air india report operations management
TRANSCRIPT
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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
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ovo-lacto_vegetarianhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veganhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veganhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ovo-lacto_vegetarian -
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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