Automated, fast and accurate: Reading bag tags within seconds

Is there anything more symbolic of air travel than those long labels the airlines attach to our bags at check-in? Many travelers even collect them as a reminder of past vacations. These bag tags – as they are called in the industry – contain key information for the journey, including passenger name, flight details and destination, and are essential for seamless baggage handling. They ensure that bag and passenger arrive together.

However, these tags can get damaged – through moisture, dirt, mechanical wear, or by getting bent – as the luggage is transported through the various stations of a baggage handling system. This is when conventional laser technology falls short and either misreads or fails to read the tags entirely. In such instances, the bag is redirected to a manual encoding station (MES). A staff member is then responsible for decoding the data, entering it into the system and returning the identified bag to the conveyor line.

This additional manual step can take up to two minutes per bag, which over the course of a day may cause significant delays in baggage handling. Furthermore, accumulated luggage can lead to bottlenecks and increase the risk that bags are not loaded in time and thus miss their flight.

Vision Encoding offers airports a significantly faster and more efficient automated alternative. This smart solution from Siemens Logistics instantly reads badly worn bag tags using optical character recognition (OCR) and artificial intelligence (AI). Thanks to Vision Encoding, one major hub in Europe managed to cut its identification time per bag to under nine seconds – a significant improvement that reduces baggage handling delays by as much as 75 percent, streamlining processes.

And this is how the solution works: Vision Encoding captures multiple images of each bag tag and uses OCR technology to identify the content within seconds. Unreadable images are automatically forwarded to a 24/7 remote service center. There, the data is quickly deciphered using video coding technology and sent back to the baggage handling system control. The baggage item can then continue its journey with no delay.

With Vision Encoding, airports and airlines not only increase the efficiency of their baggage handling. Processing baggage automatically also helps ensure that bags arrive at their destination on the same flight as their owners. No additional costs for forwarding delayed luggage are incurred and when suitcases arrive as expected, passenger comfort is enhanced. Last but not least, airports themselves benefit by boosting their reputation as reliable departure, transfer and destination points.

Airports that use Vision Encoding to automate their processes can eliminate labor-intensive on-site encoding stations. By cutting down expenditures related to the implementation, operation, and maintenance of the MES units, airports can also significantly lower their operating costs.

Would you like to find out more about how Vision Encoding can optimize your baggage handling? Please feel free to get in touch!