging technology platform (its Ramp Sheet Management System, or RSMS) to maximise the value of its staff, ensuring that the right people are allocated to the right jobs at the right time. And, Rick confirms, the handler is now getting into predictive analysis in an effort to further maximise the value of all its employees based around the world.
But Rick observed back in late 2014 that Menzies was also allocating its ground support equipment in a fairly rudimentary way, simply using spreadsheets to support its allocation of GSE to the tasks needing to be tackled. This, too, meant that less than peak efficiency could be achieved at individual stations and right across the business. There was plenty of room for improvement.
Thus, Rick recalls, the business moved quickly to initiate a competitive tendering process for identifying a telemetry technology provider. As well as SAM, companies such as Pinnacle and SAP also threw their hats into the ring but, while no supplier among those that tendered could offer everything that Menzies was looking for, SAM was especially keen to work closely with the handler to develop a telematics solution that would be the best possible fit for Menzies’ requirements within the demanding aviation services environment.
SAM’s Gen1 telematics were first installed on Menzies’ motorised GSE back in 2016 and, since then, that system and its later versions – Gen2 and Gen3 – have been introduced onto large numbers of both motorised and non-motorised GSE within the handler’s global fleet of some 24,000 items of equipment.
Adding telemetry has brought huge advantages to Menzies, Rick informs. Not only does it allow for optimised GSE allocation on the ramp and support long-term planning with regard to resource allocation, but the accountability of operators that it brings has also seen the frequency of accidents involving Menzies’ GSE “almost fall off a cliff”, Rick reports.
Plus, all operators of Menzies GSE equipped with Gen3 need to use their airside pass when they first climb into the vehicle to swipe into the system. The system automatically checks the operator’s identity and training credentials and, if he/she is not certified to operate that unit, the vehicle will not start. This, too, has helped to vastly improve safety on the ramp and reduce incidents of ramp rash.
So, the data from the Gen3 telematics system is tied in with Menzies’ HR data to improve safety and efficiency. It is also tied into WorkBridge, such that the handler’s managers can allocate human and GSE resources in tandem in the most efficient way possible. Equipment that has not been used for some time can be considered for removal and deployment elsewhere, thus helping to de-clutter an airport’s ramp environment.
Plus, telematics minimises revenue leakage that has sometimes been a feature of operating on the apron. It can clearly be identified what GSE has been used in what roles and for which customers, thus minimising any possible doubts as to what payment for GSE (and operator) time is required from which customer.
Finally, telematics helps to clear up any potential disputes among Menzies and its partners over the use of GSE and responsibility for the few accidents involving GSE that do happen. It helps to resolve any possible tensions before they can develop into anything more damaging, Rick points out.
Many of these benefits are clearest in the case of expensive motorised GSE, but data on the ongoing whereabouts and usage of non-motorised equipment is also highly prized, especially to prevent units from ‘going missing’. Thus, while SAM’s telematics system is being quickly introduced to Menzies’ motorised GSE, it is also being rolled out across large numbers of equipment such as towbars and dollies, which do go missing on occasion and can also lie idle for long periods of time unless they are monitored closely. Slightly less sophisticated telematic devices are bolted onto these sorts of GSE, which ‘wake up’ when moved or nudged to report their position and movement.
Menzies has about 1,000 units of GSE now equipped with telematic devices, most of them at the handler’s stations in the UK and Scandinavia. Some US stations are also so equipped, as are some in Menzies’ Oceania network. By the end of June this year. Rick hopes to have more than 4,000 items of motorised GSE fully kitted out with Gen3, together with about 8,500 mon-motorised units.
And, by the end of this year, the business plans to have more than 8,000 motorised units so equipped, together with more than 13,000 non-motorised items of GSE. These figures would equate to approximately 85% of the forecast strength of Menzies’ GSE fleet as of the end of 2019 (the current fleet is to be significantly expanded, primarily due to the acquisition of the UK’s Airline Services handling business, which was confirmed in January this year).
Station managers across Menzies’ global network of some 220 airports love what telematics brings, Rick says, in terms of its transparency and aid to efficiency. And, even more importantly, “It allows us to give a really, really good service to our customers,” he adds.
