Air India Report operations management

8/13/2019 Air India Report operations management

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AIRLINES AND LEAN MANAGEMENT

Airline operations present a striking dichotomy. Each day, the airlines

achieve the remarkable by safely moving nearly five million people more

than 40 million air miles around the world. Often, however, they fail todeliver on the ordinary. Once the aircraft land, all too many of them taxi to a

jetway and waitperhaps for a ground crew to arrive and open a door or for

the end of the traffic caused by another planes maintenance delay. Evenstandout, low-cost performers lose bags, keep valuable employees idle,depart late, and have billions of dollars in chronically underutilized aircraft

and other hugely expensive assets.

These extremes coexist because airlines have historically focused on safety,aircraft technology, speed, geographic reach, and in-flight service attributes;

on distinctive regulatory constraints and labor issues; and on the

unpredictability imposed by weather and rapidly shifting demand. At thesame time, issues such as route structures, excess capacity, pricing, and yieldmanagement compete with operations for the airlines attention.1As a result,

the airlines havent given their operations factorylike, industrial-engineering

scrutiny. Great operators in other heavy industries have worked throughthese challenges to deliver low costs, high quality, and satisfied customers.

Yet up to 45 percent of an airlines cost structure consists of maintenance,

ground handling, in-flight services, call centers, and aircraft acquisitions(which are influenced by operational variables like aircraft downtime). One

hundred years after the first powered flight, its time to start looking at the

airlines as mature industrial companies and to apply proven manufacturingpractices that can streamline their process-intensive activities. At stake is an

opportunity to reduce overall costs dramatically by using labor, materials,and assets more efficiently, to enhance the reliability of service, and to

strengthen flight safety.

Lean approaches, adopted by numerous industrial and service companies(including many that are heavily unionized and some, like hospitals and

medical-device manufacturers, that are highly regulated), are well suited to

the airlines challenges. As lean techniques eliminate waste, they also rootout the nonstandardized work times, variable team structures, and highlyasynchronous work flows that many airline executives now view as

unavoidable.

The lean approaches of pioneering airlines have begun with the maintenanceshop, which functions very much as a disassembly-assembly factory and

displays a striking degree of waste and variability. Impressive maintenance
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results30 to 50 percent improvements in aircraft and component

turnaround times and 25 to 50 percent improvements in productivity (Figure1)are encouraging signs for the airlines other operational choke points,

such as baggage handling, passenger loading, and customer service.

Applying the philosophy and methods of the lean approach also creates newopportunities for outsourcing and insourcing.

In any industry, companies that adopt lean techniques face difficulties, suchas getting senior management committed to the effort, developing the talent

pool to lead it, and avoiding the "pick-and-choose" lean-tool-kit approach,

which in the end fails to address the root causes of problems. Yet precisely

because the lean journey is difficult, the gains won by airlines that perseverewith it are more likely to be truly differentiating and sustainable than those

resulting from more imitable tactics, such as extracting wage concessions orcutting service. As the industry struggles through the most severe downturn

in its history, now is the time to begin.

Figure 1


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When airline executives talk operations, more often than not they focus onthe features that distinguish their industry from others. Yet an airline orders

materials just as a factory does, and it sequences work, deploys workers tospecialized tasks, commits itself to quality levels, and at regular intervals

turns out the equivalent of productsserviced and airworthy aircraft.

Conversely, like airlines, factories face variability when large orders roll in

unexpectedly, equipment breaks down, or snowstorms interrupt supplies.

Underlying lean techniques are four principles: the elimination of waste, thecontrol of variability, flexibility, and the full utilization of human talent.

These principles have enormous relevance for organizations concerned withsafety, customer service, and unpredictable events such as weather.

Companies that embrace lean really begin to see things differently. Ourwork with several international carriers and with a European third-party

maintenance provider has provided a glimpse into this tremendousopportunity.

In spite of the strong cost-cutting efforts of the airlines, they still harbor

large amounts of what lean practitioners define as waste: anything thatdoesnt add value for end customers. Waste starts with the utilization of

aircraft and other kinds of infrastructure, which often falls below 50 percent.Passengers see a part of this problem in the form of empty gates, avoidable

tarmac delays, and idle planes. Valuable and highly skilled employeesroutinely spend a large part of their time on low-value activities or just plain

waiting (Figure 2). The arriving traveler watches in frustration as a baggagecarousel remains empty for 30 minutes because of a lack of handlers.

Dozens of stranded travelers fume while a single clerk processes them. In

maintenance hangars, mechanics spend far more time chasing parts thanrepairing aircraft. Moreover, airlines struggle to tailor the level of staffing or

the pace of work to their service demands efficientlydespite the

predictability of many tasks, such as the removal of wheels. In some

maintenance shops, 20 to 30 percent of the mechanics time is spent in thebreak area; in others, actual clocked person-hours are 30 percent lower than

scheduled hours.


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Standard operating procedures exist, but the airlines generally focus on what

regulators such as the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requirethem to do, not on how to do it efficiently. Thick manuals outline tasks but

without standardizing sequences, processing times, or best practices.

Passengers experience this problem firsthand in the form of check-in andloading procedures that vary from airport to airport or even gate to gate. The

absence of operating standards often breeds inefficiency in spite of workersbest efforts to carry out required tasks and meet regulatory standards. Weveseen two mechanics using different toolsone half as effective as theotherto remove a panel from the underside of a fuselage.

Figure 2

The suitability of lean techniques to meet these and other challenges presents

the airlines with a ray of hope. What exactly would a lean airline operationlook like and deliver?


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To illustrate the application of lean techniques, well look closely at a single

operationthe A-check, analogous in role (but not complexity) to servicinga car. Picture the scene: an aircraft pulls into a hangar late at night.

Schedulers "job-card" the list of tasks to be performed and coordinate

tooling, spare parts, and staffing. Engineers define the person-hourworkloads. Supporting departments and workshops, such as materials

management and avionics, provide parts. As if the number of parties

involved didnt generate enough complexity, many nonroutine issues arecreated by cracks, leaks, system faults, and extraneous damage (for instance,engine damage from bird strikes). The goal is to wade through the surprises

and get the plane on the flight line by morning.

A new operating system. Adopting a lean operating system first requires anorganization to search for order in the demand patterns of its "customer" (in

this case, flight operations). When this discipline is applied to themaintenance shop, only a third of all A-check activities turn out to be

nonroutine. Of the nonroutine work, nearly a quarter is accounted for bywing maintenance, which overwhelmingly involves just four areas (Exhibit

3). Standard preparations for them transform nearly 20 percent of allnonroutine A-check tasks into routine ones. A better system for replacing

lightbulbs makes almost 5 percent of all currently unpredictable A-checkoperations routine. Most maintenance organizations already know that

nonroutine work is clustered, but few have reliable records or analyses tomake sense of the patterns.

Figure 3

Such knowledge helps an operator create standard tasks and workplacedesigns. Drawing on the collective expertise of its mechanics, it could

develop standard work routines, making use of enhanced tools and fixtures,that would substantially increase the efficiency of their wrench time. During

A-checks, for instance, they sometimes lubricate parts using a two-person,hand-pumped grease gun while a hydraulic model that allows one person to

do the job sits idly in a corner. Arraying such tools at the ready in a highly

organized work space can yield large efficiencies. Pre-staging parts such asreplacement filters eliminates a source of error by ensuring that they wontbe overlooked. Mechanics become surgeons, with all their equipment and

tooling arranged carefully ahead of time and reliable procedures in place to

deal with surprises. Simply by eliminating ongoing searches for parts, tools,

and paperwork, a carrier may improve the productivity of its repairoperations by more than 30 percent.


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Standardization progresses as operators determine the actual time needed for

each task, along with the sources of variation. Rather than stepping away tofind a tool, mechanics stay by the aircraft and visually signal their tool and

part requirements. As they work, they note any flaw in the process and

perfect it for the future.

Well-defined, standard work practices make more rigorous schedulingpossible. Standard completion times and best-quality sequences help

operators divide and balance their workloads so that they can choreographaircraft movements during nightly A-checks. (In a carefully scheduled lean

system, everyone knows that a 767 will come through the door at a certain

time and will exit, say, two hours and 40 minutes later.) That level of

scheduling rigor helps companies match their staffing levels with worksequences more accurately. Meanwhile, demand-based materials

replenishmentmade possible bykanban

signals that directly link upstreamactivities to actual usagelocks in replacement parts and minimizes

surprises.Improved information flows and standard job practices combine to make

schedules more stable and introduce an operating pace, formerly a noveltyfor repair operations. Keeping the front line informed is vital, particularly in

maintenance shops where aircraft move slowly and no formal assembly lineprovides rhythm and discipline. In a lean A-check, marks on the hangar floor

inform the tug operator and the mechanics where a plane will stop,equipment will be kept, and workers will be deployed. Performance-

management boards close to the aircraft convey the status of each task andthus help the team utilize resources efficiently and in real time. Workers use

these boards, a visual form of communication involving the whole team, totransfer information on progress rapidly. Through visual card displays,

mechanics can see the pace of a job and learn the job sequence of theturnaround. The team counts its time-to-completion visually. When the

check is done, the team draws on the boards performance data to see how itcould improve.


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ONLINE TICKET

Customized offerings and vast selections are now expected as the norm in

consumer-focused industries. As the percentage of leisure travellers continues to

grow, airlines need to find innovative ways to increase the effective yield from these

lower-margin travellers. Clearly, there is one size fits-all approach to reachingcustomers, as Generation Y passengers under 30 years old will have markedly

different criteria for an enjoyable travel experience than parents with toddlers. The

online ticketing portal starts when a customer logs into a website of ticket booking.

He requests the destination and the date of journey and is then provided with the

travel information he is been looking for. He selects the applicable and the required

flights and routes that is displayed. The usual process stops here but according to

our research and project we feel we have something to add on here. The website can

then further display the add ons for any special requirement by the passenger. The

special requirements majorly contain A wheel chair for the old people, a pram for

the baby, etc. As the screen opens up, it will be basically show up the food section

that the customer can choose what it wants to have at the flight and the special

requirements. Now the basic motive to do this would be To charge the customerswith only the Travel fee. Example: Many of us dont prefer to eat anything on the

flight but the charges of it are included in our ticket. So the basic motive of this

system will be to reduce the cost of travel as to attract more customers and

customize their travel so that they revert back again and thus end up becoming a

loyal customer for the Air India. This also helps us creating a central database which

can further be used to deliver the services efficiently at the time of arrival.


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CUSTOMER ARRIVAL

As the customer arrives in the airport, with the help of the central database that is

already been created during the online ticket booking, all the resources with any

special requirements are been kept ready at the time of arrival. There will a small

counter at the arrival with all equipments ready and as the customer approaches theAir India personnel verifies the ticket information and provide them with the

requirements that is on the ticket. If there are any special requirements, the

customer gets the resources opted for and then he further moves inside the airport.

The benefit of doing this would be it saves a lot of time of the passenger and makes

their travel journey easy. The passengers need not to go and find out at the time of

arrival at the airport with any requirements and then waiting for things to get

cleared; instead with the help of the central database system, everything is kept

ready and the customer just need to show their ticket and get all the requirements

on the spot, without wasting their time searching for the resources at airport. Just in

time process helps us to reduce the wastage and keep things up to the mark and that

everything is working efficiently.


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HAND BAG

There has been times when our hand baggage is usually bigger then what we should

carry with us. The problems that occurs in this as we dont get enough space to put

of baggage on the hand baggage space provided in flight due to the size of the

handbag. This process will help us cut down that problem and makes the journey

smooth. In this the customer stands in the weighing Que and the Air India personnel

verify the size of the baggage. If the size is in limit, the customer continues to check

in, and if not the customer is provided with the separate bag to place the necessities.Example: A mother carrying a baby with her needs the stuffs like milk, bottles, etc,

so she will be given a separate bag to carry those things as a hand baggage in the

flight and the rest stuff will be sent as a main luggage. This helps us standardizing

our services and the difficulties faced by the passengers are been taken care of in

this matter.


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FOOD KIOSK

An airline mealor in-flight mealis ameal served to passengers on board acommercialairliner.These meals are prepared by airline catering services.

These meals vary widely in quality and quantity across different airlinecompanies and classes of travel. They range from a simple beverage inshort-haul economy class to a seven-course gourmet meal inlong-haul first class.

To provide everyone with high quality food which is served hot a specialprovision is made for passengers who did not book their food online. The kioskdisplays a list of items which can be served hot within the given time of a flightthus preventing inventories and providing passengers with hot food. As displayedin the figure different food items are displayed with time remaining to make anorder for the item. As time goes by the items in the list decreases based on thetime for preparation and in the last half hour before boarding only those items

which can be made fast such as a sandwich remain on the list and 20 minutesprior to boarding the kiosk is closed for that particular flight

Kiosks are placed after security check and also inside the waiting areas so thatpassengers can order food that they require before they board the flight based onthe time restrictions.

Caterers usually produce alternative meals for passengers with restrictive diets. These must

usually be ordered in advance, sometimes when buying the ticket if not based on time restrictions

these can be chosen at the kiosk. But this would require passengers to access the kiosks much

earlier in order to have the full menu available to them. Some of the alternative meals are:

Cultural diets, such asFrench,Italian,Chinese,Japanese orIndian style. Infant and baby meals.Some airlines also offerchildren's meals,containing foods that

children will enjoy such asbaked beans,mini-hamburgers andhot dogs.

Medical diets, including low/highfiber,lowfat/cholesterol,diabetic,peanut free,non-lactose,lowsalt/sodium,low-purine,low-calorie,low-protein,bland (non-spicy) andgluten-free meals.

Religious diets, includingkosher,halal,andHindu,Buddhist andJain vegetarian (sometimestermed Asian vegetarian) meals.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mealhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airlinerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short-haulhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short-haulhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-haulhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_cuisinehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_cuisinehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_cuisinehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_cuisinehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_cuisinehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_foodhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kids%27_mealhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baked_beanshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamburgerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_doghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dietary_fiberhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fathttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cholesterolhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diabetic_diethttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peanut_allergyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactose_intolerance#Avoiding_lactose-containing_productshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low_sodium_diethttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gout#Reduce_intake_of_purineshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calorie_restrictionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-protein_diethttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gluten-free_diethttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosherhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halalhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetarianism_in_Hinduismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhist_vegetarianismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jain_vegetarianismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jain_vegetarianismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhist_vegetarianismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetarianism_in_Hinduismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halalhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosherhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gluten-free_diethttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-protein_diethttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calorie_restrictionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gout#Reduce_intake_of_purineshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low_sodium_diethttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactose_intolerance#Avoiding_lactose-containing_productshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peanut_allergyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diabetic_diethttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cholesterolhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fathttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dietary_fiberhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_doghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamburgerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baked_beanshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kids%27_mealhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_foodhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_cuisinehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_cuisinehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_cuisinehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_cuisinehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_cuisinehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-haulhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short-haulhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short-haulhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airlinerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meal


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Vegetarian andvegan meals. Some airlines do not offer a specific meal for vegetarians;instead, they are given a vegan meal.

QUALITY METHODS

We have build our service blueprint on ZERO DEFECTS MODEL.By analysing thestages and the problems that arise at the grassroot level like the waiting for

baggage, people blocking way in queue,etc we have created a model where errors on

being detrected are prevented to reoccur.

This is done by stanadardising the process from the check in to boarding the

flight.The role of standardizing is that the number of variations are prevented

leading to consistent flow in the process

ZERO DEFECT MODEL
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SIX SIGMA APPROACH

Six-Sigma engage each employee of the organization from top executives to the

employee on the manufacturing or service floor.It focuses on quality improvement,cost- reduction ,cycle time reduction and improved delivery performance. This

results in higher profits and customer satisfaction .It also improves the relationship

between the management & employees.

In order to implement the principles of this approach we propose the following:

By reducing the blockage at the time of check in (due to excess baggage)we not only reduce the variation caused but also reduce the impact on

cycle time and make the process flow smoothly.

By introducing RFID tags and we can effectively improve the the flow ofpassengers.

Also by putting baggage on flight according to the order so that passangerswho disembark first and on reaching conveyer belt find their bags already

arrived and who arrive late are aware that arrival of their bags will taketime.It will led to less hassle and disappointment which will directly

improve satisfaction level of customers.

PROBLEM: Generally bag handling is a challenge for airlines and a problem for

customers. They have to wait for their bags for hours even when they have reached

on time to conveyer belt.

RECOMMENDATION: We suggest instead of placing bags in a random order if bags

are kept in an organized manner we can smoothen the process.This will happen bycolour coding the bags after check in the ground staff can stick colour tags to

bags.To explain , lets say the bags are codedredif they are of passengers sitting at

last seats (last section).These bags are loaded first on the carriage of aircraft and

placed first.Secondly bags of second last section are attached agreentag and kept in

front of the red colourbags in order of seats.Similarly for other sections bags are

kept in order such that bags of people in the back section of plane (who are last one

to disembark and reach conveyer belt) arrive in the end.


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BAGGAGE COLOR CODE:

BLUE REDGREE

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Air India Report operations management