Airport_Business_February-March_2020 - 17

BAGGAGE MATTERS

A MIT moves along it's
designated path.
DAIFUKU

An laser/RFID Hybrid system
installed at Dallas Love Field
Airport.
SICK, INC.

screening systems. For that effort, 12
CTX 9800 SEIO ISD machines, six per
terminal, have been installed.
Daifuku put in the original South
Terminal screening system at Miami,
a process that began before 9/11 and
there have been a lot of lessons learned
across the industry since then in addition
to an increase in the screening process,
Alderman said.
"The original system was designed
and installed in the early days of US

screening systems prior to the rigorous
screening systems that are required today.
We have made many improvements
since then so some of the design of the
conveyors surrounding it are not best
practice to today's standards. That results
in some inefficiencies, with extra bags
getting falsely identified as needing to
be searched which creates more work
for the TSA in the hand search room,"
he said. "The new machines utilize 3D
imaging which enables operators to get
a much better evaluation of what's in
the bag and detect a lot more - a lot
broader profile of the alarming materials
that they'd be looking for."
Streamlining the process is exactly
the job of the MITs, which are essentially
robots that automatically transport suspect
baggage to be searched directly to the
TSA officers. The MITs are designed to
improve the ergonomics and efficiency
for the TSA officers and open the egress
within the CBRA area.
"The majority of this system is still
traditional belt conveyor but then we
pick up the alarmed bags from the belt
conveyor automatically on the Mobile
Inspection Tables. The transfer is
automatic and then the MIT drives the
bag into the search room for the TSA,"
said Alderman.
Originally, Chin added, the MITs
were not part of the original plan.
"It was later incorporated to the scope
of work the installation of the mobile
inspection system, reconfiguration of
the offices and restrooms at the second
level and deferred work, such as: Inbound
conveyor lines and associated crossovers
and equipment, electric detection
system machines in the checked baggage
inspection system and associated checked
baggage resolution area conveyors,

sortation piers make-up devices and all
associated cross-over and re-insertion
conveyor lines," Chin described.
The efficiency and increased security
AGVs bring to Miami's operations may
be the most apparent on the outside, but
behind the scenes the machines create a
physically easier working environment
for their human counterparts.
"A real advantage from the end user's
perspective is not having to physically lift
the bags. The MIT bring the bags directly
to the operator. If they do have to open
it, they do so right on the tabletop of
the MIT. Upon search completion, the
TSA agent simply presses a button and
the bag gets delivered right back onto
the conveyor without having to do any
lifting. So physically it's better for the
employees that are using the inspection
rooms," added Hipp.
Other advantages of the MITs over
conventional baggage systems is the
flexibility to make quick changes to the
system and its layout compared to the
rigidity of conveyors.
"With the Mobile Inspection Table,
since we're not tied in physically, we
could change the layout or f low in a
matter of minutes or hours as opposed
to days to reroute something. So, if down
the road TSA changes best practices on
how the room should be laid out, how
things should be detected, or how the
process flow works, then it's a very easy
change," Alderman described.
The MITs also cause less issues when
it comes to maintenance. If a single
MIT experiences a failure, it can easily
be brought aside and worked on with
no hinderance to the rest of the system,
whereas one faulty conveyor can bring
an entire BHS to a standstill. With that
in mind, Hipp said that beyond the
MITs, Daifuku has installed a number
of redundancies into the system to prevent
system standstills.
"Typically, on a conveyor, if there's
a failure of a motor or the belt and that
conveyor shuts down. Since everything
is sequential on a conveyor, the entire
system must stop in order to fix it
immediately before you are able to get
the system running again. With the
mobile inspection table, an operator can
take individual parts out of the loop
and do the maintenance on the side,"
said Hipp.

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2020 \ AVIATIONPROS.COM / 17
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