WORLD
ANALYSIS
has been - replacing over 90 disparate systems, some almost as old
as me, with fewer than ten to run our entire business end to end -
it is just the beginning of our ability to evolve and adapt quickly
in this fascinating, dynamic industry. Our team of more than
8,000 people worldwide did an incredible job getting ready in
both knowledge and mindset for the major transformational
journey that we’re still on. We have fi ve major deployments left in
2020, and even despite the challenging environment, we’re
committed to fi nishing the implementation because of the
magnitude of benefi ts for both our team and customers it will
bring. If you do modernisation right, it’s a never-ending journey.
Our team remains adaptive and we’re always in a learning mode
– that’s what allows us to navigate the most challenging changes,
even the unexpected ones like we’re experiencing right now. Our
team is thinking forward, putting our strengths to work for the
world, and looking to learn from this experience so we emerge
better, different and stronger partners for our customers and the
world.”
AI initiatives for Air Canada
For Tim Strauss, VP Cargo, Air Canada Cargo, last year was
memorable on account of the progress made with Artifi cial
Intelligence.
“One of the most signifi cant projects was our artifi cial
intelligence labs. Specifi cally, at the end of the year, we launched
Vector AI, an application to make AI accessible to employees
worldwide. The Cargo group was the fi rst at Air Canada to
implement a tool like this and, over time, AI will become a normal
part of our business.”
In 2018, Air Canada was selected to be part of an Artifi cial
Intelligence supercluster that was awarded funding by the
Government of Canada. The “SCALE.AI” (Supply Chains and
Logistics Excellence. Artifi cial Intelligence consortium, which was
selected by the Canadian government as one of fi ve superclusters
to receive funding through the Innovation Supercluster Initiative),
has the goal of fostering technological leadership, creating jobs
and enhancing skills, enabling Canadian companies to become
global leaders. Hence last year Air Canada set up its AI Centre of
Excellence and several AI labs across the company, notably in
Cargo and Revenue Management.
Strauss continues: “Cargo’s fi rst fi eld lab resulted in a new tool
to estimate how much space will be left for cargo once all
passenger factors are considered, including fuel and baggage. To
complement this, the tool estimates how full our fl ights will be at
departure and how likely it is that a cargo customer will show up
with their freight. The predictive algorithms help our employees
make more informed decisions and have reduced the time that is
normally spent checking and double-checking pieces of
information.”
It was also a time of fresh fi elds for Air Canda: routes launched
included those of Toronto-Quito, Toronto-Vienna, Montreal-Sao
Paulo and Vancouver-Auckland.
Also in 2019, Air Canada launched an Operations Excellence
programme, something for which Strauss has been a strong
advocate. “The project started in Toronto, where we worked with
consultants and our front line and management teams to review
tempting to think of process
engineering as an internal
programme, but in fact it’s one
of the biggest opportunities we
have to differentiate ourselves
in the market and serve our
customers well. Our Vancouver
hub has set the bar high and is
already seeing positive results.”
He goes on to mention that
Air Canada also saw
infrastructure investments bear
fruit: an extensive renovation
at its Chicago O’Hare facility
was a case in point. This was
expanded from 24,000 square
feet to 61,000 square feet, and
gained additional dock doors,
as well as cool chain
enhancements, which included
a cooler and temperaturecontrolled
room. Air Canada
also launched the CEIV-Pharma
certifi cation process, which is
due to be completed this year.
He concludes by affi rming
that Air Canada was able to rise
to the challenge occasioned by
the grounding of Boeing’s 737.
“Air Canada was extremely
nimble and managed to operate
97% of the planned schedule,
thanks to the fl exibility of its
fl eet. Cargo saw some benefi ts
there, as some routes were
switched to wide-body aircraft.”
The package specialist
For FedEx, it was an interesting
period, as it continued the
assimilation of the TNT empire
acquired back in 2016. Finally
completed was the operational
...we have
to differentiate
ourselves in the
market
Tim Strauss, Air Canada
each and every process related
to the fl ow of cargo. The end
result was the elimination of
ineffi ciencies and reduction of
steps, and a much more
streamlined A-Z functioning of
the facility.
“Cargo Operations
Excellence is one of the key
pieces to our becoming a truly
lean organisation. When we
talk about an engineered or
lean approach, it starts with
documenting how we do
things – and having honest
discussions about how we can
do better. From there, we put
the proposed changes to the
test in our day-to-day work. It’s
Cargo divison of Air Canada was the fi rst
section to benefi t from AI adoption
16 June 2020 www.airlogisticsinternational.com
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