Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Air Freight Handling Group Appoints IT Specialist for Mobile Cargo Computing Solutions

New Heathrow Facility Programmed to Eliminate Paperwork
Shipping News Feature

UK – Starting up in 1959 in Dubai the dnata group has grown, mainly through acquisitions, to be the 4th largest combined air services providers for ground handling, cargo services, travel, and in-flight catering in the world. With the addition of the Plane Handling group in 2010, the company took on services, including freight ground operations, to sixty airlines in London and Manchester. At Heathrow the dnata City project includes a 20-acre cargo complex centred around five air freight warehouses, a transportation facility and yard for airside operations enclosed in a security-fenced area.

Now, following a competitive tendering process, dnata has selected specialist IT applications company Peak-Ryzex to provide a complete mobile computing solution for its Heathrow facility. Peak-Ryzex will provide mobile computers, wireless networking, mobile device management (MDM) software, consultancy and support. The handling group says the appointment is part of a move to revolutionise cargo handling services worldwide by setting a new benchmark in high performance. The mobile solution employs real-time data communication and capture to improve the use of resources and increase the speed of its freight processes.

Currently dnata handles in excess of 350,000 tonnes of cargo a year from 450,000 sq. ft. of modern airport cargo terminals covering the UK market. The company employs around 28,000 people across 38 countries worldwide and services hundreds of different airlines and the cargo project is intended to demonstrate to the industry that is possible to provide much faster service by using comparatively simple cutting edge information technology to replace paper documentation as used traditionally by the air freight industry. Guy Thompson, IT Director for data's Strategic Projects, commented: 

"Peak-Ryzex put in the best tender. The company offered a much broader service and convinced us that it could support our long-term ambitions for future projects. Peak-Ryzex will provide a complete solution covering the hardware, software, wireless networks and MDM software. The company will configure the hardware for us and provide the necessary training. We also get a Project Manager assigned to us and we'll have access to a range of consultancy services.

"The Next Working Day Exchange Service enables our operational people to send broken equipment directly to Peak-Ryzex and receive a fully configured replacement the very next day. There is no need for any of the users to involve our IT department as Peak-Ryzex assumes the responsibility of making sure the equipment is working and available. I see this as a long-term relationship that will help us with the evolution of existing projects and the development of new ones.”