We are MSc Global Supply Chain Management Students at Brunel University, updating the blog for the purpose of group discussions in Operations and Project Management (MG5579) module.
Thursday 24 January 2013
The case of Heathrow airport
The case of Heathrow airport on page 107 (Slack et al., 2010)
A. What causes ‘variability’ in the process?
B. How process variability restrict airport utilisation?
C. How process variability can be reduced?
I think that if Heathrow is running at 99% capacity and is still facing long delays and overcrowding, this explains that the lack of capacity is the biggest cause of process variability. Because landings are scheduled, any delay caused by other factors would be made bigger by the fact that it affects more airlines and passengers in the schedule; and the lack of capacity in easing this problem does not help. So I think this causes more variability in operations than it would normally be at other airports. I live in a flat on the 18th floor, in the evening one can see up to about 6 airplanes lined up to land, all seperated by just a couple of minutes!
This doesn't necessarily create variability in the time it takes to perform activities but variability in demand at various stages of the travel chain i.e. customers have to wait for hours to get to security check or boarding gates. It therefore explains why the UK Government is keen on opening a 6th terminal, even though countless interest groups are against it. Apparently Heathrow is in a strategic geographical position, and the business opportunities and revenue it brings makes it hard to refuse expansion.
I wonder what methods they use to monitor the relationship between the process utilisation and number of aircrafts waiting to land. I thought that maybe air traffic control uses simulation software (I'm quite sure they do) to model aircraft arrival; but I couldn't find any information on this on their website or elsewhere.
In figure 4.9 of page 105 I think heathrow could also be said to be operating at point X, but how does one come to that conclusion? In conclusion I think that by creating extra capacity, variability can be reduced by giving the airport breathing space if anything goes wrong, eventually reducing aircraft waiting times, effect on the environment and customer satisfaction.
You are right Annette, they should presumably use some sort of simulation to analyse the situation. You may find this helpful in realising how variation of process time in highly utilised systems can cause long queues: https://plus.google.com/103137876942082024919/posts/MMdKVV9zUwK
I think that if Heathrow is running at 99% capacity and is still facing long delays and overcrowding, this explains that the lack of capacity is the biggest cause of process variability. Because landings are scheduled, any delay caused by other factors would be made bigger by the fact that it affects more airlines and passengers in the schedule; and the lack of capacity in easing this problem does not help. So I think this causes more variability in operations than it would normally be at other airports. I live in a flat on the 18th floor, in the evening one can see up to about 6 airplanes lined up to land, all seperated by just a couple of minutes!
ReplyDeleteThis doesn't necessarily create variability in the time it takes to perform activities but variability in demand at various stages of the travel chain i.e. customers have to wait for hours to get to security check or boarding gates. It therefore explains why the UK Government is keen on opening a 6th terminal, even though countless interest groups are against it. Apparently Heathrow is in a strategic geographical position, and the business opportunities and revenue it brings makes it hard to refuse expansion.
I wonder what methods they use to monitor the relationship between the process utilisation and number of aircrafts waiting to land. I thought that maybe air traffic control uses simulation software (I'm quite sure they do) to model aircraft arrival; but I couldn't find any information on this on their website or elsewhere.
In figure 4.9 of page 105 I think heathrow could also be said to be operating at point X, but how does one come to that conclusion? In conclusion I think that by creating extra capacity, variability can be reduced by giving the airport breathing space if anything goes wrong, eventually reducing aircraft waiting times, effect on the environment and customer satisfaction.
You are right Annette, they should presumably use some sort of simulation to analyse the situation. You may find this helpful in realising how variation of process time in highly utilised systems can cause long queues: https://plus.google.com/103137876942082024919/posts/MMdKVV9zUwK
ReplyDelete