By BEUMER Group
BEUMER Group had the opportunity to seek the views of baggage handling consultant, William Gibbs of Swanson Rink, as to how an airport can approach this issue.
The approach to assessing ICS for your airport
In Gibbs’ view, an airport’s decision as to whether ICS technology is the right solution over a conventional system should be based on a Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) analysis.
A TCO analysis can identify both the costs borne by each stakeholder and the benefits that accrue to each stakeholder. It allows for more visibility into the impact of the various cost centres considered and the variances in each instance than can be discerned from a simple payback analysis.
Gibbs states:
“Legitimate TCO analyses of both traditional systems and ICS-based solutions, backed by actual energy use and annual maintenance cost data, will take the airport a long way.”
However, he notes that the TCO study period must be long enough to capture real world normal operations, maintenance and replacement costs for major components, consistent with normal equipment and system life cycles.
In addition, sustainability issues should be factored into the analysis. How a BHS fits into an airport’s overall sustainability plans has now become a very important part of the discussion.