How F1 helps prevent AOGs

Sebastien Barth, managing director of C4 Logistics describes how sweating the assets are a long way away from sweating passengers – 35,000ft to be precise! Picture the scene. A Boeing 737 sits on hot tarmac at Heraklion airport at the height of summer as the even hotter passengers, desperate to get home, sweat it out in an airless cabin on the apron because urgent repairs are needed to the aircraft's landing gear. There is no communication and no air conditioning as the ground crew assesses the damage.

Eventually, it is decided that the holidaymakers will have to stay in a hotel for the night while a part is flown in to fix the problem. This is a typical example of an aircraft on the ground (AOG) scenario that can cost a commercial airline in the region of $150,000 an hour. Usually sorted in 24 hours, problems can take much longer to remedy leading to sky-high costs because the aircraft, the work horse of the skies, cannot make money sitting on a runway. Unlike the stranded passengers at Heraklion Airport, it is an asset that should be sweated, as both should be 35,000ft in the air.

This is where specialist time-critical international logistics come into play to reduce the repair time, but not knowing where the missing component is at any given time can add to the airline's stress and cost. Track and trace systems for time-critical delivery usually monitor fixed points of the journey - an engineering trouble-shooter's offices, a distribution centre, the receiving airport, for example, but while it is in transit, the part drops off the map. Engineers in Crete only know it has left point A with little knowledge of when it will arrive at point B.

AOG therefore provides a potentially threatening scenario that increases time and cost, and could ruin the brand reputation of an airline that cannot accurately tell its passengers when they might re-join their flight.

Enter the world of the smart phone. Unique technology has now been launched that, for the first time, matches a consignment's progress to a driver's iPhone or Android and puts the customer in control through a real time web portal. Physical mapping and instant KPI reporting are provided, which is perfect for high-value products that need constant monitoring in transit.

The system was developed by C4 Logistics for the time-sensitive and ‘pressure-cooker' environment of Formula 1 where we have to seamlessly transport components, as diverse as new nose cones from the UK to Monaco, through bespoke logistics solutions designed to shave time off deliveries, which is as critical as shaving tenths of a second off a qualifying lap.

We also work extensively in the aerospace industry where getting vital components to airports in a time-sensitive manner to reduce AOG incidents is critical. The same can be said for the pharmaceuticals industry, our other key sector where, as well as measuring time in monetary and life-saving terms, supply chain delivery schedules are also dictated by strict regulatory and temperature controls.

We work in the industries with the most exacting standards to deliver time-critical logistics. Our clients need to be reassured every step of the way that delays are not going to cost them in terms of time, medical emergency priority or money.

Operating in an ‘asset-light' fourth-party logistics world where our customers rely upon peace of mind and an end-to-end picture of the journey - including the thousands of miles of ocean to be crossed - the track and trace GPS solution that we have developed allows clients to monitor consignments minute-by-minute, if they so desire. It also provides traffic dependent, ETA updates and total supply chain transparency, with money back guarantees if we fail to make the delivery through reasons within our control.

This is the future of time-critical logistics in general where such fail-safe solutions become hygiene factors rather than ‘nice to haves'.

www.c4logistics.com