Airpro Oy and Finavia Oyj

Real-time and readily accessible maintenance data enables process improvement and efficient monitoring of key KPI metrics.

Novi Assisting in Maintenance Improvement and Measurement

Airpro Oy serves thousands of airline passengers daily offering ground and passenger services on 12 airports in Finland and cabin crew services in Scandinavia. Airpro is part of Finavia Corporation and is the oldest ground service company in Finland. The Novi by Pinja maintenance system is in use at all airports, and in addition to our own staff, subcontractors have also joined as users of the system. Real-time and easily accessible information enables the development of maintenance and efficient monitoring of key performance indicators.

Project in brief

Tasks

Airpro’s maintenance tasks at airports include e.g. passenger stairs, loading belts, car equipment and luggage carts. Finavia’s task is to be responsible for field maintenance and the equipment used to keep the field clean.

Aim

The aim was to clarify and simplify the Group’s system as well as to harmonize the companies’ maintenance and equipment management.

Improvements

Today, maintenance and repair work is managed and reported directly in the system. The flow of information has also become more efficient with the introduction of the system.

The most important figures at Helsinki-Vantaa airport are, for example, MDT, MTBF, MWT and the utilisation rate of the machines. These figures can easily be monitored directly in Novi.

Markus Mäkinen, GSE Coordinator, Finavia

All maintenance tasks in one system

Nowadays, Novi has been implemented at all 12 airports, and subcontractors have also joined as users of the system.

Novi facilitates the operations of Airpro whose employees will now be able to use the system easily with tablets or mobile phones even in places with weak network connection. At the same time with the system change, Airpro also wanted to introduce new features, including operator maintenance, route services and email alerts to increase the efficiency of current operations.

The biggest operational efficiency factor is related to the management and reporting of maintenance and repairs, which is now successful directly in the system. The flow of information has also become more efficient with the introduction of the system.

Efficient equipment coordination

One of the most important tasks of Airpro is to ensure the fluent and safe flow of air traffic. For example, the travel seasons in Lapland are challenging because the Kittilä airport, amongst others, requires up to 180 luggage dollies during high season, whereas the Helsinki-Vantaa airport, which is several times larger, only uses about 60 dollies on a normal day.

During high season the equipment must be constantly transferred and the equipment must be both functional and in the right place at the right time. The Airpro maintenance operations are also affected by the regulations provided by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), especially the ISAGO registration (IATA Safety Audit for Ground Operations) that requires certain measures to be taken in order to ensure safety at international airports. The current regulations call for daily audits and inspections that are recorded in the system.

Real time information

Finavia airfield maintenance staff have placed devices in the breakroom on which the staff members can enter, for example, notices of defect that are immediately transmitted to the repair facility. The same notices are automatically sent to the supervisor’s email.

Furthermore, there are four 60” monitors in the breakroom that show real-time information on equipment that are broken, being repaired or in commission and the causes of the defects. The fourth monitor shows the most important group of equipment, the brushing machines and their statuses. This information helps the staff members to stay up-to-date and they don’t have to try to find information by asking around or finding the right Excel file, note or whiteboard. Real-time information that is easily available also enables efficient monitoring of the most important figures of maintenance.

The most important figures at Helsinki-Vantaa airport are, for example, MDT (Mean Down Time), MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures), MWT (Mean Waiting Time) and the utilisation rate of the machines. These figures can easily be monitored directly in Novi but, in addition to monitoring, the system also points out areas of development. By taking these areas into consideration, the figures can be further improved.

New features

At the same time with switching to the Novi system, Airpro also introduces email alerts that vary in terms of the severity of the defect. Alerts of smaller defects are automatically directed to a service person but the alerts of more severe defects are sent directly to the airport manager who can decide whether to fix the defect immediately or if it is possible to delay fixing it.

Automatic information flow improves cost-efficiency. This way, the repair worker doesn’t have to arrive in the middle of the night only to find out that the small defect could also have waited until the next day. With real-time information, the system improves the understanding of large unities and optimises the work flow.

– The rapid progression of the project has been one of the best things. We have received plenty of good feedback from the staff about this fast-pace project. The expertise and the technical support of Pinja have been excellent during the project. In addition, one of the most important things considering the success of this project has been the mutual commitment of the whole company, from the management to the loaders, GSE Coordinator Markus Mäkinen says gratefully.