Flexsim simulation

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ENGG939 Assignment 2: Logistics System Analysis Group Project (30%) – Due 4pm, 6th October 2017 [Hard copy report must be handed in to EIS Central; Flexsim Models must be submitted via Moodle]

Happy Airways, a small-scale budget airline, currently provides jet services between Sydney and Melbourne. They wish to expand their business to serve the surge in demand for jet passengers from/to Canberra. Their promise is to fly all the passengers presented at the airport service counters, i.e., if a scheduled flight is full then alternative flight will be organised. The airline evaluates its ground operations performance based on three key metrics (KPIs):

• average time taken by a passenger to move from check-in to boarding; • average time taken for a piece of luggage to move from check-in to the aircraft loading area; • average wait time for a passenger in each category at check-in and boarding counters; and • average utilisation of staff at check-in, security and boarding counters. The ground operations of the airline are organised so that they can perform check-in, security check, and boarding counter services to cater for three types (categories) of passengers: passengers with e-tickets, passengers with paper-based tickets and passengers purchasing a ticket at the airport counter. Based on historical records, it has been estimated that the time between passenger arrivals in each category (e-ticket, paper-based and purchased at the counter) are five, ten and thirty minutes, respectively. The service terms of Happy Airways are such that each passenger has 1 checked-in luggage and 1 cabin luggage. All passengers must go through check-in, security check and boarding counters. Further details of the ground operations of their proposed Canberra terminal are given below. Check-in: All check-ins are handled by the airline ground staff. Passengers usually arrive at the check-in counters at the designated airport terminal and hand over any luggage that is not allowed to carry on to the airplane’s cabin. Passengers receive a boarding pass after luggage handover which they use for boarding the airplane. The service times for the three passenger types at the check-in counters are as follows; passengers with e-ticket requires, on average three minutes, for passengers with paper tickets it takes eight minutes on average, and for the passengers who purchase their tickets at the airport counter spends twelve minutes on average at check-in. Additionally, it takes two, four and six minutes, respectively, for the staff to properly register and label luggage of passengers with an e-ticket, paper-based tickets and the tickets issued at the counter. Each staff at the check-in counter is designated to service only one particular type of passenger. Security check: A security check is conducted for each passenger and accompanying cabin bag after checking in and before boarding. This is done to mitigate the risks of any potential threats or other criminal activities. As passengers approach the security check point, there are designated bins to surrender any prohibited items or liquids. Then passengers are asked to walk through a body scanner where one of the security staff supervises body scans. It generally requires ten seconds for them to do such screening. In nearly 10% of the cases, if the body scanner alarm sets off, passengers are asked by the screening officer to remove any further objects held on to their clothes or body and passengers are then asked to walk again through the device. Simultaneously, cabin bags are screened with the help of x-ray machines. The cabin bags are placed on small trays provided at the screening point. One of the security officers examines the images of the bags as they pass through the x-ray machine and it takes ten seconds per bag to move through it. Boarding operation: The passengers then proceed to the designated boarding gate and board the aircraft. The airline staff checks boarding passes issued at the check-in counters. A boarding pass is a document issued by the airline that permits a passenger to board the airplane. It normally includes details about the passenger, the flight number and the date and scheduled time for departure. It takes normally thirty seconds for a staff member to process a boarding pass. Boarding is prioritised based on the following order; exclusive, business class, premium economy and economy passengers. Based on historical records the airline estimates that, on average, there will be 10% exclusive, 10% business class, 20% premium economy and 50% economy class passengers. Baggage Handling: Baggage handling at the airport also plays a crucial role in efficient airport operations. Effective and efficient baggage handling systems can keep travellers happy and it can also keep or attract new routes for major airlines. It is important that the checked-in luggage move from one point to another (within the airport) at least as fast as the travellers. If luggage moves slower than the passengers do, through the airport’s baggage handling system, then bags may fail to make it to the connecting flights or there could be delays in the departure of flights. In effect, the time required for luggage to reach the designated gate from check-in counters should be less than the passenger trip time to the gate. The baggage handling system at the airport terminal is, by and large, an automated operation. It comprises operators, conveyors, automated scanners and sorting machines.

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When checking-in, a barcoded sticker containing required information (regarding, for example, flight details and the airline’s code) is generated and it is attached to each checked-in bag. Then, with the help of a conveyor, the luggage passes through the first X-ray screening station which requires 1 minute per piece to scan. This process uses a high-speed scanner. Approximately 60% of the incoming pieces are cleared through the first scanner and is passed on to the main conveyor for transport to the appropriate gate number (loading area). Rest of the luggage pieces are diverted to a five-step secondary screening process where three stations with two operators are engaged to determine if any of the bags contain suspicious objects. This process requires 3 minutes for each piece of luggage. Nearly 90% of the incoming pieces are cleared at the secondary screening stage. Remaining pieces are then routed to a sophisticated set-up of 35 fully automated detection-imaging systems, where enhanced imagery and high-tech tomography X-rays, are used for alarm resolution. This step requires 5 minutes per piece. After this step, these pieces are re-directed to the main conveyor. Cleared luggage from other airlines check-in counters also enter the main conveyor system at around 1000 pieces per minute. At the departure gate, a sorting machine scans the barcode of each piece of luggage on the main conveyor and routes them appropriately to the aircraft loading area. The routing process takes nearly 30 seconds for each bag, after which they are loaded on to one of the two trucks available to transport them to the aircraft loading area. Each truck can take up to 50 pieces of luggage per trip. Please refer to the attachment for the layout and dimensions of the baggage handling system.

Table 1: Resources assigned for the proposed Canberra terminal operations

Operations Resource units available Staff available Check-in 6 service desks 6 Security check 4 X-ray machines; 4 Body Scanners 4 Boarding 2 gate counters 3 As the consultant operations engineer hired by Happy Airways, you are required to conduct a comprehensive analysis of Happy Air’s ground operations at the proposed Canberra terminal and make recommendations on how to improve the process. This includes determining whether the current system can achieve the expected passenger throughput. As per the terms of reference (TOR) of your engagement, you are required to: (a) identify any process issues contributing to inefficiencies of the ground operations; and (b) develop and validate a suit of short-term and long-term recommendations to improve throughput. Further observations regarding the limitations of the current logistics system are welcome. In order to deliver on the above TOR requirements you will perform the following tasks: i. Map the airport operations at an appropriate level of detail so that it can be used as the basis for building a

simulation model, as well as to aid communication with relevant stakeholders.

ii. Build a simulation model accurately representing the ground operations at the proposed terminal.

iii. Run the simulation for a period of 1 week and generate appropriate results, including as a minimum: resources utilisation levels; process throughput; and waiting times.

iv. Use the knowledge and understanding of the logistic system and associated operations developed through the modelling exercise and more broadly in this course, along with simulation results, to investigate any logistics or operations issues such as process bottlenecks, underutilised resources and unwarranted waiting times.

v. Develop a set of suitable short-term and long term solutions to address the issues identified in step v and evaluate their merits. This may include modifying the initial simulation model to incorporate any improvements suggested and re-running it to generate a new set of results.

Important Notes:

• You may make reasonable assumptions and informed judgement as needed, but make sure to state them clearly in your report. Do not use assumptions merely to by-pass the challenges faced.

• The structure and content of your report should follow the guidelines provided separately.

• Ensure you refer to the marking criteria (provided separately) well before finalising the model/report.