Berlin/Frankfurt, Germany, Nov. 9, 2009 — Zebra Enterprise Solutions GmbH (ZES, formerly known as proveo GmbH) at Zebra Technologies (Nasdaq: ZBRA) announces the implementation of the ZES Airport Visualiser at GlobeGround Berlin, the largest ground handling service provider at Berlin’s airports Schönefeld and Tegel.
Because of the particular history of the German capital, the city used to have three airports. One of them, Tempelhof, was closed down in October last year, but Tegel, the city airport, and Schönefeld, located southeast of the city, are still in operation. Attempts to bundle air transport in one large airport have lingered for a good number of years, and now it is a fact that in 2011 Schönefeld will be extended and renamed to become Berlin Brandenburg International (BBI).
GlobeGround Berlin will be the largest ground service provider at BBI that will be the airport hub for Berlin and the surrounding region of Brandenburg. With a newly constructed train connection, BBI will be conveniently situated some 15 minutes by train from the center of Berlin. The city airport of Tegel will be closed down, which will considerably reduce the noise exposure of hundreds of thousands of Berlin and Brandenburg residents.
The GlobeGround Berlin group is proud of their state-of-the-art equipment and technologies, a long-standing experience in the business and a great methodological competence. With this approach in mind, it seems natural that GlobeGround Berlin, when looking for IT solutions to enhance their operations, chose to work with ZES who is the technological leader in the field of real-time visualization for airport operations.
Based on a pilot project with ZES, Bernhard Alvensleben, managing director at GlobeGround GmbH & Co. KG, expects to gain more innovative perspectives for the ground handling planning and allocation processes at the new airport of BBI. He sees the deployment of the Airport Visualiser as an element in GlobeGround Berlin’s efforts to reveal synergies and gear up for future challenges.
In a first step of the project, GlobeGround Berlin has commissioned ZES to equip 21 ground power units at Schönefeld and Tegel with the ZES hardware device, the Infoman, that transmits real-time data on the GSE’s present position and key data on the vehicle, e.g. its operational status. Results from this pilot project, and namely data on the savings that GlobeGround Berlin will be able to obtain with the aid of the Airport Visualiser will get available during the coming months and GlobeGround Berlin will then decide on a roll-out to the entire fleet of GSE.
For GlobeGround Berlin, the pooling of operations at a single, large airport offers potential to boost their efficiency. At the same time, the move also represents a challenge, as GlobeGround Berlin want to streamline their operations so as to successfully face faster operations with higher peaks and workloads at the new international airport. One of GlobeGround Berlin’s aims in this context is to optimize the size of their GSE fleet and thus avoid capital expenditure and maintenance costs. Already today, and more than ever, GlobeGround Berlin has to tightly control their operational costs. Here, the Airport Visualiser offers huge potential for savings, as its unique Airport Map provides full visibility of ramp services. The Airport Visualiser is based on state-of-the-art Web technology and is extremely user friendly. It offers a vast choice of analysis tools for easy reporting on present and past timeframes, and also enhances safety and security as well as operator accountability.
User identification by means of iButtons is another important aspect for safe and efficient GSE operations, as it ensures that only authorized personnel can operate a specific piece of equipment. The GSE can only be started after a positive identification of the driver and provided that the driver holds an appropriate license. Moreover, with the aid of the ZES Airport Visualiser, GlobeGround Berlin will be able to exactly trace the services they have provided to their customers, guaranteeing precise and transparent billing.
Patrick Fotheringham, senior sales manager at ZES, winds up: “For ZES, it is a question of honor to be present in the German capital and at the new airport of Berlin Brandenburg International. I am convinced that the Airport Visualiser will help GlobeGround Berlin to ensure the success of their operations at BBI, and, until that time, at Schönefeld and Tegel.”
