CASE STUDY: Logistics challenges overcome in Air Europa’s digital transformation

Author: Elisa Abou Saada, Supply Chain Project Leader, Helena Carchenilla Valle, Supply chain Manager and Arnau Losada Pascual, Project Manager Business Transformation, Internal Logistics, all at Air Europa

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Standfirst Elisa Abou Saada, Supply Chain Project Leader, Helena Carchenilla Valle, Supply chain Manager and Arnau Losada Pascual Project Manager Business Transformation, Internal Logistics, all at Air Europa, reflect on the challenges encountered and overcome in Air Europa’s digital transformation journey

In this case study, we want to share with readers a recent project carried out in Air Europa. It was not only about an IT solution, but also about cultural change in order to find operational excellence. However, before embarking on the project we had to define a goal.

SOLVING INTERNAL LOGISTICS CHALLENGES

A key driver of our transformation has been the outstanding leadership of Helena Carchenilla Valle, Supply Chain Manager. Under Helena’s guidance, the team has navigated significant organizational changes, implemented process improvements, and embraced innovation to enhance efficiency. Her strategic vision has been instrumental in stabilizing critical operations, optimizing inventory management, and fostering a culture of continuous improvement. These efforts have enabled us to overcome complex challenges and position our company for a future defined by agility and operational excellence.

We work in the Supply Chain in Air Europa Maintenance, a department of more than 100 people, where the goal is to supply our internal engineering customers with the necessary materials and tools to maintain our fleet, in a timely manner and to manage costs; all putting safety first. But, if we only focused on this goal in our Supply Chain silo, we would be unable to look at the bigger picture. The project that we’re going to cover in this article is about connecting the supply chain at the same time as meeting the needs to ensure that our mechanics on the line can do the best job. The challenge we faced, following the relocation of our warehouse, is illustrated in the map, in figure 1, of our hub, Madrid, Barajas.

Figure 1

At the bottom of the map you can see where our mechanics were based and, used to collect the materials and tools from the warehouse in the upper and right part of the map. That averaged 100 trips a day at 20 minutes average per trip; a lot of time in a process which, as readers will know, is already facing a reduction in numbers of mechanics and available man hours. What made this even more of a challenge for Air Europa was the need to move our warehouse, to a new hangar, top of the map, further away than the other warehouse, creating even more of a challenge. But the move had to happen and so we needed to find a way to solve this problem The solution that we developed is summarized in figure 2.

Figure 2

We considered that it would be best if we started by looking at internal logistics with the aim to save time for our mechanics. This is the essence of our project; it’s not only about an IT solution, but about a cultural change, because it involved changing more than 20 years of behavior for all of those people. Of course, there were other challenges such as operational efficiency, systems, and communication methods because, when it came to assembling parts and tools for a job, we had a mechanic who went to the warehouse, talked with the warehouse staff, collected the parts and tools and then returned, all in one vehicle. We decided to replace all of those trips and settled behaviors, with two vans moving like a delivery service around the maintenance production line. The vans are for different types of solution. There is one for tools and consumable parts and the other one for tools and picklists.

At the same time, we improved the visibility and digitalization of all the data and now plan to implement GPS to improve the movements around the airport for all of our mechanics’ vans and vehicles. We also want to combine the current solution with a solution like Deliveroo, Global, or Uber, in order to deal with 100% of issues with internal logistics. The result has been that we have saved around 30% of those trips for our mechanics.

INNOVATION IN INTERNAL LOGISTICS

Sometimes it’s better to see what is happening than to try to explain it in words, so here is a video showing what we have achieved.

VIDEO HERE: https://youtu.be/uW6Lg_GJtq0

The video is real life. It’s our daily operation, a reality based on three elements, the mobile warehouse that you see. Then we have the EzStock application, which is delivered by TRAX, eMRO and, of course, new processes.

We had to configure, fit this out and to implement it, bearing in mind what we wanted to put in it. We had to analyze which tools we wanted and which consumables before we customized the vans for this project. Connected to the van, we also implemented a team, the runner team, so we have a team in the warehouse, the store men, and then we have the runner. The second element, as we said above, is EzStock, an application provided by eMRO and which is very user friendly. When we started to think about this project, we had to implement our team, so we had to train new employees who didn’t know the TRAX system or the eMRO system, so we need to teach them everything. For the runners, we needed to teach them how to understand the delivery management system and the application with which they only need to do one click when they deliver the material. Inside the project are many processes with 12 new processes. That meant that we had to rethink all of the daily operation, because we had to divide between the mobile warehouse management, which process is connected to the van, and then we have also to think about the EzStock processes. So, as you see in figure 3, we have two main bases of processes.

Figure 3

The main processes connected was the picklist runner system, as mentioned before, we had to create a new runner team, teach them how to deliver material, had to think about how to get, for example, on the aircraft, how to connect with the mechanics, how to call the mechanics, how they pick the material, and these kinds of processes. We had to think it on the ground with people over there. And, of course, we had the processes connected to the delivery management. We also had to think about the follow up of the project and how many issues could we do in one day or in one shift?

HOW WE GET IT

Now, let’s look at some data to understand this. Imagine that, as we said before, we implemented this project, because we had a problem; now we are in the process that we are moving our warehouse, and we are building a new hangar, and it’s more or less two kilometers away from the actual warehouse. So, this is a project that is necessary, and this purchase project transformed all the processes that we had before. Of course, this project is based on our innovation as figure 4 demonstrates.

Figure 4

In 2019 we began with TRAX and the eMRO solution. For EzStock, we had to think about a mobile solution. We began to plan the project in 2019 and began to implement it in 2024 with eMobility, and we have continued to introduce new applications, with mobility and now, for example, Air Europa is involved in the go-live for the technical logbook.

These are our golden rules in figure 5.

Figure 5

We have a system that is trusted and we wanted it integrated with our daily operation. We created, in 2019 a team of key users, Elisa is in this team. So, for us, it’s very important to have dedicated people that are solving problems in real time and that could assist at the weekly sprint with the TRAX team; understand the problem and solve the problem as well. This is very important, because it’s not only a question of IT or weblog or something which is totally separated from reality, but it’s something really connected. So, in Air Europa, we have a team of about 20 key users from different areas, for example, supply chain, then web production, many people to whom we can delegate some power to understand the processes and the bugs and the questions that we could answer with TRAX.

Of course, we have to mention training which is very important because, if you don’t train people, and if you don’t stay with them, the project couldn’t, succeed. So, we did all this flow, we had the go live on July 24 and we continue to implement different kinds of link and different functionalities. But when we started with this project, we had to think about the infrastructure such as, how many iPads do we need? For example, how we could construct the journey for a runner, how we could have the user acceptance, the training phase, and then, of course, the preparation for go-live.

We believe that this project actually was a success, and is a continuing success with continuous improvement because, before the project, we didn’t have the runners, we didn’t have a mobile warehouses, and nowadays it’s very important for us that we do what you see in figure 6, in a simple way.

Figure 6

We base this on the Gemba Walk. (A Gemba Walk is a management practice where leaders visit the ‘Gemba’ – the place where work happens – to observe, engage with employees, and identify areas for improvement. It’s a key component of Lean management, originating from Toyota’s manufacturing processes.) The goal is to understand the real situation, identify waste, and foster a culture of continuous improvement. So, in keeping with the principle of go look and see, we go there, we stay with people, we get people involved and we learn from them.

WHAT THIS PROJECT ENTAILED

Together, we constructed the solution to implement this project. We asked for many modifications and adjustments to fit our reality, but also to the way of doing something. Because when you are there, when you are on the ground, they teach you how you could do things, the best way, and then you can evaluate and study. You can try and try again and try different solutions until the project is successful. Because each time that you have a project, it’s not always a first-time success, you sometimes have to try and try again, until you get it right. With us, these are the bases.

We defined a week, listed follow ups with TRAX to monitor, for example, bugs and modifications, because we asked for a lot of modifications to adapt to our realities. We went to the site with the runner, with the warehouse manager. Together, we simulated the delivery, we stayed with the mechanic, and we listened to everybody. Elisa went there regularly each week for three days a week. And, of course, we wanted to customize the application because, although most airlines work in much the same way, every airline has its specific processes and workflows which will need a solution to be customized. work.

So, can we say that this project was has been and is a success? That can be verified with data. We are a data driven company, as you can see in figure 7.

Figure 7

When we began the project, we were using Power BI to monitor the tool management and tracking and the manual issue. Because we have tool and consumable parts, we wanted to monitor, for example, how many parts do we issue in a day, a month, an hour, for a shift? And these are the results in the graphs in figure 7.

We have 30 minutes of time saved per TMR (Timer) a day, which is a success, because we are saving a lot of money, of mechanic man hours. This means that we are achieving better productivity in a seven hour shift and, of course, this project helped to us to enhance the interpersonal communication, to having better communication plus, as we’ve already said, to get people involved. They are part of this project, and they are very proud to be part of this project.

CONCLUSIONS

So, how did the project go. You can see the conclusions in figure 8.

Figure 8

There were more or less 80 dedicated people involved in the project. The project leader was Elisa, there was also the manager of the warehouse, we had key users, and then all the team of runners and the store men.  Total man hours amounted to more or less seven months duration. In this is included also the business case and how to implement the project in phase number 1. Twelve, new processes and seven daily mechanic manhours saving.

But we cannot stop; we are an organization that aims to keep growing. We noted at the beginning that the hanger, a five-position airplane hangar is very big, one of the leaders in Europe. We are moving there. So, what’s next now?

NEXT STEPS

Another short video for readers.

In that video you will have seen, the Kardex, the vertical machine. We are currently implementing Kardex systems in our new warehouse, a strategic move aimed at optimising space and boosting operational efficiency. The installation includes seven vertical machines, which will significantly enhance our storage capacity and streamline workflows. In parallel, we are developing the interface with eMRO and designing the warehouse processes to position ourselves as a benchmark in innovation and efficiency within the sector. This initiative reflects our commitment to continuous improvement and technological advancement in logistics operations.