Strengthening Corporate Culture
Embodied in our vision, mission and values, our corporate culture is key to sustaining HKIA’s long-term development. We continue to promote AAHK’s “5Cs” Core Values through a range of culture promotion initiatives.
In 2017/18, we rolled out an escape challenge activity “Catch 5Cs If You Can!” to raise staff awareness of the “5Cs” through an interactive and fun way. Staff were tasked to solve various puzzles and overcome obstacles within a time limit in order to escape from the activity room.
The Work Improvement Team (WIT) programme continues to serve as a platform for frontline staff to practice AAHK’s core values and generate new ideas for value creation in their workplace. Following the pilot run in 2016/17, the WIT programme was extended to frontline staff of all divisions across AAHK in 2017/18. The first ever AAHK WIT Convention was held at the AsiaWorld-Expo for the final presentation in November 2017, attended by over 300 participants including AAHK Chairman and senior management, and airport business partners. Looking ahead, we plan to further promote the WIT programme to our business partners in the broader airport community in 2018/19.
Q&A with Charles Li, Leader of Baggaholic Team
Can you tell us about your project for the WIT Programme? How does your project enhance the way how you work?
“The baggage sortation system is one of the most critical components of the baggage handling system at the airport. It sorts around 100,000 bags per day efficiently and accurately to the right aircraft on time, enabling passengers to receive their bags upon arrival at their destinations. Our analysis has shown that a one minute system downtime can lead to 33 bags lagging in the baggage handling system, leading to the possibility of delayed baggage.
Given the importance of the system, we spend considerable time and resources to maintain and improve its reliability. Prior to the development of our in-house smart maintenance tool, we spend up to seven hours to check each sorter during the quarterly preventative maintenance checks. Given a small window available between 1am and 5am each morning when the airport is less busy, the process was extremely time intensive. Hence, we started to look for ways to reduce the time needed for this process.”
How did you come up with your project idea?
“With the help of problem solving tools, such as the fishbone diagram and process mapping, we identified the growing pain points within the current maintenance routine. Manually checking the alignment of linear motors in a short maintenance window may result in human factors issues that affect the reliability of the outcome. With this in mind, we began brainstorming a tailored solution that would help address our most pressing challenges.
After several months of trial and error development, we introduced a bespoke smart maintenance tool, the “Smart-Sort-Checker”, comprised of a high-definition camera, laser displacement sensors with attachable chassis. The new tool enhanced the accuracy by automating the inspection process and reduced the time required for preventative maintenance by 70% from a small initial investment on equipment.”
How does your project demonstrate AAHK’s “5Cs” Core Values?
“Upholding high standards in baggage delivery is a commitment shared by our team and valued by our passengers. Collaboration with our frontline maintenance teams enabled us to better understand the problems they face each day and led to us developing a tailored and practical solution that would assist them in the day-to-day maintenance of our baggage sortation system. We paired creative solutions with innovative technologies into our tool to reduce the time required for preventative maintenance and improve the accuracy over the current process. The time freed up from maintenance could be allocated for other system enhancement works to promote continuous improvements in our baggage handling system.”
What is your proudest achievement for this project?
“Winning the Grand Award at the 2017 WIT programme is a significant milestone for our team. We are driven by our passion to do better and the WIT programme was a great opportunity to demonstrate our commitment to continuous improvements of operational challenges at the workplace. We are also pleased to see that our success has rallied others in our department to join the next WIT. Overall, the WIT programme has been an excellent platform to apply our creativity to practical projects that bring positive impact to HKIA.”
Through our Staff Recognition Programme, we continue to identify role models and recognise individuals and teams with outstanding achievements and performance demonstrating AAHK’s “5Cs” Core Values. In 2017, the Corporate Recognition Programme recognised seven outstanding teams and three outstanding employees. All received awards from the Chief Executive Officer at our annual dinner held in January 2018.
