Kocoverk International, the worldwide supplier of ground service equipment (GSE), today announced the integration of an airport mobile workforce solution which will save 30% on energy consumption and improve billing by 10% for their aircraft heaters, coolers, ground power units and other GSE.
In partnership with SITA and Appear, Kocoverk is embedding context-aware wireless technology into its equipment to enable the SITA mobile workforce solution, ensuring that ground equipment assets are used more efficiently.
The wireless units communicate the location of each piece of equipment to a control room where dispatchers can assign equipment to a turnaround. Simultaneously, data is sent directly to ground staff through rugged hand-held devices from which they can immediately locate equipment on a map, monitor its parameters, and remotely activate and deactivate them as necessary. This increases staff productivity as it avoids unnecessary staff movements on the tarmac, while reducing energy consumption.
Efficient usage and real-time information on location also allows better asset utilization and reduces the need to acquire surplus machines. Operation logs can be automatically transferred in digital format for billing purposes which reduces the risk of lost or inaccurate invoice data.
Max Ternheim, CEO of Kocoverk International, said: “Cost savings are an absolute imperative in the air transport industry, particularly at this time, but IT costs must also remain under control. With the SITA mobile workforce solution we have the best of both worlds: a solution that provides immediate cost savings and minimal upfront costs.
With the real time temperature reporting this solution provides we are seeing a 30% reduction in diesel consumption for our aircraft heaters. In addition, billing accuracy has increased by 10%. This translates to thousands of euro savings for our customers for each machine each year.”
Greg Ouillon, head of research, technology and innovation at SITA, said: “This solution clearly demonstrates immediate gains to ground handlers enabling them to manage their GSE more efficiently. In the longer term, the overall efficiency of asset usage that the solution provides means that the requirement for investing in machines will be reduced.
This is a good example of the business benefits that SITA wants to bring to the air transport industry by deploying shared and cost-effective mobile services at airports, removing deployment and management complexity.”
Earlier this year SITA and Appear launched a new workforce mobility program designed to provide common use mobile middleware infrastructure in order to support field applications in the air transport industry, such as maintenance, aircraft turnaround and airport management. Several pilots are underway incorporating Kocoverk International’s enhanced equipment.