Ensuring seamless baggage handling at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport
Kilometer-long baggage handling systems (BHS) at airports must run efficiently, maintain high availability, and process tens of thousands of bags per day with consistent reliability. Historically, keeping such systems operating smoothly involved frequent manual inspections. However, as systems evolve in complexity and airports grow busier, a smarter, more proactive service approach becomes crucial.
As one of the world's leading international hubs and one of Europe's busiest airports, Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport (Paris-CDG) relies on seamlessly functioning BHSs. To ensure optimal performance in this area, airport operator Groupe ADP implemented predictive maintenance in terminal TBS4 early in its digital transformation strategy. Today, Siemens Logistics' Service 4.0 solutions play a significant role in helping Paris-CDG meet its highly demanding operational needs in TBS4.
Service 4.0: Boosting productivity and preventing unplanned downtime
Predictive maintenance is the intelligent method approach to servicing large and complex BHSs. Unlike time-based service strategies, in which components are replaced regardless of their condition, Siemens Logistics’ SmartService 360 portfolio ensures that only critical parts are maintained or replaced.
How does it work? SmartService 360 solutions continuously monitor and assess the condition of components in real-time, collecting physical data and images and comparing them with historical records. Data gathered from sorters, motors, carousels, and individual carrier systems are then analyzed by a machine learning algorithm. The results – an error prediction score and a listing of the components most at risk of failure – are presented on a dashboard. This allows operations and maintenance (O&M) personnel to accurately forecast maintenance needs, enabling them to proactively plan repairs and services and prevent unscheduled downtimes.
Predictive maintenance not only reduces unnecessary inspections and spare parts usage, it increases efficiency and keeps systems running longer and like clockwork.
Paris-CDG: Streamlined processes for a better passenger journey
At TBS4, the SmartService 360 solutions have already successfully made a difference. The sorter application continuously monitors the mechanics of thousands of rollers and carriers in the BHS, for example. The result: manual inspection is lowered by approximately 90 percent, saving over 400 O&M working hours per year. Similarly, the SmartService 360 solution for motors has decreased manual conveyor inspections by about 60 percent, saving nearly 3,000 O&M working hours annually.
In just a few years, the SmartService 360 solutions from Siemens Logistics have contributed to more sustainable and efficient operations in TBS4 – with a positive impact on passenger experience, too.
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