Crystal Ball Handles Baggage
Crisis at the
Roissy Charles de Gaulle Airport in France
Aéroports de Paris, the manager of the Roissy Charles de
Gaulle airport, had a serious problem with its automatic luggage
handling system: at some time periods, too many bags were not reaching
their connecting flights in time. In their search for a solution,
Aéroports de Paris contacted Dr. Hervé Thiriez, a
Professor in the Information Systems and Decision Analysis Department
at Groupe HEC (France) and the CEO of Logma SA, a consulting company
that specializes in operations research. They asked Dr. Thiriez
to help them analyze the baggage system, identify the major causes
of the problem, and analyze possible modifications of the system
in order to minimize the handling problem.
Baggage handling problems are linked to the fact that planes, especially
long-haul flights, rarely arrive at the precise time at which they
are scheduled. When more than the planned number of long-haul flights
arrive at the same time, the handling system receives an extra load
of luggage and becomes saturated. Dr. Thiriez used Crystal Ball
to simulate the real arrival time of flights and the number of bags
per flight. The Excel model was used calculate how many bags arrived
in each five-minute interval, how many had early connecting flights,
how many had more time before the connecting flight, and how many
were terminal bags (no connecting flight).
Dr. Thiriez also developed related models that analyzed specific
aspects of the baggage flow. One model simulated all the major components
of the mile-long bag handling facility and allowed the user to analyze,
minute per minute, the flow of bags in the system. Another model,
using counters placed in strategic locations, measured the flow
of bags, minute per minute, in a given day. This second model was
used to validate the predictions of the preceding model.
These simulation models were instrumental in savings of $12 million
by Aéroports de Paris. Dr. Thiriez's work also made it possible
to simulate several possible improvements and show the expected
savings brought by each. The results were so convincing that, a
year later (in 1999), Aéroports de Paris asked Dr. Thiriez
to develop a new set of models that were used to calibrate the luggage
handling facility of the two new E and F terminals of the Roissy
Charles de Gaulle airport.
In addition to Dr. Thiriez's consulting services (outlined
in our Consultant's Corner), he is the CEO of Editions MEV,
distributor of Decisioneering products in France, and the Editor
of La lettre d*Excel, the leading French Excel newsletter. As a
consultant, his current customers span a wide variety of economic
sectors, including aeronautics, automobile, banking, finance, insurance,
petroleum, pharmacy, and telecommunications.
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